Asian Games: Indian shooters on target, first-ever medal in sepak takraw

Saurabh Chaudhary won gold and Abhishek Verma bronze in men’s 10m air pistol event

india-thailand-pti Indian and Thailand sepaktakraw teams in action during their semifinal match at the 18th Asian Games 2018 at Palembang in Indonesia | PTI

Day three brought India medals in all three colours. The shooting stars continued to be on target. It started off with the men’s 10m air pistol event. Abhishek Verma won bronze with a score of 219.3. Saurabh Chaudhary, 16, took gold. He scored 240.7, beating Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsuda by one point to set a new Asian Games record.

And to think he took up shooting just three years ago. Reportedly, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced a reward of Rs 50 lakh for the youngster.

From a teen to a veteran, Sanjeev Rajput won silver in the men’s 50m rifle three positions event. While China's Zicheng Hui won gold with 453.3, Sanjeev finished with 452.7.

In the last event of the day, Shreyasi Singh and Lakshay Sheoran (who won silver in the men’s trap event yesterday) finished sixth in the trap mixed team event.

In kabaddi, India’s women beat Sri Lanka 38-12 and Indonesia 54-22. The men's team beat Thailand 49-30.

Notably, India won its first medal in sepak takraw—a bronze—at the Asian Games. The team lost 2-0 to defending champions Thailand in the semifinals. The women also lost to Thailand 3-0 in a group match.

In tennis, Ankita Raina entered the quarterfinals in women’s singles by beating Japan’s Eri Hozumi 6-1, 6-2. Karman Kaur Thandi lost 6-2, 4-6, 6-7 to Chinese Taipei’s Liang En-Shuo. Rohan Bopanna and Sharan Divij beat Thailand's Nuttanon Kadchapanan and Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul 6-3, 6-1 to reach the men's doubles quarterfinals. Sumit Nagal and Ramkumar Ramanathan beat Chinese Taipei's Chen Ti and Peng Tsienyin 7-6, 7-6 to enter the men's doubles quarterfinals. The team of Divij Sharan and Karman Kaur Thandi lost 6-4, 3-56, 10-5 to Kazakhstan's Danilina A. and Nedovyesov A. in the round of 16.

However, Rohan Bopanna and Ankita Raina beat South Korea's Kim N. and Lee J. 6-3, 2-6, 11-9 to reach the round of 16 in the mixed team event.

In volleyball, India lost 18-25, 22-25, 13-25 to Vietnam in a women’s pool B match.

In handball, the women lost 19-49 to North Korea in a group A match.

In wrestling, Divya Kakran defeated Chinese Taipei’s Chen Wenling 10-0 in women’s freestyle 68kg to win bronze. Gyanender lost to Uzbekistan’s Islomjon Bakhramov 5-0 in the men’s Greco Roman 60kg quarterfinals. Manish lost 8-0 to Kazakhstan’s Kebispalev Almat in the 67kg quarterfinals. Kiran lost 4-2 to Kyrgyzstan’s Medet Kyy Aiperi in women’s freestyle 76kg quarterfinals.

In archery, the team of Deepika Kumari, Laxmirani Majhi, Promila Daimary and Ankita Bhakat finished seventh in the ranking round of recurve with a total score of 1908. In women’s individual recurve, Deepika ranked 17th with a score of 649. Promila ranked 21st with 642.

The men’s team was ranked eighth in recurve with a total scored of 1309. In recurve men’s individual event, Atanu Das was ranked 14th with 660, Vishwas 17th with 658 points, Jagdish Choudhary 39th with 638 points and Sukhchain 46th with 631.

In rowing men’s lightweight four, the team of Bhopal Singh, Jagvir Singh, Tejas Shinde and Pranay Naukarkar qualified for the final event.

In swimming, Virdhawal Khade made it to the final of the men’s 50m freestyle with the third best timing of 22.43 seconds. He finished fourth in the final with timing of 22.47 seconds, narrowly missing out on a medal. The third-placed Japanese swimmer, Shunichi Nakao clocked in at 22.46 seconds.