Asian Games | Day 1: India wins 5 medals; women's cricket team reaches final
Asian Games: Boxer Preeti storms into women's 54kg quarterfinals
Putting up a dominating show, talented Indian boxer Preeti Pawar outpunched Jordan's Silina Alhasanat to advance to the women's 54kg quarterfinals at the Asian Games here on Sunday.
The 19-year-old who made the pre-quarterfinals of the World Championships earlier this year, dominated her Jordanian opponent, winning the bout by RSC (referee stops contest). Playing a strategic bout, Preeti started the contest on a defensive mode before unleashing her attacking game. After a sedate start, the Indian went on the offensive and landed perfect jabs and hooks to win the opening two rounds easily.
After showing promise initially, Silina faded away and looked at sea as the referee gave her two standing counts in the second and third rounds before stopping the contest. Later in the day, two-time world champion and Birmingham Commonwealth Games gold medallist Nikhat Zareen will take the ring against Thi Tam Nguyen of Vietnam in round of 32 in the women's 50kg competition.
Manika's defeat in decider spells Indian women's team's ouster from Asian Games
Star Indian paddler Manika Batra lost both her matches, including the deciding fifth singles, as the Indian women's table tennis team was eliminated from the Asian Games following their 2-3 defeat against Thailand in the pre-quarterfinals here on Sunday.
World No. 39 Batra first lost the opening match to 104th ranked Thai player Orawan Paranang 0-3 with the Thai player dominating the proceeding for a 11-7, 11-1, 13-11 win in just 25 minutes.
But 26-year-old Ayhika Mukherjee brought India on an even keel, winning the second game 3-1, defeating a much higher-ranked Suthasini Sawettabut 18-16, 11-7, 13-15, 11-9. Sutirtha Mukherjee then defeated Tamolwan Khetkhuan 3-2 (11-1, 9-11, 3-11, 11-7, 11-7) to give India a 2-1 lead before Paranang overcame a gritty Ayhika 3-2 (10-12, 11-4, 5-11, 11-4, 11-3) to keep her team's hopes alive.
In the decider, Suthasini made up for her earlier defeat by beating Batra 3-1 (10-12, 11-8, 11-7, 11-6) to take her team into the quarterfinals. Thailand will play North Korea on Sunday for a place in the semifinals.
Indian duo finishes 5th, 6th in men's changquan wushu event
Indian wushu players Suraj Singh Mayanglambam and Anjul Namedo finished a disappointing fifth and sixth respectively in the men's changquan event at the Asian Games on Sunday.
While Suraj finished fifth with a total score of 9.730, Anjul ended a rung below with 9.710 points.
China's Peiyuan Sun won the gold medal with a combined score of 9.840, while the silver and bronze were bagged by Edgar Xavier Marvelo of Indonesia and Macau's Chi Kuan Song, with scores of 9.786 and 9.760 respectively at the Xiaoshan Gauli Sports Centre.
Changquan is a bare-handed martial arts event where an athlete is judged on his moves and techniques.
India rout Uzbekistan 16-0 in Asian Games men's hockey goalfest
Lalit Upadhyay, Varun Kumar and Mandeep Singh slammed a hat-trick each as India started their men's hockey campaign at the Asian Games with a 16-0 rout of lowly-ranked Uzbekistan.
Ranked third in the world, India began the match as clear favourites against the world No. 66 Uzbeks and expectedly dominated the proceedings from start to finish in the Pool A match. Lalit (7th, 24th, 37th, 53rd) and Varun (12th, 36th, 50th, 52nd) fired in four goals each, while Mandeep (18th, 27th, 28th minutes) found the net thrice. Abhishek (17th), Amit Rohidas (38th), Sukhjeet (42nd), Shamsher Singh (43rd) and Sanjay (57th) were the other goal scorers as India toyed with the Uzbek defence all through the match. India skipper Harmanpreet Singh did not play the match as he was rested after donning the responsibility of being the joint flag-bearer along with Olympic medallist boxer Lovlina Borgohain during the opening ceremony of the Asian Games on Saturday. It was a complete domination from the Indians who took seven minutes to break the deadlock, but once they did, it was complete mayhem for Uzbekistan.
It was raining penalty corners for India as they secured as many as 14 in the entire 60 minutes but converted just five, which should be a cause for concern for chief coach Craig Fulton. But what is heartening is the display of the forward-line as it combined well with the midfield to pump in 10 goals, while the other came from a penalty stroke in the 36th minute. The Indians got their first chance in the fifth minute but Abhishek's tap from close range was saved by Uzbek goalkeeper Davlat Tolibbaev. Minutes later Sukhjeet earned India's first penalty corner but Sanjay's flick was kept away by Tolibbaev. But India broke the deadlock seconds later when Lalit scored from a rebound after Tolibbaev had made a double save. Varun doubled India's lead in the 12th minute by converting a penalty corner with a powerful low flick to the left of the Uzbek goalkeeper. Just at the start of the second quarter, India secured another penalty corner but once again Tolibbaev came to his side's rescue to deny Sanjay.
