MELBOURNE, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Australian John Steffensen won his first-ever major tournament gold medal as he took the men's 400m race at the Commonwealth Games here on Wednesday.

    The 23-year-old ran to 44.73 seconds to beat Grenada's Alleyne Francique, who finished fourth at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004.

    Francique timed 45.09 while Jamaica's Jermaine Gonzales pocketed the brozne on 45.16.

    Uganda's Dorcus Inzikuru met little challeng to take the women's 3,000m steeplechase title by 9:19.51.

    In other track and field events, Valerie Vili of New Zealand threw 19.66 meters for the gold medal in the women's shot put, while Ghana's Ignisious Gaisah jumped 8.20 meters for the men's long jump victory.

    Mark Boswell of Canada conquered 2.31 meters to win in the men's high jump.

    The hottest Australia men's basketball team nailed down another easy win, beating England 101-75 to face arch-rival New Zealand, who thrashed Nigeria 90-66, in the finals.

    Australia had 57 gold, 51 silver and 45 brozne medals in the tournament, beating England to a distant second with 22, 28 and 22respectively. Enditem