HATTRICK OF GOLD FOR IRAN LIFTER SALIMI

JAKARTA: Behdad Salimi Kordasiabi became only the third weightlifter in history to complete a hat-trick of Asian Games gold medals after vanquishing Saeid Alihosseini in a battle of the Iranian giants. Salimi Kordasiabi, who won gold medals at Guangzhou 2010 and Incheon 2014, battled countryman Alihosseini lift-for-lift as they turned the superheavyweight (+105kg) competition into a two-horse race. South Korean superheavyweight Kim Tae-hyun won gold in 1990, 1994 and 1998 and Iranian great Mohammad Nassiri won lightweight categories in 1966, 1970 and 1974.

Indian men’s table tennis team assured of medal

JAKARTA: The Indian men’s table tennis team edged past Japan 3-1 in the quarter-final to assure itself of a historic first medal at the Asian Games. G Sathiyan won two matches while veteran A Sharath Kamal won one as they ousted Japan, the last edition’s bronze medallists. World No.39 G Sathiyan beat world No. 19 Kenta Matsudaira 3-1 (12-10, 6-11, 11-7, 11-4) in the fourth match to secure a passage to the semi-finals and assure India of at least a bronze. It was Sathiyan who gave India a good start, beating Jin Ueda. Sharath then defeated Kenta Matsudaira 11-8, 12-10, 11-8 to take a 2-0 lead. Japan then stretched India to the fourth match after Masaki Yoshida beat Harmeet Desai 9-11, 14-12, 8-11, 11-8, 11-4.

Boxers Vikas, Amit and Dheeraj enter quarters

JAKARTA: Commonwealth Games medal winning duo of Vikas Krishan (75kg) and Amit Panghal (49kg) advanced to the quarter-finals of the Asian Games boxing competition. Vikas out-punched Pakistan’s Tanveer Ahmed in his pre-quarterfinal before Amit recovered from a rusty start to outwit Mongolia’s Enkhmandakh Kharhuu — both wins being unanimous verdicts. Joining them in the last eight was national champion Dheeraj Rangi (64kg), who defeated Mongolia’s Nurlan Kobashev. Commonwealth Games bronze winner Mohammed Husammuddin (56kg) lost a close contest against Kyrgyzstan’s Enkh-amar Kharkhuu to bow out.

Indian squash teams make winning starts in Jakarta

JAKARTA: India began its campaign on a winning note with both men and women recording 3-0 victories in the group stage of squash team events at the Asian Games. The men beat Indonesia 3-0 before overwhelming Singapore by the same margin. The women, who had only one match, beat Iran 3-0. The only familiar player missing for India was Saurav Ghosal but his absence did not put any extra stress on compatriots Harinder Pal Sandhu, Ramit Tandon and Mahesh Mangaonkar as all of them won their matches without conceding a game. In the women’s section, both Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal were on view with Tanvi Khanna taking the third spot.