Asian Games 2018: Day 6 round-up as Tennis and Rowing increase India's medal tally
After a much disappointing Day Five, the Indian contingent was hoping to get back on track on Day Six.
Rowing was one of the sports, which proved to be especially unlucky for India on Day Five. Out of the five rowers in contention on the fifth day, none brought back medals. There were some close calls, however, as three of them finished fourth.
Day Six saw that change. Dushyant won the early Bronze for India in Men's Lightweight Single Sculls. The Indian rower was suffering from an illness while competing and had to be stretchered off afterwards. The pairing of Bhagwan Singh and Rohit Kumar followed Dushyant's heroics by winning the Bronze medal in Men's Lightweight Double Sculls.
However, the big news of the day came when the Indian Men's Quadruple team won only the second-ever Asiad Gold in rowing, giving India a positive start to the day.
Shooting was back on the sixth day of the pan-Asian tournament. The first one was Men's 300m Standard Rifle, in which India's Harjinder Singh and Amit Kumar narrowly missed out on a medal. Singh finished fourth, while Kumar was fifth.
There was also the first stage of qualification in Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol. Anish Bhanwala and Shivam Shukla finished third and 11th in this event.
The big event of the day was the Women's 10m Air Pistol Final, for which, both Heena Sidhu and Manu Bhaker had qualified. Bhaker, however, fell behind in the final once again and finished fifth. Nonetheless, there was to be a medal for India through Sidhu, who shot 219.2 to finish third.
The most surprising news of the day came from Squash, however. Saurav Ghosal, Harinder Pal Sandhu, Joshna Chinappa, and Dipika Pallikal had all qualified for their respective Singles Quarterfinals.
Over in the Men's Singles Quarterfinal for India, there was a tricky situation. Both the Indians were drawn against one another, meaning that India would confirm one medal at the cost of another. Ghosal came out on top between the two and now has confirmed a medal for India. The colour though is yet to be decided.
Moving on to Women's Singles, both Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal won their respective matches, confirming two more medals for India!
Another day, another final in Swimming. This time it was Sandeep Sejwal, who qualified for the Men's 50m Butterfly Final. However, he finished in the seventh position in the final itself.
Advait Page was also in action in the Men's 1500m Freestyle. Page did well to finish first in his heat but missed out on the final, due to him not being a top-eight seed.
Moving on to the sports which might have gone under the radar on an action-packed Day 6.
Bridge continued its proceedings on Day Six of the Games. The Indian Men's team who was 7th after nine rounds of qualification maintained their position after two more rounds. The mixed team also maintained their first position after five rounds of Round Robin 2.
The Super mixed team ended up in the sixth position after seven rounds.
Also continuing on Day Six was Sport Climbing. The three youngsters- Maibam, Bharath, and Shreya were once again competing, only this time in the Combined Bouldering event. However, these were merely qualification rounds in which the three athletes collected scores.
Pencak Silat was a new discipline being introduced on Day Six. There was an Indian representation in this one as well. Boynao Singh Naorem was present in the Men's 50 to 55 Kg Quarterfinal and was defeated 5-0.
Golf also continues on Day Six with the second Round of both Individual and Team events. The Women's team finished Round Two in the ninth place with the score of +2 while the Men's team remained second, bettering their score from -3 to -12.
There was also Indian representation in Fencing with the Women's Epee team contesting their matches. The team won their Round of 16 match against hosts Indonesia quite comfortably but lost in the subsequent round to China.
Equestrian was also in contention on Day Six. The Indian participants made a good start to the competition and are currently in high positions as the events continue.
Artistic Gymnastics were also in play on the sixth day. Dipa Karmakar finished fifth in the Women's Individual Balance Beam, while Yogeshwar Singh did not manage to put up a score in Men's Vault.
Badminton was back on Day Six of the Asian Games, with the men playing their first singles matches. Both Srikanth and Prannoy were in action. However, there was an early shock as Kidambi Srikanth was knocked out by Hong Kong's Vincent Wong in straight games. Later HS Prannoy also suffered the same fate at the hands of Thailand's Wangcharoen Kantaphon.
In Women's Doubles, however, the pairing of Ashwini Ponappa and Sikki Reddy progressed to the next round.
Day Five delivered a huge blow for India in terms of Kabaddi. The Men's team was knocked out for the first time since the sport was introduced in Asiad. However, on Day Six, the Indian Women team entered the arena with a solitary aim- winning the Gold medal. They were facing the team whose male counterparts had been India's conquerors a day earlier, Iran.
Nevertheless, Iran once again delivered a blow to India, as their Women's team beat India 27-24 to win the Gold medal. The Indian Women's team, who won Silver, would also have to settle for something other than Gold for the first time since 2010.
It was a disappointing day for Archery as well, as both the Recurve and the Compound Mixed team exited the competition at early stages.
Boxing also began its proceedings on Day Six. India had two competitors on Day Six- Gaurav Solanki and Manoj Kumar. While Solanki exited the competition at its earliest stage, Kumar progressed to the next round.
There were, however, some great results for India in team sports, as both the Indian Men's Handball and Hockey teams won.
The Indian Men's Handball team won a closely contested tie against Pakistan in their Group match. 28-27 being the final score.
On the other hand, the Indian Men's Hockey team beat Japan 8-0.
Finally, Tennis brought two more medals for India. Prajnesh Gunneswaran was beaten by Denis Istomin. As a result, he won the Bronze medal. However, there was to be a Gold medal in the sport as Bopanna and Sharan won the Men's Doubles competition.
Day 6 brought India both joy and disappointment. The Games continue tomorrow, on Day 7.