Asian Games: Lone ranger Avinash Sable wins historic gold in 3000m steeplechase

HANGZHOU — Avinash Sable made history at the Asian Games on Sunday by becoming the first Indian athlete to win the gold medal in the Men’s 3000m Steeplechase, leading from start to finish to clock a Games Record time of 8 minutes 19.50 seconds at Hangzhou.

This was India’s gold medal in Athletics in Hangzhou and also the fourth medal, coming on the third day of competitions in Athletics.

The Armyman from Maharashtra surged ahead from the start itself and took over the lead from the pack going into the second lap and after a couple of laps, the Sable opened up a decent gap that he continued to extend.

Though Sable cut down his pace and did not go all out in an attempt to go for gold as he did not want to take any risk as this is his last race of the season and Sable wanted to win his first gold in a major event.

Asian Games: Kynan Chenai wins bronze medal in men’s trap individual competition after leading team to historic gold

HANGZHOU — Having topped the standings in the qualifying stage, India’s Kynan Chenai could not ride the momentum and could manage only a bronze medal in the Men’s Trap Individual competition at the Asian Games here on Sunday.

Kynan had raised hopes of winning India’s first gold medal in Men’s Trap Individual since 1978 when Randhir Singh had bagged the gold in Bangkok. Kynan performed superbly along with Zoravar Singh Sandhu and Prithviraj Tondaiman to win a historic gold medal in the men’s Trap Team competition.

This was India’s first gold medal in the Trap Team competition, having won silver in three successive Asian Games from 1998 in Bangkok, 2002 in Busan and 2006 in Doha. It also completed a full set of medals for the veteran Zoravar Singh Sandhu, who had won a silver medal with Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Mansher Singh in 1998 and a bronze medal with the same partners in the 2010 edition in Guangzhou.

With this, India completed a highly successful campaign in shooting with 22 medals in all — seven gold, nine silver and six bronze medals. This is India’s best-ever medal haul in shooting competitions and overtakes by a huge margin the 13 medals the country had won in 2006 in Doha.

In Hangzhou, India finished second behind China who topped the table with 29 medals including 16 gold medals. Kazakhstan finished third with 10 medals including three gold.

So, Kynan must have been quite confident after helping India bag the gold medal in the Team competition.

However, things didn’t go as planned for him and he made some mistakes and had to be satisfied with a silver medal as he ended the competition with a score of 32 in the final to finish behind eventual gold medallist, Qi Ying of China (46) and Talat Al-Rashidii of Kuwait, who bagged the silver medal with a score of 45.

Keynan had topped the standings at the end of the qualifying rounds with a score of 122 out of a possible 125. There was a tie between four shooters including Al-Rashidi and Sandhu among them. Zoravar overcame their challenge in the shoot-off to finish second behind his teammate.

With their shooters at No.1 and 2 position, the Indians went into the final with confidence, However, he ended up being eliminated second among six finalists and finished fifth.

Kynan maintained his composure as the organisers took their time arranging equipment. Jynan made some mistakes in the early phases in the final and then failed to recover.

Asian Games: Men’s Trap team claims gold, women secure silver

HANGZHOU — The Indian shooting squad set itself up for a final hurrah in the shooting competitions at the 19th Asian Games here with the Men’s Trap Team picking a gold medal and the women’s team adding a silver and taking their tally to 21 medals in all, including seven gold.

They were in the hunt for more medals in the men’s and Women’s individual competitions.

The Men’s Trap team of Kynan Chenai, Zoravar Singh Sandhu and Prithviraj Todaiman bagged the gold medal with a Games Record score of 318 as it finished ahead of Kuwait and China, who took silver and bronze medals with scores of 358 and 354 respectively.

Chenai led the scoring for India with 122 points from a possible 125 at the end of the qualifying event with Sandhu second with 120 points. Todaiman had a score of 119.

The Indian men overcame a tough challenge from Kuwait, that included in its ranks the double gold medalist in skeet Abdullah Al-Rashidi, and China but triumphed in the end.

Chenai qualified for the final as the top ranked shooter while Sandhu too made it after coming through a shoot-off with three others as all four had a score of 120. He finished tied at second position.

In the Women’s Trap Team competition, the Indian trio of Manisha Keer, Rajeshwari Kumari and Preeti Rajak finished second behind China to claim the silver medal.

The Indian team produced a combined score of 337, finishing behind The Republic of Korea who shot a World Record score of 357. Kazakhstan bagged the bronze medal.

In a boost to the women’s team, Manisha Keer made it to the final in the individual section with a score of 114.

Also read: Asian Games: Indian Men’s Hockey Team stuns Pakistan, Abhay Singh wins gold