Bagging three silver and two bronze medals, India is off to a good start on Sunday at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. In the Women's 10m air rifle team event, India's Ramita Jindal, Mehuli Ghosh and Ashi Chouksey won India's first silver medal.
While yet another silver was bagged by Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh in Rowing lightweight men's double sculls.
Further medals were fetched in rowing with Babu Lal Yadav and Lekh Ram winning bronze in men's pair with a time of 6:50.41 sec behind the gold medallists Hong Kong, China (6:44.20 sec) and Uzbekistan 6:48.11.
Indias Babu Lal Yadav and Lekh Ram celebrate at the podium after winning bronze medal in Mens Coxless Pair event at the 19th Asian Games, in Hangzhou, China | PTI
Meanwhile, in rowing, Men's coxed eight event between China and India saw a tough fight 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.
India had sent a huge contigent of 33 rowers at the continental games. Taking to X, Sports Minister Anurag Thakur congratulated the teams. "HATTRICK OF ROWING MEDALS FOR INDIA. What A Race! Thrilled to witness our rowers battling neck-to-neck, showcasing their grit and determination. Hats off to the team of Neeraj, Naresh Kalwaniya, Neetish Kumar, Charanjeet Singh, Jaswinder Singh, Bheem Singh, Punit Kumar, Ashish, Dhananjay Uttam Pande on securing 🥈 in Men's Coxed Eight with an impressive timing of 05:43.01. An inspiring example of perfect synchronization and exceptional teamwork at its finest!" he said.
"We missed training for 20 to 25 days as I was having lower-back pain two months back. Otherwise, we would have won the gold medal," said Arvind. He added that their next target will be to aim for glory at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Also, Ramita won bronze in women's 10m air rifle individual event.
In Pool A match, Men's hockey team beat Uzbekistan (16-0).
Also in another achievement, India has entered the women's cricket team final, beating Bangladesh by 8 wickets. With this, silver medal is assured. The team also set a record by becoming the first team to qualify for the Asian Games final. They will play the final against Pakistan/Sri Lanka.
Later in the day, boxing champion Nikhat Zareen is set to face a difficult match. Also, men's and women's football teams will be in action in group matches later.Â
