India didn't have medal events other than rowing and shooting but still could have fared better than just a solo medal. However, good progress was made in racquet sports.
In the men's lightweight single sculls, India's Dushyant Dushiant won a bronze. He was 1.57 secs behind the gold medal Hoi Kwan Lok at the 500 meters mark and despite maintaining that lead around the 1000 meter mark, Dushyant could not keep up the pace and subsequently fell to the third spot to finish with a bronze.
Joshna Chinappa and Anaka Alankamony helped India beat a much-fancied Hong Kong 2-1 after Dipika Pallikal losing her match to Annie Au in a five-setter. Subsequently India beat Pakistan 3-0 in the next round of the women's team squash event. Apart from silver and bronze medals in singles won by Saurav Ghosal and Pallikal, India is also doing well in the team category and in the process looks like building up great prospects for the future. Moreover, with world rankings like Ghosal No. 16, Mahesh Mangoankar 63, Harinder Pal Sandhu 77, Dipika Pallikal No. 10, Joshna Chinappa 21 and Anaka Alankamony 59, India can build a nucleus to become a strong contender in this discipline.
India lost to Iran 41-76 in pre-quarterfinal basketball. Iran with a superior game plan in all departments beat India comfortably. India had earlier lost to Philippines in Group E. In all departments of the game such as field-goal attempts, three-point field goal, hook shot, rebounds and assists, the Iranians had the better of exchanges.
In women's badminton Saina Nehwal made a breezy start and won in straight sets over Macau's Teng Lok 21-10, 21-8. Her compatriot PV Sindhu also had a good match when she beat Leng Wong of Macau 21-7, 21-13. Saina practiced at the Prakash Padukone Badminiton Academy in Bangalore under former India player-turned-coach Vimal Kumar prior to the Asian Games.
The China-India women's hockey group match went down to the wire before China scored the all important goal minutes before the final whistle. China has won Asian games hockey title a couple of times and has fielded a strong side. India put up a spirited defence to keep Chinese forwards in check. China forged ahead first with a penalty corner rebound after a fine save by India's goalkeeper. Within a couple of minutes, there was a serious infringement in Chinese 'D' when India was about to score. Jaspreet Kaur made no mistake in converting the penalty stroke and India leveled the score at 1-1. A few minutes before the close, the match was on even keel when a spirited move by India won them a penalty corner. Unfortunately Jaspreet's push went over the bar much to the relief of Chinese defence. In the dying minutes of the tie, the Chinese forged ahead converting a long pass into a field goal leaving very little time for Indians for a counter-attack. India will play Malaysia next for the second place in their group.
China has a very fast forward line with strong bursts of speed aided by excellent dribbling. Unfortunately this seems to be lacking in India's women's hockey as well and hence there are limited opportunities to score field goals.
So far at Incheon 2014, in a large number of disciplines, India has grabbed bronze medals. This is a good sign as it takes the team to podium finish and shows they are much better than also-rans and are within striking distance of reaching silver or gold. The climb from here is no doubt steep but better technique, strategy and competitive experience can help them reach better positions in future games. This is where an efficient administration can play the role of a catalyst to pole-vault the team to high-end performers.
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