It was heartbreak for Saurav Ghosal on day four of the 2014 Asian Games, but he had already done enough to create history - bagging India's first ever Asiad silver medal in squash. And ace Indian shooter Abinav Bindra, making his last appearance at the Asian Games, won two bronze medals on Tuesday - including his first individual medal at the Games.
Ghosal's was the most-awaited Indian event of the day and it began on a very promising note, with the Indian winning the first two games against his opponent Abdullah Almezayen. But the Kuwaiti made a stunning comeback to win the next three games and seal the gold in his favour.
After winning the first two games 12-10 and 11-2, Ghosal slipped badly and the spirited Almezayen took full toll registering 12-10, 11-8, 11-9 wins in the next three games to win 3-2. India action on Tuesday began at the shooting range where Bindra qualified for the 10m Air Rifle Individual final after playing an instrumental role in leading fellow shooters Sanjeev Rajput and Ravi Kumar to a Team bronze in the same event.
Bindra, with 625.4 points, was the only Indian to make it to the Individual final from the qualifying round where Rajput (20th) and Kumar (21st) disappointed with scores of 618.7 and 618.9 respectively. However, Bindra was left behind at the third place in the Individual final where China finished 1-2 to bag gold and silver.
Yumnam Sanathoi Devi and Narender Grewal also brought laurels for the country by bagging a bronze each in wushu competition. Sanathoi lost to Zhang Luan of China in women's Sanda 52kg category semifinals, while Grewal was defeated by Jean Claude Saclag of Philippines in men's Sanda 60kg semifinals. Both the Indians went down in identical 0-2 'Win by Round' verdicts. The two bronze today ensured that wushu players managed to equal the two medals they bagged in the 2010 edition in Guangzhou, China where India won a silver and a bronze.
With the addition of five more medals, India held on to their 13th position on the medals table with a tally of one gold, one silver and nine bronze. Powerhouse China continued to top the table with 81 (40-21-20), followed by hosts South Korea 58 (18-19-21) and Japan 60 (16-22-22).
The women shooters disappointed in the Trap event. Neither of Shreyasi, Seema Tomar and Shagun Chaudhury could qualify for the Individual Final, which resulted in India finishing a poor 6th in the Team event.
But there was cheerful news from Indian rowers who made into the medal rounds. Swarn Singh finished first in Repechage to make it to the final of the Men's Single Sculls. The duo of Om Prakash and Dattu Baban Bhokana also topped in Repechage to go through to the final of Men's Doubles Sculls.
Medal hopes also stayed alive in Lightweight Men's Quadruple Sculls, where rowers Rakesh Raliya, Vikram Singh, Laxmi Narain and Shokendar Tomar finished second in Repechage to stay in medal contention. The only disappointing rowing result came in the Women's Quadruple Sculls event where the quartet of Amanjot Kaur, Sanjukta Dung Dung, Lakshmi Devi and Navneet Kaur finished fifth in Repechage.
India won their second consecutive game in men's hockey competition. They beat Oman 7-0, but the scoreline could have been much healthier as the Indian forwards missed a plenty of chances to score field goals, other than wasting a few penalty corners as well.
2010 medal winner Ashish Kumar and Aditya Singh Rana failed to make a mark in the Individual All-Around gymnastics final after ending 12th and 17th respectively at the Namdong Gymnasium. Ashish, who won a bronze in Men's floor exercise and later a silver medal in Men's vault in 2010 Guanghzou Games, started off well in the Floor Exercise and fared better in the Vault, but came a cropper in the remaining disciplines.
In shooting, India also featured in the Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Qualification, where at the completion of Stage 1, India's Harpreet Singh was lying 7th with 290 points, Gurpreet Singh 14th with 284 and Pemba Tamang 18th with 277. Stage 2 will take place on Wednesday.
Indian cyclists Deborah and Kezia Vargheese finished ninth and tenth respectively in Women's Sprint Qualifying. The men's Sepaktakraw team went down fighting 1-2 against Japan in a Group A match of the Men's Team Preliminaries.
In Equestrian, Shruti Vohra finishes 8th and Nadia Haridass 15th in Dressage Individual Intermediate I Freestyle event. News from Gymnastics was equally disappointing as Ashish Kumar and Aditya Singh finish 12th and 17th respectively in the Men's Individual All-Around Final.
The Indian men's Basketball lost a close match to Philippines, losing 76-85 in Men's Preliminary Round Group E Match. Meanwhile in Sepaktakraw, Myanmar beat India 3-0 in Women's Team Preliminary Group B match. Swimmers disappointed as well, with Sajan Prakash finishing 4th and Saurabh Sangvekar 7th in their respective Heats of Men's 400m Freestyle event.
Weightlifters also expectedly failed to make a mark Ravi Kumar and Punam Yadav coming up with listless performances.
Silver medallist at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Ravi Kumar lifted a total of 313kg after an effort of 141kg in snatch and 172kg in clean and jerk to finish seconds in Group B. Satish Sivalingam, whose name was there in the initial start list, did not take part due to illness.
In women's 63kg division, Punam, who had bagged a bronze medal at CWG, finished a lowly seventh in the field of nine lifters.
Comments
0 comment