Asian Games 2018 : 5 Things We Learned on Day 2
Day 2 of the Asian games had so many Indian superstars on it's roster. Many of them were medal contenders. The day had the likes of Olympic Bronze medalist Sakshi Malik, Olympic Silver medalist P V Sindhu, India's another ace shuttler Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth, Vinesh Phogat in action. Also in action were the Men's and Women's Kabaddi Team, Men's Hockey Team, Shooters like Apurvi Chandela, Manvanjit Sandhu, Ravi Kumar, Deepak Kumar and Shreyasi Singh. So India had a lot of expectation going into the second day of the Asian Games. India managed to bag three more medals to its tally on day 2.
It was a very promising start to the day as Indian shooter Deepak Kumar managed to win a Silver Medal in the Men's 10m Air Rifle Event. He was 5th in the qualification round with total score of 626.3. Contesting along side him was another Indian shooter Ravi Kumar who along with Apurvi Chandela gave India their first medal on day 1. Ravi was one place ahead (at 4th place) of Deepak Kumar in the qualification round with a score of 626.7. In the Finals, a bad shot of 9.2 in the 6th series cost Ravi his chances for the medal. Whereas, Deepak upped the ante in Final's and shot consistently well throughout the Final Series. He ended the Final with a total score of 247.7 just falling short of China's Yang Haoran who finished with a games record of 249.1. The second Silver of the day also came in shooting, in the Men's Trap event where young 19-year old Indian shooter Lakshay won Silver hitting 43 out of 50. Apurvi also qualified for the finals in Women's 10m Air Rifle event. But unfortunately she could not win a medal and finished 5th.
Let us review the top 5 things from day 2 of the Asian Games 2018.
#1 Vinesh Phogat creates history
The biggest story of the day came in Wrestling when Vinesh Phogat created history by winning Gold in Women's Freestyle 50 Kg category. She became the first Indian women wrestler to win a Gold in Asian Games. Vinesh was in a fabulous form as she won two of her four bouts on technical superiority. On her road to the podium to finish with a Gold she beat China's Sun Yanan by 8-2, Korea's Kim Hyungjoo by 11-0 in the quarterfinals, Uzbekistan's Yakshimurato by 10-0 in the semi-finals and Japan's Irie Yuki by 6-2.
Unfortunately, other Indian Wrestlers were not able to add a medal to the tally. The biggest disappointment being Olympic Bronze Medalist Sakshi Malik. Sakshi lost in the semi-finals of her bout and she also failed to win her bronze medal match. Another medal contender Pooja Dhanda started so well to reach the semi-finals. On the other hand, Sakshi lost in the semis and was not able to win her Bronze Medal bout. All in all, it was a bittersweet performance in Wrestling on Day 2.