Revision as of 10:13, 23 August 2018

Badminton

Knocked out in team quarterfinals

Biswajyoti Brahma, Shuttlers knocked out in team quarterfinals, August 21, 2018: The Times of India

PV Sindhu won her match but the rest faltered as the Indian shuttlers failed to put it across Japan and crashed out in the women’s team quarterfinals at the Asian Games. The Indian men’s team did no better, going down to Indonesia in the team quarterfinals later in the day.

Sindhu gave India a winning start in the first singles, beating Akane Yamaguchi in straight games in 44 minutes. The Indian, who enjoyed a 7-4 head-to-head advantage over the Japanese going into the match, was tested by her rival but she used her experience to prevail in the contest 21-18, 21-19.

India wasted the lead in the next match itself when their doubles pair of N Sikki Reddy and Arathi Sara Sunil went down tamely in the doubles 15-21, 6-21 in 34 minutes against Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota.

All hopes then rested on veteran Saina Nehwal to regain India’s lead, but she failed to deliver. After losing the first game in the match against Nozomi Okuhara 11-21, Sania made a spirited comeback taking the second game 25-23. But her rival ran away with the match in 71 minutes by taking the third game 21-16.

This was Saina’s second straight loss against Okuhara, who had beaten the Indian in the World Championships last year.

Sindhu later tied up with Ashwini Ponnappa in the fourth match, but failed to do much as Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi wrapped it up 21-13, 21-12 to dash India’s hopes. “They had a strong defence and had prepared well for this match. We tried hard, but it did not work out for us,” Sindhu said.

The men’s team also faced a similar fate as they went down against Indonesia 1-3, with HS Pannoy registering the lone victory for the Indians.

The Indians were caught on the wrong foot when their No. 1 player Kidambi Srikanth was stunned by Anthony Sinsuka 21-23, 22-20, 10-21 in just over an hour. The Indians failed to recover from that setback. They lost the next match, a doubles contest, by three games.

Prannoy delayed the inevitable by winning his tie against Jonatan Christie 21-15, 19-21, 21-19 but Indonesia sealed the issue by winning the doubles match that followed.

Hockey

August 21, 2018: The Times of India

The Indian hockey team started its campaign at the Asian Games on Monday here with a 17-0 mauling of hosts Indonesia in a Pool A men’s hockey match as the defending champions chose the contest to test their preparedness for tougher matches. India pumped in goals at will against the hapless hosts with Dilpreet Singh, Mandeep Singh and Simranjeet Singh scoring three apiece. Coach Harendra Singh later said the match helped India get used to the playing conditions in the tournament. “The score does not matter in this match as it was not about how many goals we scored. It helped us to read the pitch and the conditions. We also experimented with our game through

Rowing

Men’s quadruple sculls

August 20, 2018: The Times of India

Dushyant and men’s quadruple sculls team in finals:

Dushyant Chauhan and the Indian men's quadruple sculls team finished first in their respective heats to reach the finals of the rowing competition here on Monday. Dushyant clocked 7:43.08 to emerge the fastest in heat 1 and second overall behind South Korea's Hyunsu Park, who recorded 7:22.08. Starting off in lane 4, the quartet of Sawarn Singh, Dattu Baban Bhokanal, Om Prakash and Sukhmeet Singh qualified comfortably for the final, clocking 6:15.18 seconds. They finished the fastest overall.

Sepak takraw

August 20, 2018: The Times of India

India were assured of a maiden Asian Games medal in sepak takraw by progressing to the semifinals with a win over Iran, here. India defeated Iran 21-16, 19-21, 21- 17 in the first match to make a winning start to their campaign. They, however, lost to Indonesia 0-3 in the second match in men’s team Regu (team competition) Preliminary Group B but advanced to the last-four stage to be guaranteed of at least a bronze.

Shooting

Men’s trap: silver

LAKSHAY BAGS SILVER IN MEN’S TRAP, August 21, 2018: The Times of India

Young shooter Lakshay Sheoran punched above his weight to clinch a silver in the men’s trap competition at the Asian Games here on Monday. Lakshay, who came up the junior ranks to be in his first international year as a member of the senior squad, shot down 43 targets out of 50 in the final.

The 20-year-old had managed to hit 119 out of 125 targets in the qualification round. Lakshay jointly led after 16 shots in the final, but eventually lost to Chinese Taipei’s Kunpi Yang, who equalled the world record to emerge triumphant.

=  Rifle mixed team 

August 20, 2018: The Times of India

India opened their account in the 18th Asian Games with a bronze medal after Apurvi Chandela and Ravi Kumar cracked under pressure to finish third in the rifle mixed team shooting event. The Indians aggregated 429.9 after 42 shots in the 48-shot final and were in second spot for major part of the 48-shot finals before China overtook them to take the silver. The strong Chinese pairing of Ruozhu Zhao and Haoran Yang ended with a score of 492.5. Chinese Taipei’s Yingshin Lin and Shaochuan Lu claimed the gold, scoring 494.1.

It was a maiden Asian Games medal for Chandela, who will be aiming for a better colour medal in the 10m air rifle. Chandela is also a multiple time World Cup winner and had bagged gold at 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. World Cup bronze medallist Kumar, who is mentored by the great Abhinav Bindra, had won a men’s 10m rifle team bronze at last the edition at Incheon.

Tennis

August 21, 2018: The Hindu

Ramanathan, Raina advance to pre-quarterfinals: 

Singles specialists, including second seed Ramkumar Ramanathan and Ankita Raina, made a smooth start to their campaign. Ramanathan won the first set 6-0 against Wong Hong Kit but was stretched by the Hong Kong player in the second set before getting past 7-6 (4) on tie-break in a round of 32 match. Prajnesh Gunneswaran had it easy against Indonesia Rifqi M Fitriadi, winning 6-2, 6-0 to progress to the last 16. Ankita Raina beat Beatrice Gumulya 6-2, 6-4 in a round of 32. 

Wrestling

Women’s wrestling was introduced at the Games in 2002 in Busan.

Men’s 65kg

Biswajyoti Brahma, August 21, 2018: The Times of India

Bajrang Punia, who had virtually faced no resistance in all his bouts till the final of the men’s 65kg category, was stretched till the end by Japan’s Takatani Daichi.
A list of Punia's top medals, 2013-18
From: Biswajyoti Brahma, August 21, 2018: The Times of India

Bajrang Punia , who had virtually faced no resistance in all his bouts till the final of the men’s 65kg category, was stretched till the end by Japan’s Takatani Daichi. The Indian survived some anxious moments to ultimately emerge the winner [gold].

Women’s  50kg: gold

Biswajyoti Brahma, August 21, 2018: The Times of India’'

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Vinesh Phogat, from the Haryanvi stable of wrestling sisters of ‘Dangal’ fame, came up with a nearperfect game to clinch a historic gold, the first in for an Indian woman in wrestling in Asian Games. She outclassed Yuki Irie of Japan 8-2 in the 50kg category final.

It turned out to be a disappointing day for other Indian wrestlers as Pinki in failed to impress 53 kg category, while Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik (62kg), Pooja Dhanda (57kg) and Sumit (125kg) lost the chance to win bronze medals through repechage.