Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
It was India’s most successful day at the Asian Games so far, with two golds, three silvers and two bronze medals. The kabaddi teams retained their crowns and Sawan Barwal scripted marathon history, but there were also missed medal opportunities and injury setbacks. The twin golds took India back into the top 10 in medal standings and their tally to 30 medals.
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ASIAN GAMES LIVE: SEPT 26 UPDATES | MEDAL TABLE
The squash contingent also had a memorable day, with Anahat Singh and Abhay Singh reaching the women’s and men’s singles finals respectively. Both are now one win away from securing India’s first-ever Asian Games singles squash gold and, crucially, a qualification berth for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
Anahat produced one of the biggest wins of her career, fighting back from 0-2 down to stun Japan’s world No. 6 Satomi Watanabe 9-11, 11-13, 12-10, 11-6, 11-3. Abhay, meanwhile, defeated Pakistan’s Muhammad Irfan 11-3, 12-10, 11-6 in the men’s semifinal.
Joshna Chinappa and Velavan Senthilkumar added another bronze in mixed doubles squash after losing their semifinal to Hong Kong’s Lee Ka Yi and Tang Ming Hong. For Joshna, it was her sixth Asian Games medal.
India’s kabaddi teams delivered a golden double. The women’s side defeated Iran 37-34 before the men’s team overcame the same opponents 40-34 in a thrilling final. The men’s victory was particularly significant after the chaos surrounding the Hangzhou final three years ago, when India beat Iran 33-29 following a lengthy refereeing controversy. It was the men’s team’s ninth Asian Games gold and their biggest winning margin against Iran in the last three editions.
The men’s hockey team also kept its gold-medal bid alive, defeating Japan 2-0 to confirm its place in the semifinals.
In shooting, Tilottama Sen, Vidarsa K Vinod and Ashi Chouksey won silver in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions team event. India finished with 1,763 points, behind China, who equalled the Games record with 1,773.
Tilottama and Vidarsa also qualified for the individual final, but both missed the podium, finishing fourth and fifth respectively.
SAWAN SCRIPTS MARATHON HISTORY
Sawan Barwal’s silver was arguably India’s most historic medal of the day. The Himachal Pradesh runner clocked 2:11:37 to finish behind Japan’s Ichitaka Yamashita, ending India’s long wait for a men’s Asian Games marathon medal. Barwal also lowered his own national record, having become the first Indian to break 2:12 for the marathon earlier this year. He is only the fourth Indian to win an Asian Games marathon medal.
MIXED DAY ON TRACK
On the track, Tajinder Pal Singh Toor missed out on a hat-trick of Asian Games shot put golds, settling for silver. The reigning champion produced a strong performance on a rainy evening but could not complete a third successive triumph.
Prachi Chaudhary also had reason to celebrate, winning her first individual Asian Games medal with bronze in the women’s 400m. Her podium finish added to India’s athletics haul on a day that brought both encouraging performances and painful setbacks.
Tejaswin Shankar finished the first day of the decathlon at the top of the standings with 4,338 points, holding an 88-point lead over China’s Chen Xinghua. He produced his strongest performances in the long jump and high jump, clearing 7.53m and 2.18m respectively, both field-best efforts.
Shankar clocked 10.98 seconds in the 100m, threw 13.16m in the shot put and ran 48.59 seconds in the 400m. He will compete in the remaining five events on Sunday.
Animesh Kujur advanced to the men’s 200m final, while Yoonus Shah and Gulveer Singh also progressed to the men’s 1,500m final.There were, however, some painful exits. Jyoti Yarraji did not start the women’s 100m hurdles heats because of injury, while national record-holder Praveen Chithravel was forced out of the triple jump final after pulling up with a hamstring injury during his first attempt.
Parul Chaudhary and Pooja narrowly missed medals in the women’s 1,500m, while Vishal TK finished outside the podium in the men’s 400m after having earlier won a medal in the mixed 4x400m relay.
LAKSHYA AND AYUSH EXIT, GAYATRI-TREESA IMPRESS
The badminton campaign produced contrasting results. Lakshya Sen suffered a second-round exit, going down 12-21, 21-15, 14-21 to Singapore’s former world champion Loh Kean Yew.
Ayush Shetty, meanwhile, advanced to the pre-quarterfinals after brushing aside Kazakhstan’s Makhsut Tajibullayev 21-7, 21-7, but was knocked out in the third round by Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen.
Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly produced one of the day’s biggest wins in women’s doubles, stunning world No. 3 Japanese pair Mayu Matsumoto and Yuki Fukushima 24-22, 21-18 to reach the quarter-finals.
Unnati Hooda also pulled off a major upset, beating Indonesia’s world No. 6 Putri Kusuma Wardani 21-19, 21-13 in straight games to reach the women’s singles quarter-finals. The 19-year-old had earlier battled past Malaysia’s Wong Ling Ching 21-14, 20-22, 21-19.
The singles players faced an unusual scheduling challenge, with two rounds packed into the same day. HS Prannoy, a former Asian Games bronze medallist, took to X to express his displeasure, pointing to the difficulty of playing two high-intensity singles matches in a day.
DHIRAJ HITS THE MARK ON ARCHERY DAY 1
On the opening day of archery, Dhiraj Bommadevara stole the show, smashing the Asian Games qualification record in men’s recurve with 698 points.
The world No. 4 Indian topped the qualification standings, bettering the previous record of 690, and also set a new national record.
- Men’s recurve individual: Dhiraj Bommadevara topped qualification with 698 points, earning the No. 1 seed. Neeraj Chauhan finished 20th with 676, while Yashdeep Bhoge was 25th with 665.
- Men’s recurve team: India finished third in qualification with 2,039 points and advanced to the knockout rounds.
- Women’s compound individual: Chikitha Taniparthi topped qualification with 705 points, just one point short of the Games record.
- Women’s compound team: India finished second with 2,099 points, level with China.
- Women’s recurve individual: Kumkum Anil Mohod finished 10th with 666 points, while Kirti Sharma was 20th with 653 and Ankita Bhakat 25th with 643.
- Women’s recurve team: India finished sixth and qualified for the knockout rounds.
- Men’s compound individual: Sahil Jadhav finished fifth with 709 points, while Ganesh Mani Ratnam Thirumuru and Kushal Dalal finished 14th and 16th respectively.
- Men’s compound team: India finished third in qualification and advanced to the knockout rounds.
MEDALS WON
- Kabaddi: India’s women’s team beat Iran 37-34 in the final to win gold.
- Kabaddi: India’s men’s team beat Iran 40-34 in the final to win gold.
- Athletics: Sawan Barwal won silver in the men’s marathon in 2:11:37.
- Shooting: Tilottama Sen, Vidarsa K Vinod and Ashi Chouksey won silver in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions team event.
- Athletics: Tajinder Pal Singh Toor won silver in the men’s shot put.
- Athletics: Prachi Chaudhary won bronze in the women’s 400m.
- Squash: Joshna Chinappa and Velavan Senthilkumar won bronze in mixed doubles.
MISSED MEDALS / KEY RESULTS
- Shooting: Tilottama Sen finished fourth and Vidarsa K Vinod fifth in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions individual final.
- Badminton: Lakshya Sen lost to Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew in the second round, while Ayush Shetty was knocked out by Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen in the third round.
- Athletics: Praveen Chithravel was forced out of the triple jump final after pulling up with a hamstring injury.
- Athletics: Jyoti Yarraji did not start the women’s 100m hurdles heats due to injury.
- Athletics: Parul Chaudhary and Pooja missed out on medals in the women’s 1,500m.
- Athletics: Vishal TK missed the men’s 400m podium.
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