Besides scoring, Mandeep was the live-wire upfront setting up goals for his teammates with his brilliant dribbling skills. India scored their third goal in the 17th minute through Abhishek, who spun brilliantly to outwit his marker and tap past Tolibbaev after being set up by Mandeep's terrific work from the left flank. Minutes from half-time, Mandeep joined the party, scoring two goals in a span of a minute. It was raining penalty corners for India, who earned two more in a span of three minutes but wasted both as the reigning Olympic bronze medallists led 7-0 at the half-way break. The trend continued after the change of ends as both the Indian goalkeepers – PR Sreejesh and Krishan Bahadur Pathak – who took turns to defend the goal in the four quarters, remained mere spectators with the action completely going on at the other side of the pitch.
The Indians looked more threatening in the last two quarters as they pumped in nine more goals – four came from penalty corners, one from the spot and the remaining four from field play as Fulton's boys completed a resounding victory. India will play Singapore in their next pool match on Tuesday.
Coxed-eight team wins silver
Indian rowers powered their way to two silver and a bronze medal, launching their campaign in the Asian Games on a rollicking note with the coxed-eight team being the latest to win a silver against China.
The gruelling men's coxed eight event saw a keen tussle between China and India before the latter finished second with a time of 5:43.01s, which was 2.84s behind the host team, which clocked 5:40.17. The Indian men's coxed-eight team comprised Neeraj, Nareskh Kalwaniya, Neetish Kumar, Charanjeet Singh, Jaswinder Singh, Bheem Singh, Puneet Kumar and Ashish.
Indonesia, who clocked a time of 5:45.51s were third. The achievement is all the more creditable given that rowers from powerhouse Uzbekistan and Japan finished fourth and fifth respectively.
In the coxless pair event, India Babulal Yadav and Lekh Ram had to settle for bronze with a time of 6:50.41 sec, behind gold medallists Hong Kong, China (6:44.20 sec) and Uzbekistan 6:48.11.
Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh opened the country's account with a silver medal in the men's lightweight doubles sculls event.
India has sent a huge contingent of 33 rowers at the continental games.
Sumit Nagal steamrolls Macau's Leung, moves into men’s singles pre-quarterfinals
India’s top tennis player Sumit Nagal moved into the men's singles pre-quarterfinals of the Asian Games without losing a game as he expectedly thrashed Macau's hapless Ho Tin Marco Leung on Sunday.
It was expected to be an easy second-round match for the 159th ranked Nagal, whose rival does not even have a ranking on the ATP computer.
The fifth seed Nagal, who had got a first round bye, needed just 45 minutes to dispatch his opponent 6-0 6-0. He will take on the winner of the other second round match between Kazakhstan's Beibit Zhukayev and Tajikistan's Firuz Mukhidinov. Later in the day, the second seeded Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan will open their men's doubles campaign against Nepal's Abhishek Bastola and Pradip Khadka in what is expected to be another cakewalk for the Indians.
Arjun-Arvind pair wins silver in men's lightweight doubles sculls
Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh won a silver medal for India in the men's lightweight doubles sculls event in rowing on Sunday.
The Indian duo finished second with a timing of 6:28.18s behind China's Junjie Fan and Man Sun, who won gold with 6:23.16s. The Uzbekistan pair of Shakhzod Nurmatov and Sobirjon Safaroliyev bagged the bronze clocking 6:33.42s.
India wins silver in 10m air rifle event
On Sunday morning, Indian shooters opened their account at the Asian Games, bagging the women's team silver in the 10m air rifle event.
Experienced Mehuli Ghosh, Ramita Jindal and Ashi Chouksey's combined score of 1,886.0 earned them the second spot behind hosts China, who smashed the Asian record with an amazing 1896.6 points. India could be in line for a women's 10m air rifle individual medal as well, as Mehuli and Ramita also reached the eight-shooter final, which will be held later in the day. In the qualification round, Ramita, just 19 years of age, finished second scoring 631.9 while Mehuli was fourth with a score of 630.8 points.
All three Chinese Chinese shooters – Han Jiayu, Huang Yuting and Wang Zhilin – entered the final, while South Korea's Lee Eunseo, Mongolia's Ganhuyag Nandinzaya and Chinese Taipei's Chen Chi were the other three shooter to make the eight-team final. The team medals in shooting are decided on the combined scores of a country's shooters in the qualification round.