2022 Asian Games Day 5: Shooters continue to make merry, another medal in equestrian; Indian football team’s campaign ends

It was yet another day of shooting dominating the medals tally of India, while equestrians continued to make history at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou. Moreover, wushu gave something to cheer about in otherwise a disappointing and controversy-marred campaign. This has helped India hit a quarter-century in medals and currently stands fifth on the medal table.

The inclusion of team events this time around in the Asian Games is turning out to be a blessing in disguise for Indian shooters. It was yet another gold coming from the shooting range as the men’s 10m air pistol team pipped China 1734-1733 to claim the yellow metal. This is now India’s 13th medal in shooting, with more expected to come in the coming days. It could have been another med today in this sport had Sarabjot Singh not finished fourth in the final of the individual event. The mixed skeet team too failed to make it to the medal rounds and finished seventh overall in qualification.

While shooters are performing on expected lines, it is the medals in equestrian that have come as a pleasant surprise. While it was not to be a gold today, a score of 73.030 was enough for Anush Agarwalla to finish third in the final and fetch himself a second medal in Hangzhou. Sadly, another Indian in the fray, Hriday Chheda, who topped the qualification yesterday, got eliminated after his horse was found to be bleeding. On the other hand, Roshibina Devi Naorem settled for a silver medal after losing 0-2 in the final against her Chinese opponent. This is India’s second-ever silver medal in wushu in Asian Games.

While only three medals came on Thursday, it was not at all a bad day by any means as India confirmed four more medals; two each in tennis and squash. While the Indian duo of Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan notched a hard-fought 6-1, 6-7, (10-0) victory over South Korea to book their place in the gold medal match, it was a redemption time for Rohan Bopanna as he confirmed himself of at least a bronze partnering Rutuja Bhosale by entering into the semifinals of the mixed doubles event. In squash, both men’s and women’s teams made it to the semifinals after finishing second in their groups and they too are confirmed of a medal each.

2022 Asian Games: Good opening day for golfers, domination in hockey continues

It was the end of the Indian men’s football team run in Hangzhou as they lost to Saudi Arabia 0-2. India, to be honest, never looked like a cohesive unit even in group stages and had they been provided time for preparation it may well have been a different story altogether. Having said that, it will be a great learning curve for youngsters and Indian football will only go upward from there.

While his campaign in football came to an end, Indian golfers began their journey towards a podium finish on a bright note. Aditi Ashok was tied 2nd after the day’s play with a superb 5-under, while on the men’s side, the competition was fierce as even after hitting a scintillating 7-under, Anirban Lahiri found himself tied 9th on the opening day of the golf event. While golf began on a positive note for India, hockey continues to give hope of gold this time with the Indian men’s team registering a 4-2 win over reigning Asian Games champion Japan.

In other results of the day, Pranati Nayak had an off-day as she finished last in an 8-women vault final in gymnastics. The table tennis team too had a mixed day as mixed teams exited in the Round of 16. On the other hand, Achanta Sharath Kamal, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra made it to pre-quarters with easy wins in their respective singles matches. Two boxers advanced to the quarters with convincing wins. Swimmers qualified for as many as three finals in the day whereas, cyclists continued to disappoint in their respective events.

In case you missed it:

• ‘Ageless’ Oksana Chusovitina a lesson for ‘hot guns’ like Simone Biles following Asian Games heroics
• Vishnu Saravanan draws inspiration from Kobe Bryant to clinch bronze at Asian Games in Sailing

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