Experienced Heena shoots bronze
JAKARTA/PALEMBANG:EXPERIENCED Indian shooter Heena Sidhu earned her first individual medal in the Asian Games as she got a bronze medal in the women’s 10m air pistol even.
Heena scored 219.2 in the final. Qian Wang of China won gold with a Games record score of 240.3, while South Korea’s Kim Minjung took the silver with a score of 237.6. Manu Bhaker finished fifth with a score of 176.2.
DEEPIKA’S TRIP ENDS IN TEARS
India’s struggling recurve archers were in for more shock with Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das suffering an upset defeat at the hands of lower-ranked Mongolia in the Asian Games here via shootout. The 4-5 loss in the mixed team quarterfinals left the Indian squad shell-shocked as Deepika yet again floundered in pressure situation, finding a seven in second shot of shootoff, which led to their ouster.
Meanwhile, the Indian compound mixed archery team of Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Abhishek Verma lost to Iran in the quarter-finals. Jyothi and Abhishek lost 153-155 to the Iranian pair of Fereshteh Ghorbani and Nima Mahboubi Matbooe.
SQUASH STARS IN SEMIS
Saurav Ghosal, Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal Karthik registered convincing wins to assure India of medals in squash as they entered the semi-finals. Ghosal beat Harinder Sandhu 3-1 while Dipika beat Japan’s Misaki Kobayashi. Joshna Chinappa, meanwhile,
defeated Chan Ho Ling.
MIXED DAY FOR BOXERS
Veteran Manoj Kumar (69kg) eased into the pre-quarters but Commonwealth Games goldmedallist Gaurav Solanki (52kg) went out with a stunning opening-round loss, giving a mixed start to India’s boxing campaign.
Manoj prevailed 5-0 over Bhutan’s Sangay Wangdi to make the last-16 stage whereas Solanki was beaten in a unanimous verdict by Japan’s Ryomei Tanaka.
Theatre Garuda here, a similar plot got repeated on Friday. And yet again Indians were at the losing end. The women’s kabaddi team, like their male counterparts, failed to overcome a spirited challenge from Iran to settle for silver. India lost 24-27.
For the first time in Asian Games history, Indian teams will return with no kabaddi gold.
Iranian fans almost doubled up at the arena as they were excited after the men’s team’s stunning win over seven-time champions India in the semis a day before. It transformed into tears of joy at the end of the 40-minute battle as Iran surged to their first gold in women’s kabaddi beating the favourites.
The brain behind their victory is none other than an expert from India — Shailja Jainendrakumar Jain, who has instilled strict discipline and modern training methods in the team.
The Indian men’s team too had come to cheer their female counterparts, hoping them to avenge the defeat a day before but it was not to be. The Payal Chowdhury-led strong Indian side failed to handle the swift Iranian players.
India had taken a 6-2 lead in the first half, but lapses in defence led to their fault.
Iran, who were defeated 21-31 in the 2014 Incheon Asian Games final by India, appeared confident and aggressive from the very start. Young all-rounder Ghazal Khalaj, who exhibited her class both in attack and defence, made a big difference. She helped the side level scores at 13-13 after a change of ends and then kept scoring vital points in regular intervals.
She was almost untouchable for an experienced Indian side as only once she exited the court when Randeep Kaur Khehra touched her in a quick raid. But soon after her return to the mat, she helped the side achieve a lona and fetched three vital points for the side, which had a tremendous support of even their men’s team members from the spectator’s gallery.
At 21-25, diminutive Sakshi Kumari though managed three crucial points, helping India reduce the deficit to just one point, but Ghazal’s superlative catching of Sakshi in the next raid extended the lead (26-24). Thereafter, she earned another point to see the final hooter blowing high at 27-24, leaving all Indians shell shocked.
A dejected Indian coach Srinivas Reddy candidly admitted the team’s failure in crunch situations.