15-year-old Shardul Vihan led the way by clinching the silver medal in men’s double trap shooting event. (Source: PTI)
The Indian contingent had a mixed outing on the fifth day of the 2018 Asian Games. Shooters continued to star on Thursday with 15-year-old Shardul Vihan leading the way by clinching the silver medal in the men’s double trap shooting event. Vihan, who became India’s youngest ever medal winner at the Asiads, was one point short of Korea’s Shin Hyunwoo who won the gold medal (74 points). Rahi Sarnobat made it a memorable occasion after becoming India’s first woman shooter with an Asian Games gold.
But disappointment was writ large as the men’s kabaddi side faced a shock defeat in the finals against Iran to settle for a silver. Elsewhere in Pencak Silat India’s Naorem Boynao Singh defeated Kyrgystan’s Turatbek Sulaimankul Uulu to progress to the quarter-finals.
Unfortunately, no gold medals on the day saw India slip to 10 the spot on the table (4 gold, 4 silver and 10 bronze medals taking the tally 18 medals.)
The story of yet another teenager bagging a medal was the highlight of the day. Vihan battled hard throughout the event to finish ahead of Qatar’s Hamad Ali Al Marri.
Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan’s gritty win to enter the men’s doubles final, assuring India of a silver. Another tennis medal was assured when world number 161 Prajnesh Gunneswaran outlasted 273rd ranked Kwon Soonwoo of South Korea 6-7 (2 ), 6-4, 7-6 (8) in a marathon quarterfinal lasting almost four hours.
PV Sindhu had to dig deep to down a fighting Vu Thi Trang of Vietnam but Saina Nehwal eased into the next round. in the squash competition as the country’s top-ranked player Saurav Ghosal set up a quarterfinal clash with compatriot Harinder Pal Sandhu in the men’s singles event.
Indian squash players continue their good show at the games as Joshna Chinappa becomes the latest to enter the quarter final. Chinappa beats Jemyca Aribado of the Philippines 3-0 to progress into the next stage.
With the current tally of four gold, three silver and eight bronze medals in their overall tally, India stood seventh in the medal table, which was led by China- 82 medals, including 37 gold.
Disappointments-
In archery, Deepika Kumari bowed out in recurve archers event while in swimming, national records were shattered but no medals came off the effort. In weightlifting Commonwealth Games, gold-medallist Sathish Sivalingam got injured in the men’s 77kg category competition. Sivalingam’s injury occurred in his attempt of 178 kg in clean and jerk (lifting a total of 314kg).
Indian rowing contingent had a disastrous day, missing out on as many as four medals. Dattu Bhokanal was a major disappointment as he finished sixth and last in the single sculls final, clocking 8:28.56
But the biggest setback was in Kabaddi where a confident India were beaten by Iran in the semi-finals by a margin of 18-27. “We lost the match due to the captain’s over confidence, injury played a part, and super tackle,” PTI quoted India coach Ram Mehar Singh saying after the defeat.