Indian shooters Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma bagged the gold and bronze medals respectively in the men’s 10 metre Air Pistol final in the ongoing 2018 Asian Games yesterday.
Chaudhary, 16, clinched the gold after producing an Asian Games record score of 240.7. It was India’s third gold medal at the ongoing Games.
Verma, 29, stood third scoring 219.3, after finishing sixth in the qualification round.
Tomoyuki Matsuda of Japan secured silver with 239.7. He and Chaudhary pulled away for the gold medal battle with points of 220.1 and 220.5 respectively as Verma was eliminated after eight series.
Matsuda, 42, was leading the charge going into the ninth and final series having led after each of the series. But in the final series, he came up with first shot score of 8.9 to blow his chances as Saurabh overtook him with a 10.2 in his first shot of the series.
In the second shot of the series, Matsuda scored 10.3 but Saurabh did well with 10.4 to seal the title.
Sanjeev Rajput clinched a silver medal in the men’s 50 metre Rifle 3 Positions event after scoring 452.7 in the final. The 37-year-old had earlier bagged bronze in the same category at the 2006 Doha Asian Games.
China’s Hui Zicheng secured the gold medal after scoring 453.3, while Japan’s Takayuki Matsumoto settled for bronze with a score of 441.4.
Wrestler Kakran takes bronze
Indian wrestler Divya Kakran took bronze in the women’s 68 kilogram freestyle category yesterday.
Kakran thrashed Chen Wenling of Chinese Taipei by technical superiority in the play-off for the bronze medal. A wrestler is declared winner by technical superiority when he takes a lead of 10 or more points.
The Indian hardly broke a sweat, taking just one minute and 29 seconds in the first period to open up a 10-0 lead which gave her the win.
First-ever sepaktakraw medal for India
India got its first-ever medal in sepaktakraw as it settled for a bronze medal after losing to Thailand in the semi-finals of the men’s team regu event yesterday.
India, after finishing second in Group B, lost 0-2 to sepaktakraw powerhouse Thailand in a semi-final to get a podium finish.
Indians ensure four
medals in wushu
India’s Naorem Roshibina Devi, Santosh Kumar, Surya Bhanu Pratap Singh and Narender Grewal assured themselves of a medal each after advancing to the semi-finals of their respective categories in the wushu competition.
This is the best ever performance by India in wushu at the Asiad.
Naorem defeated Mubashra of Pakistan 2-0 in the quarter-finals of the women’s sanda 60 kilogram category. Naorem will take on Cai Yingying of China in the semi-finals, for a shot at the gold medal.
Later, Kumar edged out Phitak Paokrathok of Thailand 2-1 in the last eight stage of the men’s sanda 56kg division. Santosh will take on Bui Truong Giang of China in the semi-finals.
Singh defeated Jean Claude Saclag of Philippines 2-0 in the quarter-finals of the men’s sanda 60kg category. He will fight Iran’s Erfan Ahangarian for a place in the final.
In the men’s sanda 65kg quarter-finals, Grewal beat Akmal Rakhimov of Uzbekistan 2-0. He will meet Foroud Zafari of Iran in the semi-finals.
Gold medallist Saurabh Chaudhary (left) of India and bronze medallist Abhishek Verma pose with their medals after the men’s 10m Air Pistol podium in Palembang, Indonesia, yesterday. (Reuters)
