By Prarthana Mitra
As the Asian Games entered its tenth day on Tuesday, India scored some crucial points in athletics, racket sport, and archery again. Rio Olympics finalist PV Sindhu bagged the first silver in the badminton singles final, after Saina Nehwal picked up the bronze in Jakarta.
Settling for silver
23-year-old PV Sindhu lost the womens singles title clash to current world number one Tai Tzu-Ying, registering her third loss in a major event. She flourishing a historic finish to her Asiad campaign nonetheless, as the first Indian to reach a singles final in the history of the competition.
Tai was in control from the beginning with her sharp returns, which compelled Sindhu to resort to sharper attacks. The Taipei player, however, managed to vanquish Sindhu’s tacts with her deft and deceptive drop shots. It was over within 34 minutes, as Tai earned a match point with Sindhu netting a shuttle at 15-19.
The Indian mens table tennis team also settled for bronze after losing to South Korea in the semi-finals.
Missing the bull’s eye
In a dramatic final for the compound archery events, both men and women contingents won some, lost some.
As rounds went on in the quest for the elusive gold, South Korean teams defeated their Indian counterparts in a tense battle. The men’s team, comprising defending champions Abhishek Verma, Rajat Chauhan and Aman Saini, were in for a surprise when their lead was adjusted in a 229-229 tie at the end of four rounds. In the tie-breaker, the Koreans managed to shoot a near bull’s eye, a 10 and a 9, while India scored two 10s and a 9 and was forced to relinquish the top honours to Korea.
The women’s archery team also won the silver medal in the compound event, losing out to South Korea by a narrow margin 228-231.
Athletic gold
India added the ninth gold medal to its overall tally as sprinter Manjit Singh emerged victorious in mens 800 metres event. Within seconds of his feat, fellow-athlete Jinson Johnson crossed the finishing line, winning silver in the same event. They crossed the finishing line ahead of Qatar’s Abubaker Abdalla, with Singh clocking 1:46:15 in the final while Johnson clocked 1:46:35.
https://twitter.com/Sujithkumar07/status/1034428137738661888
In the first-ever mixed 4×400 metres relay, India’s team comprising Muhammed Anas, Hima Das, Rajiv Arokia and Poovamma Raju managed to clinch the second spot. The triple victory takes up the athletics contingent’s medal haul to ten, including 3 golds and 7 silvers.
In other sports, the Indian men’s team defeated Sri Lanka in their last Pool A hockey match. Pakistan defeated Indian in men’s Volleyball.
Pincky Balhara won the silver medal in womens 52 kg Kurash and Mallaprabha Jadhav settled for a bronze in the same event. At the end of the day, India occupied the 8th spot on the medal tally table led by China and Japan.
Prarthana Mitra is a staff writer at Qrius