Shooters Apurvi Chandela and Ravi Kumar today gave India its first medal of the 18th Asian Games being held in Indonesia.
In the Finals of the 10-metre Air Rifle Mixed Team event, the pair finished third with 429.9 points to bag a Bronze. Chinese Taipei took home the Gold, while China settled for the Silver. Apurvi and Ravi had entered the Finals after finishing second in the qualification.
However, in the 10-metre Air Pistol Mixed Team event, the Indian pair of Manu Bhaker, the 16-year old Commonwealth Games and World Cup Gold medalist, and Abhishek Verma failed to qualify for the Finals after they ended sixth in the Qualification.
Another CWG Gold medalist Shreyasi Singh and Seema Tomar are now figuring in the Qualification of Women’s Trap event, with Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Lakshya featuring in Men’s Trap.
In Wrestling, Sushil Kumar, who won a Bronze at the Games in 2006, had a disappointing outing today as he was beaten 5-3 by Adam Batirov in the Men’s 74 kgs Qualifications.
Sushil is out of the race of a Gold medal, but still has a chance for a medal with a repechage. Sandeep Tomar, however, made it to the quarterfinals of Men’s 57 kg division. Bajrang Punia, Pawan Kumar and Mausam Khatri are also in action today.
In Swimming, Sajan Prakash and Srihari Nataraj today qualified to their respective Finals. While Sajan finished second in the heats of Men’s 200 metres Butterfly event, Nataraj ended first in the Men’s 100 metres Backstroke qualification. The Finals will be held in the evening.
In Rowing, Om Prakash and Sawarn Singh qualified to the Men’s Double Sculls Finals with a first place finish in the heats. Malkeet Singh and Gurinder Singh also qualified to the Final in Men’s Pair event.
In Kabaddi, the Indian Women’s team began their campaign with a 43-12 win over Japan in their opening Group-A game.
In Women’s Basketball, India lost their opening group game against Chinese Taipei, 61-84.
The Indian Women’s Hockey team will kick off their campaign against Indonesia in the evening in their first Pool-B match.
In Badminton, world number eight Kidambi Srikanth will lead the Indian Men’s team when it faces the Maldives in the Round-of-16.
