Indian cyclists finish 9th, 10th
Indian cyclists continued to struggle in the Asian Games as Deborah and K Vargheese finished 9th & 10th respectively in women's sprint qualifying at the Incheon International Velodrome here on Tuesday. Deborah and Vargheese clocked 12.118 and 12.897 with an average speed of 59.415 and 55.826 respectively to occupy the last two spots. China's Tianshi Zhong produced a timing of 10.780 to create an Asian Games Record and top the list, while Hong Kong's Sze Wai lee and China's Junhong lin were in the second and third position after clocking 10.831 and 11.116 respectively.
Disappointing day in the basket
After topping their group in the qualifiers, India had a disappointing outing in the opening game of the preliminary round as they went down against The Philippines 76-85 in the ongoing Asian Games basketball competition here on Tuesday. The Amritpal Singh-led side struggled from the start against a clinical Philippines, trailing 16-24 by the first quarter. Team Philippines gained ground in the second quarter, increasing the gap to 13 points and India were lagging behind 56-70 after the third quarter. The Scott Flemming coached team tried to pull back things in the final quarter but failed to play catch-up against a much superior outfit, at least on the particular day. Clubbed with Iran and Philippines in Group H of the preliminary draw, India will need to win their next match to have a chance of moving ahead. The Indian cagers will next play Iran, who are yet to play a match in the preliminary draw.
Bad ride at equestrian event
Indian women Shruti Vohra and Nadia Haridass finished a disappointing 8th and last respectively in the Women's Dressage Individual Intermediate event at Equestrian completion of the 18th Asian Games, here on Tuesday. The event was won by by South Korea's Dongsen Kim while compatriot Youngshik Hwang got the silver. Rischka Gading of Indonesia won the bronze in the event. Shruti riding a horse named 'Akira' scored an average 69.375 per cent having scored 71.6 percent in the 'Artistic' round while she could manage only 67.15 per cent in the 'technical' round. Her standing in the two rounds were 9th and 8th respectively. Nadia Haridass finished 15th and last in the event with a poor score of 60.35 with only 57.9 per cent in the 'Technical Round' while she could score only 62.8 per cent in the 'Artistic' round.
The deadweights
Indian weightlifters continued with their listless display at the 17th Asian Games as K Ravi Kumar and Punam Yadav failed to impress in their respective men's and women's events, here on Tuesday. K Ravi Kumar failed to find a place in Group A of Men's 77 kg category and ended up competing in Group B. Although he finished second in Group B, it was not enough to book him a berth in the medal round (Group A), which is scheduled later in the day. Silver medallist at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Ravi Kumar lifted a total of 313kg after an effort of 141kg in snatch and 172kg in clean and jerk. Meanwhile, Satish Sivalingam, whose name was there in the initial start list, did not take part in the competition. Sivalingam had won a gold at CWG. In women's 63kg division, Punam, who had bagged a bronze medal at CWG, finished a lowly seventh in the field of nine lifters. She could lift an overall 200kgs (90+110) even as the gold medallist in her category lifted 261kgs to create a world record. Chinese Taipei's lin Tzu Chi broke the world record in not just the total weight but also in clean and jerk to win the yellow metal. She hoisted 145kg for the clean and jerk record, while lifting 116kg in snatch for the Asian Games record. China's Deng Wei settled for a silver with a lift of 259kg (115+144) while Jo Pok-Hyang of North Korea pocketed the bronze after an effort of 247 kg (107+140).
Rowers shine, enter medal round
Indian rower Sawarn Singh Virk made the final of men's single sculls and the double sculls and lightweight quadruple sculls teams too entered the medal round of the 17th Asian Games here on Tuesday. Sawarn claimed the top place in repechage 1 of the 2000 metre race in seven minutes and 10.93 seconds. The 24-year-old Indian finished ahead of Memo Memo of Indonesia, who took seven minutes and 13.38 seconds to complete the race at the Chungju Tangeum lake Rowing Center. The double sculls team comprising Om Prakash and Dattu Baban Bhokanal bagged the first place in repechage 2 of their event. They took six minutes, 40.77 seconds to finish ahead of South Korea which also advanced to the final. In lightweight men's quadruple sculls repechage 1, India's Rakesh Raliya, Vikram Singh, Sonu laxmi Narain and Shokendar Tomar finished second with a timing of six minutes and 13.97 seconds. In women's quadruple sculls repechage 1, Amanjot Kaur, Sanjukta Dung Dung, N Sarita Devi and Navneet Kaur had to be content with a fifth-placed finish after timing seven minutes and 51.39 ses to enter final B, not a medal round.