The men's squash and archery teams secured historic gold medals as India enjoyed their most productive day in the Asian Games 2014 so far with an impressive collection of 11 medals to jump to the 11th position in the overall standings.
Indian archers started day eight of Asian Games with a bang by clinching a historic gold by beating favourites Korea 227-224 in the compound men's team archery.
The trio of Rajat Chauhan, Sandeep Kumar and Abhishek Verma were consistent right from the start as they shot nines and tens at regular basis, while Korea surprisingly had a jittery start.
The Indian squash players wrapped up a historic performance, clinching an unprecedented men's team gold after the women's side settled for their first ever silver.
With a silver and a bronze, Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Pallikal respectively in the individual events, the squash players signed off with their best ever medal haul in the Games.
The icing on the cake was provided by the men's team, led by Ghosal, which clinched the historic gold after edging out Malaysia in the summit clash.
Ghosal played out of his skin to guide India to a 2-0 win against Malaysia in an energy-sapping contest that lasted two hours and 26 minutes at the Yeorumul Squash Courts.
It was 25-year-old Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu, who started the proceedings for India on a positive note as he saw off Iskandar Mohamad Azlan Bin 11-8 11-6 8-11 11-4 in the opening match that lasted 58 minutes.
World No.16 Ghosal then bounced back from a game down to eke out a 6-11 11-7 11-6 12-14 11-9 win over former world no. 7, Ong Beng Hee in a gruelling 88-minute clash to give India a healthy 2-0 lead.
The Kolkata-player, who had a 1-1 record against Ong before this match, had to dig deep against the Malaysian, who turned the tables in the fourth game which lasted 19 minutes.
Lalita Babar and Sudha Singh clinched a silver and a bronze under dramatic circumstances in women's 3000m steeplechase after a Bahraini runner was disqualified as India opened their medal account on the opening day of athletics competition at the Asian Games on Saturday.
Babar and defending champion Sudha were upgraded from bronze and fourth-place finish after Bahrain's Ruth Jebet was sensationally stripped of victory after comfortably winning the race in what could have been a Games record time.
The teenager, who switched nationality from her native Kenya last year, was disqualified for stepping inside the track on her second last lap after stumbling while well clear of the rest of the field and under no pressure. It was learnt that India lodged a protest that Jebet should be disqualified.
Earlier in the day, India's compound women's team bagged the bronze medal after beating Iran 224-217. Indian team comprising Trisha Deb, Purvasha Shende and Surekha Jyothi, shot 224, while Sakineh Ghasempour, Maryam Ranjbarsari and Shabnam Sarlak of Iran could manage a total of 217.
However, Abhishek had to settle for a silver after going down to Esmaeil Ebadi of Iran in the compound men's individual gold medal match.
Abhishek was beaten by his Iranian opponent by a narrow 141-145 margin at the Gyeyang Asiad Archery Field.
But for Trisha Deb, bronze in the compound women's individual event came as a surprise for her as she got lucky to finish on the podium despite trailing her rival till the last arrow.
Trisha won 138-134 against Chinese Taipei's Huang I Jou.
In squash, India had a shot for the gold Indian women's team had to settle for a silver after they went down to Malaysia in the final.
The team lost 0-2 after Deepika Pallikal and Anaka Alankamony lost their matches in a contest which lasted a little over an hour.
Meanwhile, Chain Singh won a bronze medal in 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men's Finals, even as India narrowly missed out on a third-place finish in men's team event.
Indian wrestler Geetika Jakhar won an Asian Games bronze medal in the women's freestyle 63kg event at the Dowon Gymnasium.
The Indian defeated Vietnam's Thi Hien Ly 5-0 in less than a minute. Geetika's medal came minutes after her compatriot Vinesh Phogat also won a bronze medal in freestyle wrestling.
Indian wrestler Vinesh bagged the bronze medal in the women freestyle 48kg category.
The Commonwealth Games gold medallist defeated Mongolia's Narangerel Erdenesukh 4-0 in the bronze medal match that lasted two minutes and 31 seconds.
Indian women boxers made a promising start to their campaign with Mary Kom, L. Sarita Devi and Pooja Rani advancing to the quarter-finals of their respective categories.
The 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Mary Kom registered a comprehensive 3-0 victory by a unanimous judges' decision over Yeji Kim of South Korea in the fly weight (48-51kg) round of 16 match. She next plays China's Haijuan Si in the quarter-finals on Sunday.
Former World Champion Sarita Devi defeated Chungson Ri of North Korea 3-0 also by a unanimous judges' decision in the lightweight (57-60kg) round of 16 contest. She will take on Mongolia's Suvd Erdene Oyungerel in the quarter-final match Sunday.
In the middleweight (69-75kg) round of 16 bout, Pooja won 3-0 against Mongolia's Undram Erdenesoyol again by a unanimous judges decision. She faces Chinese Taipei's Dara Flora Shen Friday in her quarter-final match.
Mary Kom, in blue corner, enjoyed considerable crowd support as they chanted her name. Buoyed by their support, Mary Kom began aggressively against her taller opponent and won the first round easily 10-9. Round two began in a similar fashion with Mary Kom landing a flurry of punches and pocketed the round 10-9, again by a unanimous decision.
Mary used her vast experience to good effect, mixing round-arm punches with body shots and straight punches to keep her opponent on the back foot. She proved her supremacy in all areas, exhausting her opponent and wrapped up the contest comfortably in the third round.
Mary, five-time world champion, is the favourite to win gold in the women's flyweight (48-51kg) category.
The Indian men and women table tennis teams made a promising start to their campaign, winning their preliminary round matches at the Suwon Gymnasium.
The men's team won its opening match of preliminary Group B against Kuwait 3-0. Soumyajit Ghosh put India head, defeating Albahrani Husain 11-1,11-5,5-11,11-6 in the first match. Achanta Sharath Kamal and Amalraj Anthony then maintained the momentum. Sharath Kamal beat Albalhan Jaber 11-5, 12-10, 11-5 while Anthony downed Alanssari Basel 11-5,11-8,11-2.
The men's team were then given a walkover by Nepal. They next take on South Korea Sunday.
The women's team too made an equally impressive beginning in preliminary Group A, beating Malaysia 3-0. Poulomi Ghatak defeated Lee Wei Beh 11-9,15-17,11-8,11-5 in the first match and Manika Batra maintained the ascendancy against Ying Ho 11-5, 11-8, 11-7. Neha Aggarwal completed the victory against Rou You Lee 11-6, 11-6, 11-4.
They then went on to beat Nepal 3-0 in their next match. Manika secured a 11-8,11-5,11-2 win against Shrestha Nabita in the first match. Madhurika Patkar defeated Kajol Rauniyar 11-5,11-1,11-5 and Ankita Das completed the rout, downing Elina Maharjan 11-6,11-5,11-2. They face China on Sunday.
Comments
0 comment