Nagoya, Sep 28 (PTI) Young shooter Esha Singh’s tenacity fetched her a silver in the women’s individual 25m pistol, while distance runner Gulveer Singh’s rampaging form translated into another second-place finish on a rain-soaked day dotted with many missed opportunities and some surprises for India at the Asian Games here.
Gulveer, who has already claimed the 10,000m silver, added another one to his kitty with a personal best timing of 3:36.72sec in the men’s 1500m competition. This was after 21-year-old Esha survived five shoot-offs to clinch perhaps the most hard-fought silver of her career.
Kurash player Picky Balhara threw up a pleasant surprise with her bronze in the -78kg category. She became a two-time Games medallist and thereby the most successful Indian Kurash player at the mega-event by adding to her silver from the 2018 edition.
Another brilliant performance was by Vithya Ramraj in the women’s 400m hurdles competition as she surged past the legendary P T Usha’s over four decade-old national record to claim the bronze medal. Ramraj clocked 54.75sec, bettering Usha’s 55.42sec established at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
The medal haul stood at 41, including four gold, 18 silver and 19 bronze medals. The country was placed just outside the top 10, something that has remained consistent since the start of the Games.
In the boxing ring, Olympic bronze-medallist Lovlina Borgohain (75kg), Priya Ghanghas (60kg) and Kapil Pokhariya (90kg) delivered trademark assured performances to sail into semifinals and be assured of bronze, joining three others in the medal rounds.
Among the shockers was defending women’s individual compound archery champion Jyothi Surekha Vemman’s pre-quarterfinal exit, landing another blow to a largely underwhelming campaign so far by India.
Another defending champion who failed to protect his crown was track veteran Avinash Sable in the men’s 3000m steeplechase competition. He ended fifth despite a season’s best effort of 8:21.67sec.
Also, the embattled Manu Bhaker signed off without a medal after failing to come good in either team or the individual 25m women’s pistol competition.
Action at the shooting range was pretty intense on the day, with Esha redeeming herself following team competition disaster in which Rahi Sarnobat was left devastated by an extraordinary mishap that saw one of her shots register zero after it went into the frame on day 2 of qualification.
The error proved particularly costly for India’s team medal prospects, as the trio of Esha, Manu and Sarnobat slipped from third place to fifth in the standings, with an aggregate of 1727.
Esha gathered herself after this disaster to excel in the individual competition.
The world No. 1 in the event, she endured aching arms and shoulders, survived a series of heart-stopping eliminations and pushed herself to the very limits in one of the most dramatic finals of the Games.
The gold, though, slipped through Esha’s grasp in a nerve-shredding shoot-off against China’s Jiaruixuan Xiao, who is also the Tokyo Olympics bronze-medallist.
Esha first survived three shoot-offs against North Korea’s Kim Hyon Suk, who settled for bronze, before engaging in two more against Xiao in the battle for gold.
Cricket team advances without playing
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The Indian men’s cricket moved into the semifinals without so much as turning up for the toss after their quarterfinal clash against Afghanistan was washed out. Shreyas Iyer’s men moved ahead on the basis of being higher-ranked at world number one as against Afghanistan’s 10th position globally.
Squash players on a roll
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After delivering two individual silvers and a bronze in mixed doubles, the squash players began the team competition confidently.
The Indian men’s and women’s teams marched into the quarterfinals with the latter producing a gritty win over Japan here.
Indian women, seeded third, got past Japan 2-1 despite lead player Anahat Singh losing to world number six Satomi Watanabe in five games.
The 17th ranked Anahat had beaten the world number six Japanese in the individual semifinals before finishing with a historic silver.
Indian women, bronze medallists in the previous edition, had beaten China 3-0 in their opening match.
The men’s team, which won the gold in China, blanked South Korea 3-0 to seal a place in the last eight stage.
In the opening singles, Velavan Senthilkumar defeated Jooyoung Na 11-6, 11-4, 11-7 before singles silver medallist Abhay Singh had a comfortable 11-4, 11-7, 11-1 result over Jeongmin Ryu.
Veer Chotrani outplayed Seojin Oh 11-6, 11-4, 11-2 in the inconsequential third singles.
The Indian men’s volleyball team also advanced after edging past Hong Kong, China in a Pool C preliminary round match for its second consecutive win at the Games.
India prevailed 3-0 (25-22, 25-19, 25-21), raising their level at crucial moments to close out a match in which Hong Kong kept up the pressure for long periods.
India, who began with a 3-0 win over Vietnam, will next face Qatar on Tuesday. PTI PDS AM ATK APA BS APS PM MRM MRM
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