Asian Games: India overcome Pakistan in thriller to claim men’s squash team gold

HANGZHOU — India scored a sensational come from behind triumph over arch-rivals Pakistan in the final to win the gold medal in men’s Team squash at the Asian Games, here on Saturday.

India came back after losing the first match before Saurav Ghosal and Abhay Singh won their matches to seal 2-1 victory for India.

Abhay Singh defeated Noor Zaman of Pakistan, coming back from 2-1 games and facing match ball at 8-10 to level scores at 10-10 and then win the next two points and clinched a sensational victory for India.

It was sweet revenge for India as they had lost to Pakistan in the group stages but on Saturday came back strongly to win the gold medal.

This is India’s second gold medal in the team championships, having won the gold medal for the first time in 2014 in Incheon.

Saurav Ghosal made the win possible when he pulled India level after Mahesh Mangaonkar had lost the opening match to Nasir Iqbal 3-0.

Saurav defeated Mohammad Asim Khan 3-0, running circles around the Pakistani player.

Abhay Singh then clinched victory with a brilliant 3-2 victory, clinching the match 11-7, 9-11, 8-11, 11-9, 12-10 victory that had the entire stadium on the edge on their seats.

Asian Games: Aditi seven shots ahead, set for historic golf gold; Indian women golfers in top spot

HANGZHOU —  Aditi Ashok built up a huge seven shot lead and put herself in perfect position to deliver a historic golf gold, while carrying the Indian team into the top spot for one more at the 19th Asian Games, here.

Aditi played a stunning 11-under 61 and with one more round left, Aditi (66-67-61) is 22-under and seven ahead of the next placed player Arpichaya Yubol from Thailand.

Indian women have never won a medal in golf at the Asian Games, and only two men Lakshman Singh (1982) and Shiv Kapur (2002) won individual gold and India has won other medals in men’s team events. The last Indian medal in golf came in 2010, also in China at the Guangzhou Asian Games,

Aditi did play at the 2014 Games in Incheon, Korea, but as an amateur and finished 21st.

Aditi’s 11-under scorecard was five shots better than the next best round of the day. Aditi, who was fourth at the Tokyo Olympics, is now 22-under with rounds of 67-66-61 for 54 holes. Her closest rival, Arpichaya Yubol (67-65-69) is 15-under, while China’s Lin Xiyu (67-67-68) is 14-under.

The Indian women’s team moved up into the top spot in the team event, where it holds a one-shot lead over Thailand. India’s other two players, Pranavi Urs (71-68-70) at 7-under and Avani Prashanth (72-69-74) at 1-under are 11th and T-19.

Aditi’s stunning round also gave India a one-shot lead in the team competition. Aditi’s 11-under put alongside Pranavi Urs 2-under 70 helped Indian women make up five shots on the third day.

In team section India is now 29-under and are ahead of fancied teams like Thailand (28-under), China (26-under), Korea (20-under) and Japan (20-under.

In the men’s section, Anirban Lahiri, who suffered from extreme heat a day earlier, shot 2-over 74 as the heat affected a lot of players. Lahiri at 10-under was Tied-17th, while SSP Chawrasia with a 68 in the third round was T-20 and Khalin Joshi (69) was T-24. Shubhankar Sharma’s 76 saw him drop to T-34 at 3-under.

Hong Kong’s Taichi Kho (70) at 24-under leads the men’s section with Taipei’s Chien-Yao Hung (67) at 21-under and Korea’s Jang Yubin (68) at 20-under is third.

The Indian men are also out of the running for a medal, as they were eighth at a total of 32-under, which was a massive 26-shots behind Korea, while Thailand and Hong Kong share the second place.

Aditi has dropped just one shot in 54 holes and that came in the second round. She opened the third round with a birdie on second and added further birdies on fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth to get to 5-under. Then she landed her second eagle of the week on the short par-4 ninth to turn in 7-under 29. On the back nine a birdie on the 12th was followed by three more on 15th, 17th, and 18th to get to 11-under, the best score among this week.

Pranavi had three birdies against one bogey, while Avani had two birdies and two bogeys in the first 17 holes and then had a double bogey on the 18th in her 74.

Hong Kong’s Taichi Kho with rounds of 62-60-70 is 24-under and leads the men’s individual section by three shots. Chinese Taipei’s Chien-Yao Hung (65-63-67) at 21-under is second and Korea’s Jang Yubin (61-67-68) at 20-under are the top three contenders for the individual medals.

Asian Games: Rohan Bopanna, Rutuja Bhosale win gold in mixed doubles

HANGZHOU — Rohan Bopanna and Rutuja Bhosale defeated the Taiwan pair, the ninth-seeded Tsung-hao Huang and En-shuo Liang, 2-6, 6-3, 10-4 in the tennis mixed doubles final to win gold medal in the Asian Games, here on Saturday.

After going down in the first set 2-6, the Indian duo mounted an impressive comeback, securing the second set and forcing the match into a decisive tie-breaker.

In a one-hour and 14-minute contest, the Indian pair dominated the tie-breaker, ultimately winning it 10-4 and securing the gold medal.

Bopanna secured his second medal at the Asian Games, having previously clinched the men’s doubles gold in Jakarta 2018.

More details awaited

Asian Games: Sarabjot, Divya win silver for India in 10m air pistol Mixed Team shooting

HANGZHOU — India’s Sarabjot Singh and Divya TS Divya topped the field in the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team shooting event but eventually went on to lose to China’s Bowen Zhang and Ranxin Jiang of China to finish with a silver medal in Asian Games in Hangzhou here on Saturday.

Sarabjot, who won the gold medal in the Men’s 10m Air Pistol Team event, was in superb form and compiled a score of 291 out of a possible 300 in the qualifying round. Divya, who had won a silver in the Women’s 10m Air Pistol Team competition, shot 286 in the qualifying round as the Indians topped the standings with a score of 577.

The Chinese were at 576 and in second place.

But in the final, the Chinese turned the tables on the Indians, coming from behind to register a 16-14 victory and take the gold medal.

In the first-to-reach-16-points final, the Indians jumped to a 4-0 lead by winning the first two rounds — scoring 19.8 and 20.0 as against 19.7 and 19.5 by the Chinese in the first two series of two shots each.

The two teams were tied at 19.3 points in the third round before the Chinese won two points by winning the fourth round. The Indians won the next round to make it 7-3.

However, China won the next two rounds to level scores at 7-7. But the Indians again opened up a lead by winning the next two rounds. China won the next three rounds as the two teams engaged in a neck-to-neck battle.

With a couple of 9.3s and 9.5 shots hampering their progress, the Indians lost the duel 16-14 and had to be satisfied with a silver medal as Sarabjot managed only 9.9 in his final shot.

Both Sarabjot and Divya were happy with their performance and the way they fought in the final.

“It does feel good. We did a great job today. Thanks to my teammate as well. We gave it our best. I like the way I fought well in the finals. I really loved my shooting today, from my first shot to my last shot,” said Divya after the final.

Asked about his score of 9.9 in the final shot, the 22-year-old Sarabjot said, “I was a little bit nervous. There was too much shooting pressure.”

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