Indian roller skaters clinched two bronze medals in the men’s and women’s 3000m team relay events to match their best-ever performance at the Asian Games in China’s Hangzhou on Monday (October 2). Later in the day, Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee’s giant-slaying run also ended with a bronze medal. With these, India’s medals tally at the Asiad 2023 stands at 56, with 13 gold, 21 silver, and 22 bronze. The women’s team of Sanjana Bathula, Karthika Jagadeeswaran, Heeral Sadhu, and Aarathy Kasturi Raj opened India’s account on the ninth day of competitions. The Indian quartet finished behind gold medallists Chinese Taipei and South Korea. Aryanpal Singh Ghuman, Anandkumar Velkumar, Siddhant Kamble, and Vikram Ingale then sealed a second bronze in men’s team relay. Chinese Taipei and South Korea took the top two spots.Later in the day, Sutirtha and Ayhika lost the closely-fought women's doubles semifinal 3-4 to Korea. In men’s decathlon, Tejaswin Shankar produced a season's best effort in shot put to be placed fifth in the overall standings with two events left. He also produced a personal best effort of 11.12m to register a fourth-place finish in the 100m race, while topping the standings in long jump with an effort of 7.37m. He is scheduled to participate in high jump and 400m race events later in the day. On the other hand, Vithya Ramraj equalled PT Usha’s 400m hurdle national record, which was set in 1984, with a personal best effort of 55.42s to top her heat and directly qualify for the women’s final. Ravi Sinchal Kaveram Theetharamada, however, missed out after finishing fifth in her heat. In men’s 400m hurdles, Santhosh Kumar Tamilarasan and Yashas Palaksha qualified for the final after finishing in second position in their respective heats. Sandesh Jesse and Sarvesh Anil Kushare produced identical scores of 2.10m to qualify for men’s high jump final after finishing at the ninth place in the list of 12 best performers. In men’s 800m heat, Mohammed Afsal Pulikkalakath finished at the top of his heat, while Krishnan Kumar was second in his heat. Both qualified for the finals. The Indian recurve mixed-pair archery duo of Atanu Das and Ankita Bhakat defeated Malayasia in a three-setter and sailed into the quarterfinals. Indian archers stormed into the last eight in three team events — recurve mixed, compound mixed, and compound men’s team. As of now, India are in medal contention in four events with the top-seeded women’s team compound archers getting a bye into the quarters. Indian riders had a disappointing time in the equestrian team and individual jumping final as they lost out on the medal race to finish at the last position. Indian canoers and kayakers also endured a disappointing outing as none of them managed to secure a podium finish despite featuring in four finals. The Indian campaign in kurash also ended without any medal at the Asian Games. (With agency inputs)
Indian roller skaters clinched two bronze medals in the men’s and women’s 3000m team relay events to match their best-ever performance at the Asian Games in China’s Hangzhou on Monday (October 2). Later in the day, Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee’s giant-slaying run also ended with a bronze medal. With these, India’s medals tally at the Asiad 2023 stands at 56, with 13 gold, 21 silver, and 22 bronze. The women’s team of Sanjana Bathula, Karthika Jagadeeswaran, Heeral Sadhu, and Aarathy Kasturi Raj opened India’s account on the ninth day of competitions. The Indian quartet finished behind gold medallists Chinese Taipei and South Korea. Aryanpal Singh Ghuman, Anandkumar Velkumar, Siddhant Kamble, and Vikram Ingale then sealed a second bronze in men’s team relay. Chinese Taipei and South Korea took the top two spots.Later in the day, Sutirtha and Ayhika lost the closely-fought women's doubles semifinal 3-4 to Korea. In men’s decathlon, Tejaswin Shankar produced a season's best effort in shot put to be placed fifth in the overall standings with two events left. He also produced a personal best effort of 11.12m to register a fourth-place finish in the 100m race, while topping the standings in long jump with an effort of 7.37m. He is scheduled to participate in high jump and 400m race events later in the day. On the other hand, Vithya Ramraj equalled PT Usha’s 400m hurdle national record, which was set in 1984, with a personal best effort of 55.42s to top her heat and directly qualify for the women’s final. Ravi Sinchal Kaveram Theetharamada, however, missed out after finishing fifth in her heat. In men’s 400m hurdles, Santhosh Kumar Tamilarasan and Yashas Palaksha qualified for the final after finishing in second position in their respective heats. Sandesh Jesse and Sarvesh Anil Kushare produced identical scores of 2.10m to qualify for men’s high jump final after finishing at the ninth place in the list of 12 best performers. In men’s 800m heat, Mohammed Afsal Pulikkalakath finished at the top of his heat, while Krishnan Kumar was second in his heat. Both qualified for the finals. The Indian recurve mixed-pair archery duo of Atanu Das and Ankita Bhakat defeated Malayasia in a three-setter and sailed into the quarterfinals. Indian archers stormed into the last eight in three team events — recurve mixed, compound mixed, and compound men’s team. As of now, India are in medal contention in four events with the top-seeded women’s team compound archers getting a bye into the quarters. Indian riders had a disappointing time in the equestrian team and individual jumping final as they lost out on the medal race to finish at the last position. Indian canoers and kayakers also endured a disappointing outing as none of them managed to secure a podium finish despite featuring in four finals. The Indian campaign in kurash also ended without any medal at the Asian Games. (With agency inputs)