Asian Games: Avinash Sable wins silver in 5000m Athletics event

HANGZHOU — National record holder Avinash Sable bagged a historic silver medal in the Men’s 5000m – India’s first medal in this event since the Asian Games 1982, here on Wednesday.

Gulveer Singh, another Indian in the fray, finished fourth.

Earlier, Avinash Sable won the gold medal in men’s 3000m steeplechase on Sunday. Avinash’s exceptional performance shattered the previous Asian Games record in the 3000m steeplechase event.

He clocked an impressive time of 8 minutes and 19.50 seconds, surpassing the record set by Iran’s Hossein Keyhani in the Asian Games 2018, which stood at 8 minutes and 22.79 seconds.

Asian Games: Lovlina Borgohain bags silver in women’s 75kg boxing

HANGZHOU — The reigning world champion boxer Lovlina Borgohain bagged a silver medal in the women’s 75kg final at the 19th Asian Games, here on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old Indian failed to win the Asian Games title on her debut after losing 5:0 unanimous loss against China’s Li Qian in the final.

The Tokyo Olympics 69kg bronze medallist moved to the 75kg category after her pet event was scrapped from the Olympics.

Lovlina, who had secured an Olympic quota on Tuesday, won her quarterfinal against Suyeon Seong of Korea and semifinal against Maneekon Baison of Thailand bouts by unanimous decisions.

Her silver is India’s fifth boxing medal at Hangzhou. Earleir, Nikhat Zareen, Preeti Pawar, Narender Berwal and Parveen Hooda bagged bronze medals in their respective weight categories.

Asian Games: Anahat-Abhay pair takes bronze; Dipika-Harinder enter mixed doubles final in Squash

HANGZHOU — Indian mixed doubles squash pair of 15-year-old Anahat Singh and Abhay Singh on Wednesday suffered a 1-2 loss against Malaysian pair Aifa Binti Azman and Mohd Syafiq Kamal in the semifinal and settled with a bronze medal at the 19th Asian Games.

The Indians go down 11-8, 2-11, 9-11 against the Malaysians after giving a tough fight in the deciding game.

Earlier, the mixed team of Dipika Pallikal and Harinder Pal Singh sailed into the final with a 2-1 win over Lee Ya Ki and Wong Chi Him of Hong Kong.

Dipika and Harinder beat Lee and Wong 7-11, 11-7, 11-9 in the semifinal, advancing to the gold medal match. Notably, mixed doubles squash had made its debut at the Asian Games 2022.

In the first semifinal clash, Dipika and Harinder defeated Ka Yi Lee and Chi Him Wong 2-1, coming back from losing the first game to register a 7-11, 11-7, 11-9 win in the hard-fought encounter that lasted 38 minutes.

Dipika, who won two silver medals with the Indian women’s team in 2018 in Indonesia and 2014 in Incheon, Korea, has won the title in Women’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles at the World Doubles Championships while Harinder Pal has won a bronze medal in Mixed Doubles in the World Doubles Championships and was also part of the Indian team that defeated Pakistan in the final to win gold in Team competition in Hangzhou.

The experienced Indian duo went into the match with a lot of confidence. However, they found themselves 0-3 down and though they tried to fight back, the Hong Kong pair increased the lead to 5-1. The Indians cut it down to 4-6 but their rivals did not give them many chances and wrapped up the first game in 10 minutes, 11-7.

In the second game, the two teams stayed neck-and-neck till 3-3 after which the Indians won the next five points to open up an 8-3 gap. They went on to wrap up the game 11-7 in 10 minutes.

In the third game, the two teams went neck-and-neck from 4-4 as they regularly levelled scores till 9-9 after which Dipika and Harinder won the next two points to win the game and match to secure themselves a berth in the final.

The mixed doubles squash gold medal match will be played on Thursday.

India has already claimed a gold medal at the Hangzhou Games in the men’s team event and a bronze in the women’s team.

Also read: Asian Games: Stuck in second lane, Annu Rani produces season’s best to win javelin gold