Asian Games 2018 Day One Highlights: As it Happened

That's the end of proceedings for the Indian contestants today, we shall be back tomorrow on Monday as India look to add to their medals tally. 

So India end the day with One Bronze medal from shooting with Apurvi Chandela and Ravi Kumar in the 10m Air Rifle final and one Gold medal from Wrestling thanks to Bajrang Punia. 

That's it! Pawan Kumar is unable to finish the day with medal after Uitumen Orgodol beat him 8-1 in the bronze medal playoff. 

Pawan has been completely outclassed by Uitumen Orgodol and his experience. The Indian is trailing 1-8 and is in a defensive position against the Mongolian. It is unlikely the contest will turn around dramatically with 30 seconds left. 

Priceless.

🙏🥇👏@BajrangPunia pic.twitter.com/APo3Xz47M1

— Team India (@ioaindia) August 19, 2018

Pawan Kumar tried to get his opponent down after but Orgodol has turned the tables on the Indian and made it count. Pawan has conceded a 5-0 lead with  a little less than 2 minutes  left. Pawan had one shoulder down and had to really dig deep to come out of that. 

End of the first round, a rather passive round where neither wrestler could gain much ground against the other. Orgodol leads the bout 1-0 with three minutes to go. 

Slow first round between Pawan and Uitumen Orgodol from Mongolia. The Mongolian leads 1-0 with seconds remaining in the first round. 

After that moment of great joy and happiness for India when Bajrang Punia took home the first Gold for the country at the 2018 Asian Games, the onus is now on Pawan Kumar to add a third medal to the kitty before close of day today. He is in the running for a Bronze medal in the Men's 86kg repechage round. 

An Olympic berth at stake, nothing less than a gold medal would satisfy the top-ranked Indian men's hockey team, which begins its Asian Games campaign against minnows Indonesia, here on Monday.

While the Indian women's hockey team did a fantastic job today, the men led by PR Sreejesh are in action tomorrow (Monday) 

@BajrangPunia आपको एशियन गेम्स में स्वर्ण पदक🥇 जीतने की बहुत बहुत बधाई। ऐसे ही देश का झंडा ऊंचा करते रहो, देश का नाम रोशन करते रहो। मुझे और देश को आप पर बहुत गर्व है। जय हिंद, जय भारत। #AsianGames #AsianGames2018 #IndianWrestling 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/Ajq9eOmrqo

— Yogeshwar Dutt (@DuttYogi) August 19, 2018

Hockey: Indian women begin their campaign with an emphatic 8-0 win against hosts Indonesia in the Group B encounter. 

What a stupendous show by @BajrangPunia. He displayed superior technique in his bout against Japan's Takatani Daichi to give India it's 1st 🥇medal in the 65 kg freestyle wrestling in #AsianGames2018. Many Congratulations to him for keeping the 🇮🇳 flying high #IndiaAtAsianGames pic.twitter.com/FZzGu5QoaL

— Rajyavardhan Rathore (@Ra_THORe) August 19, 2018

And here comes the first Gold for India from #AsianGames2018 . @BajrangPunia clinches a 🥇in men's FS 65 kg wrestling event.
Congratulations champion! 👏👏 You have made the nation proud. 🇮🇳#IndiaAtAsianGames @Ra_THORe @Media_SAI @FederationWrest @MIB_India pic.twitter.com/nebpbDrbha

— Dept of Sports MYAS (@IndiaSports) August 19, 2018

There is still a chance for India to add to their medal tally today with Pawan Kumar's bronze medal playoff in the 86kg FS repechage round. 

More good news coming from the hockey game between the Indian women and the Indonesian women - India lead 8-0 after Gurjit completed her hat-trick. 

Meanwhile, in the hockey match India have added one more to their goal tally to seven against Indonesia. Indonesia are 8 minutes away from being let off by this Indian team. The seventh goal was scored by Navneet Kaur.

Along with two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar, Bajrang Punia is the only male wrestler to have been awarded a berth on the 18-strong team that is vying for, hopefully, a bagful of medals at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang.

Wah ! @BajrangPunia . So proud of you for making us proud. Congratulations for the Gold and for fulfilling your promise of winning one. Shaabash ! #AsianGame2018 pic.twitter.com/RjxFhwqUCj

— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) August 19, 2018

Suprita Das, Senior Journalist: 

Bajrang Punia has fought like a tiger all day. Three of his four bouts of the day were won by technical superiority, which says something about how dominating he has been. It would be safe to say that the 24 year old is well and truly out his mentor Yogeshwar Dutt’s shadow and is the face of Indian wrestling now.

India have a Gold medal on the first day, and it is Bajrang Punia, India's biggest Gold medal hopeful. He has emulated his mentor Yogeshwar Dutt's feat from 2014 and taken the Gold at the Men's 65kg FS final. 

GOLD! India's Bajrang Punia has beaten Japan's Daichi Takatani 11-8 to clinch the Gold Medal

Less than a minute to go and Bajrang leads 8-6

Bajrang's flying start and the advantage has been negated by the Japanese wrestler. The scores are tied at 6-6 midway in the second round. 

End of the first round, and Punia leads Takatani 6-4. Expect a tight tight second three minutes. 

Takatani has fought back though almost instantly in the first round and picked up four points to make it tougher for Bajrang. This is an intense battle

Within a minute and a little more Bajrang has got his opponent tied in knots and raced away to a 6-0 lead. Japan's Daichi Takatani has been his nemesis before this and Punia is determined to get this Gold by beating him. 

Wrestling: Bajrang Punia's 65kg FS final has started against Japan's Daichi Takatani

Suprita Das, Senior Journalist: 

A tennis-like score for the women’s team at the end of the first half! That’s just the kind of star Rani Rampal would have wanted for her side. Indonesia, of course, happen to be the lowest ranked side of the pool. But India would remember all too well that rankings often fly off the window in major tournaments. They’d lost to Ireland recently at the World Cup in which they otherwise had a great outing. So a dominant show is bound to do a world of confidence for them.