Palembang: Heena Sidhu put behind a modest qualification to win her maiden Asian Games individual medal on Friday, her bronze in women’s 10m air pistol taking India;s haul at the Jakabaring Shooting Range to nine.
Sidhu came from behind in the finals and was just 0.1 from the lead after she produced a 10.8 on the 21st shot. Her next shot was a 9.6 and her overall score of 219.2 could only give her a bronze.
Sixteen-year-old Manu Bhaker was left disappointed again, this time in her main event, finishing fifth. The gold went to China’s Wang Qian, whose 240.3 was a Games record.
Top Indian shuttlers Kidambi Srikanth and H S Prannoy were knocked out after suffering shock defeats in the second round of men’s singles on Friday. It was a disappointing end for India’s campaign in men’s singles as Srikanth and Prannoy failed to raise the bar after their early exits from the Nanjing World Championship early this month. After Srikanth lost 21-23, 19-21 to Wong Wing Ki Vincent of Hong Kong in a 43-minute duel, Prannoy too followed suit, going down 12-21, 21-15, 15-21 to Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen.
Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy, however, reached the quarter finals with a thrilling 21-17, 16-21, 21-19 win over Malaysia’s Chow Mei Kuan and Lee Meng Yean in women's doubles.
India were assured of three medals in squash with Saurav Ghosal, Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal Karthik advancing to the semi-finals of their respective singles events. Top seed Saurav beat compatriot Harinder Pal Sandhu 9-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-7 in the quarter final before Dipika recorded an easy 11-5, 11-6, 11-8 win over Japanese Kobayashi Misaki in women's singles. Joshna, then, defeated Hong Kong’s Chan Ho Ling 11-5,12-10, 5-11, 12-10.
In gymnastics, India’s campaign ended without a medal after Dipa Karmakar finished fifth in the balance beam event final here. Dipa, who was the fifth gymnast to perform on the beam, finished at the same spot with a score of 12.500 in the eight-woman final. She had scored 12.750 in the qualification round. China’s Chen Yile clinched the gold with a score of 14.600.
Iran hurt India's pride in kabaddi yet again as they delivered a second straight knockout punch to the sport’s most successful nation in the women's gold medal match. The two-time defending champions were shocked 24-27 in a thrilling final.
In boxing, veteran Manoj Kumar (69kg) eased into the pre-quarters but Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Gaurav Solanki (52kg) went out with a stunning opening-round loss. Manoj prevailed 5-0 over Bhutan's Sangay Wangdi to make the last-16 stage.
In archery, India’s struggling recurve archers were in for more shock with Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das suffering an upset defeat at the hands of Mongolia via shootout.
The 4-5 loss in the mixed team quarter finals left the Indian squad shell-shocked as Deepika yet again floundered in pressure situation, finding a seven in the second shot of the shoot-off, which led to their ouster. Meanwhile, India’s compound team of Abhishek Verma and Jyoti Surekaha moved to the quarter final.
Kshitij Naveed Kaul produced a superb 68 as Indian golfers held on to the second position to stay in contention for a medal in men’s golf.
PTI
