Shooting team comes third in 10m pistol event, women’s badminton team loses in semis as India add two medals to tally
With two bronze medals in pocket and two more assured, it’s difficult to categorise the second day of the 17th Asian Games as good or bad. Indian athletes achieved a little, missed a little. For instance, Jitu Rai missed on a medal he looked set to win and the women’s badminton team disappointed even after a good start by Saina Nehwal.
The day started with the men’s 10m air rifle shooting team comprising Jitu, Samresh Jung and Prakash Nanjappa adding another bronze to the Indian medal tally, but ended with the women’s badminton team losing to hosts South Korea in the semifinals. In between, Dipika Pallikal and Saurav Ghoshal assured India of two bronze medals (minimum) as they entered the semifinals of their respective singles events.
PRAKASH HITS BACK
Standing beside the current hottest property in the Indian shooting world Jitu Rai and the man with the ‘golden finger’ Samresh Jung, Prakash Nanjappa goes almost unnoticed.
Though it was a team event (10m air rifle) that brought them together and Nanjappa too played an important part in helping India claim a bronze at the Ongnyeon International Shooting Range here on Sunday, his more famous partners got more attention.
But attention is not what he seeks. He is on a recovery mode since July last year when he suffered a paralytic attack during a competition in Grenada, Spain. later, he was diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy which paralysed the right side of his face. He underwent treatment for one-and-a-half months at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Bangalore before returning to the shooting range.
Nanjappa has been competing regularly since then and even won a silver at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. The ear infection that damaged a nerve and caused the paralysis attack has been cured but the muscles around that area haven’t got regenerated yet.
“The regeneration is taking more time than expected. The reason is that I am not able to rest properly,” Nanjappa told The Pioneer after the competition on Sunday.
Since there is no permanent physiotherapist for the shooters, Nanjappa’s recovery has been very slow and his right eye still causes problems for him. He said that all the shooters have requested the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) president Raninder Singh to send a physiotherapist with the team abroad.
This wasn’t the only problem that he was facing during the 10m air pistol finals on Sunday. Nanjappa suffered ligament rapture in the left leg during the recent World Championships. During the finals, he wasn’t able to put pressure on his injured leg.
But the humble Nanjappa didn’t take pride in playing with injury and yet winning a medal for the country. Instead he blamed his injury for the team missing on a potential gold medal. The difference between them and the winners Korea was just of one point. They also lost out on silver despite being tied on points because China hit the ‘inner ten’ one-time more than India.
FOR ONCE, JITU MISSED
Everything has to end somewhere. And Jitu is no exception. After helping India win another bronze medal — his seventh in a row — in the team event in the morning, Jitu lost in the 10m air pistol finals in the afternoon.
He shot brilliantly to finish second in the qualification round and looked set to win another gold till the end of the 10th series. He was tied with Cheongyong Kim — the eventual winner — for the first place. But a bad 11th shot — 7.8 — cost him dearly.
“I was shooting well. In that shot, one of the competitors hit a 10.9 and everybody started clapping for him. I was waiting for the claps to die down but then I realised I didn’t have much time take the shot and I pulled the trigger in haste,” Jitu said after the loss.
A shooter gets 50 seconds to aim and shoot in the elimination round and if he fails to shoot in that time period, he gets a zero.
Jitu is generally very calm and composed and doesn’t react much hastily. He takes his time to shoot and doesn’t indulge in aggressive play of shooting before others. But sometimes holding your shot till late can have drawbacks, especially when you a tired mind. “That’s the drawback of hitting late. But Jitu is like that. He is never in a hurry. It’s okay. It can happen with anyone,” mental conditioning coach Vaibhav Agashe said.
DIPIKA PIPS JOSHNA
From the beginning one thing was clear that India was going to secure a medal. What needed to be decided was who will wear it — Dipika Pallikal or Joshna Chinappa, who gave India their first Commonwealth Games gold in squash a month back. In the end, Pallikal piped her doubles partner Chinappa in a keenly fought contest.
Pallikal beat Joshna Chinappa in an all-Indian contest 7-11, 11-9, 11-8, 15-17, 11-9 at the Yeorumul Squash Courts here on Sunday.
Earlier in the day, Ghosal, who already has two Asian Games bronze medals to his name, defeated Pakistan’s Iqbal Nasir 11-6, 9-11, 11-2, 11-9 in a 58-minute long battle.
Saina and Co. settle for bronze
It was expected to be a tough match for India but no one had expected that they would lose so tamely. After a perfect start provided by Saina, India lost next three matches to go down to South Korea 1-3 in the women’s team badminton semifinals and settled for their maiden bronze medal at the Asian Games.
It was also India’s first medal in badminton since the men’s team won bronze in Seoul, 1986.
India’s No. 1 Nehwal pulled off a good win against Korean world No. 4 Sung Jihyun 21-12, 10-21, 21-9 in the opening match that lasted for 56 minutes.
However, P V Sindhu couldn’t close out her match despite winning the first game convincingly. She fought tooth and nail before losing to world No. 6 Bae Yeonju 21-14, 18-21, 21-13. It levelled the tie 1-1.
After that the onus was on the weak shoulders of the doubles team of Pradnya Gadre and N Sikki Reddey but they couldn’t even put up a challenge and lost 16-21, 17-21. After that Kim Hyomin thrashed P C Thulasi 21-12 21-18 to seal the tie in Korea’s favour.
National coach Gopichand expressed happiness at Indian women winning a medal. “I thought we could have pulled it off if Sindhu had won her match. I was also happy with the way Pradnya and Sikki played in the doubles. We need to build our bench strength. We have the talent,” he said.
Indians in action today
BASKETBAll
India vs Kazakhstan: Men’s Qualifying Round
CYClING TRACK
Men’s Sprint Qualifying: Amrit Singh and Amarjit Singh Nagi
SHOOTING
Women’s 10m Air Rifle team and individual: Raj Chaudhry, Apurvi Chandela, Ayonika Paul
Women’s 25m Pistol team and individual: Heena Sidhu, Rahi Sarnobat, Anisa Sayyed
SQUASH
Women’s Singles Round of 16 Match: Joshana Chinappa vs Song Sunmi (South Korea); Dipika Pallikal vs Gu Jinyue (China)
Men’s Singles Round of 16 Match: Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu vs Almezayen Abdullah (Kuwait)
TENNIS
Men’s Team Quarterfinal: India vs Kazakhstan
Women’s Team Quarterfinal: India vs Kazakhstan
WUSHU
Men’s Nanquan: Sajan lama
Men’s Nangun: Sajan lama
Women’s Sanda 52kg Quarterfinal: Yumnam Sanathoi Devi vs Sangidorj Amgalanjargal (Mongolia)
Men’s Sanda 60kg Quarterfinal: Narender Grewal vs Abdullah (Pakistan)
Men’s Sanda 75kg Quarterfinal: Rajani Deori vs van Ngo Sy (Vietnam).
VOllEYBAll
India vs Japan: Women’s Preliminary Round
SWIMMING
Men’s 50m Backstroke Heat: Prathapan Nair
FOOTBAll
India vs Jordan: Men’s First Round
HANDBAll
India vs Japan: Men’s Preliminary Round
India vs China: Women’s Preliminary Round
HOCKEY
India vs Thailand: Women’s Pool A Match
JUDO
Rajwinder Kaur vs Javzmaa Odkhuu (Mongolia)
Women’s +78 kg Quarterfinal