India kabaddi teams post emphatic wins to enter semifinals BOPANNA-SHARAN STORM INTO ROWER QUARTERS, ANKITA ON A ROLL BHOKANAL IN FINAL

Jakarta, Aug. 21: The Indian men’s and women’s kabaddi teams secured emphatic wins against their respective opponents to qualify for the semi-finals of the Asian Games here on Tuesday. The men’s team, a seven-time gold-medallist, bounced back from the shock 23-24 defeat against South Korea to beat Thailand 49-30 in their fourth and final Group A match. It had beaten Bangladesh 50-21 and Sri Lanka 44-28 before losing to South Korea.

In the first match of the day, the Indian women’s team defeated Sri Lanka 38-12 before trouncing Indonesia 54-22 in their final group match. The Indians had beaten Japan 43-12 and Thailand 33-23 in their earlier group matches. India will play against the second-placed team in Group B in the semifinals. The semifinals will be held on August 23. — PTI Palembang, Aug. 21: Top seeds Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan breezed into the men’s doubles quarterfinals while Ankita Raina entered the last eight of the women’s singles here on Tuesday.

Raina, ranked 189, overpowered world number 243 Eri Hozumi 6-1 6-2 in a round of 16 clash.

Compatriot Karman Kaur Thandi, however, was disappointed after losing to lower-ranked En-Shuo Liang of Chinese Taipei. The world number 196 lost a close match against the 278th ranked Liang, going down 6-2, 4-6, 6-7 (4) in the pre-quarterfinals.

Thandi also lost a close mixed doubles match alongside the experienced Sharan.

The Indians bounced back losing the first set before going down in the super tie-break. The eventual scoreline read 4-6, 6-3, 5-10.

However, India had a good day in the men’s doubles as both its pairings reached the quarterfinals. Bopanna and Sharan sailed past Thailand’s Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul and Nuttanon Kadchapanan 6-3 6-1 in another round of 16 match. Ramakumar Ramanathan and Sumit Nagal, who both are singles specialists and were told to pair up at the eleventh hour, put up a spirited show to outlast Taipei’s fourth seeds Chen Ti and Peng Hsienyin 7-6 (5) 7-6 (2). Bopanna and Raina are the sole Indian pair left in the mixed doubles draw after the exit of Thandi and Sharan. — PTI Jakarta, Aug. 21: Dattu Baban Bhokanal qualified for the men’s single sculls final round while the men’s lightweight four team also made it to the title race in the rowing competition.

Bhokanal topped heat number one repechage round of the men’s singles scull with a time of 7:45.71 to qualify for the final.

The men’s lightweight four team of Bhopal Singh, Jagvir Singh, Tejas Shinde and Pranay Naukarkar made it to the final round after finishing second in the repechage heat with a time of 6:51.88. The final will be held on August 23.

Spikers suffer another defeat Indian women’s volleyball team slumped to their second consecutive defeat, losing 0-3 to Vietnam in a Pool B preliminary match. — PTI