Asian games: India's best Final Tables

Asian Games: Somdev-Sanam win gold, Sania-Vishnu settles for silver

Guangzhou, Nov 22 (PTI)

Somdev Devvarman today became the first Indian to reach the men's singles final in the history of the Asian Games before winning the men's doubles gold with Sanam Singh but Sania Mirza and Vishnu Vardhan had to be content with a silver in the tennis competitions, here today. It was an extremely fruitful day for Somdev as he inched closer to a historic singles gold after piping Japan's Tatasuma Ito 6-2 0-6 6-3 in the semifinals to set up the summit-clash with top seed Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan. Later, he and Sanam Singh combined superbly to win first gold medal for India in the tennis event in this edition of the Games as the sixth seed pair shocked second seed Chinese Gong Maoxin and Li Zhe 6-3 6-7(4) 10-8 in the final.


Somdev Devvarman (R) and Sanam Krishan Gold medalist

However, gold eluded Sania yet again as she and Vishnu Vardhan, seeded sixth, lost the mixed doubles final 6-4 1-6 2-10 to second seed Taipei pair of Chan Yung Jan and Yang Tsung Hua. Somdev and Sanam's gold medal feat assumes significance as India landed here without star doubles pair of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, gold medallists of the last edition at Doha in 2006, who opted to play in World Tour Finals in London. Rohan Bopanna is also missing from the Indian line-up though he had failed to qualify for the World Tour Finals.
Sania had yesterday settled for a bronze medal in the women's singles. At Doha Games she had won silver in singles and had won a gold in mixed doubles with Paes. Somdev, a gold medalist at Commonwealth Games, continued to be India's flag bearer in the men's singles. Before him, no Indian had managed to enter men's singles final and India had won only three bronze medals in men's singles in Asian Games. Leander Paes had won it in 1994 in Hiroshima Games and Mahesh Bhupathi and Prahlad Srinath had won it during 1998 Games in Bangkok. Earlier, on the day, in the baseline slugfest that lasted almost two hours, second seed Somdev pocketed the opening set against Ito, ranked 195, with a measure of comfort but was then blown off the court by the fourth seed Ito, who clinched the second 6-0.
Things were looking difficult for the Indian world no 106 when he and his rival traded service breaks in the first four games. Somdev then staged an excellent rally under pressure by saving two break points in the fifth game. That was the turning point as Somdev regained poise and broke his rival for the third time, this time decisively, before taking the set 6-3. Istomin was too good for third-seeded Japanese opponent Go Soeda and completed a facile 6-1 6-0 victory.

Asian Games: Athletes provide the sparks as India clinch three gold medals

GUANGZHOU: The athletes provided a huge boost to the country's lacklustre campaign in the 16th Asian Games by fetching two gold medals while Ronjan Sodhi brought an end to the gold drought in shooting as India bagged as many as nine medals on an eventful ninth day of competitions on Sunday.

After a disappointing medal collection on the first week of competitions, long distance runner Preeja Sreedharan and steeple chaser Sudha Singh stole the thunder with their gold-winning feats on the track to raise hopes of a top ten finish for India on the medal table.

Ace shooter Ronjan Sodhi finally brought an end to the shooting contingent's gold drought by taking the honour in the men's double trap event.

The 31-year-old Sodhi, the world record holder shotgun shooter, made amends for his colleagues' miserable campaign and provided the first gold medal from the shooting range, which has not been too productive for the Indian shooters so far.

Kavita Raut fetched a silver in the women's 10,000m run while star tennis player Sania Mirza and grapplers Ravinder Singh (60kg Greco Roman) and Sunil Kumar Rana (66kg Greco Roman) were among those who claimed individual bronze medals.

Sodhi teamed up with Asher Noria and Vikram Bhatnagar to claim the bronze in the double trap team event while the women's archery team comprising Dola Banerjee, Deepika Kumari and Rimil Buriuly also chipped in with a bronze.

With the addition of nine more medals, India's medal tally climbed to five gold, 11 silver and 17 bronze. India had finished tenth on the medals table in the last Asian Games in Doha with a tally of 10-17-26.

Somdev Devvarman also assured India of at least a bronze medal by storming into the semifinals but Karan Rastogi went down fighting to top seed Denis Istomin in the men's singles tennis quarterfinals.

The men's hockey team also had a good day as they beat Japan 3-2 for their fourth consecutive win and finished atop the points-table in group B.

After a generally disappointing show, Sodhi turned the tide for the shooters as he clinched the top honours with a score of 186 after being second behind China's Pan Qiang at the end of the qualification stage.

Sodhi, part of the silver winning squad in the same event four years ago at Doha in Qatar, also reeled in the team bronze for India with his stupendous effort at the Guangzhou Shotgun Centre.

Sodhi shot 139 (47, 44 and 48) and was four shots behind China's Qiang going into the finals competed by six men and shot 47 in the final while the host nation shooter flopped with a 38 for an overall tally of 181.

This was the first gold from the much-heralded shooting squad after they started competing on November 13 and it was also the eighth medal hauled in by the marksmen and women who have so far won one gold, three silver and four bronze medals.

While Sodhi won the top honours in the individual, he combined with Asher Noria and Vikram Bhatnagar (16, 130) to rake in the team bronze medal with a combined aggregate of 403. Noria shot 46, 45 and 43 in the qualification while Bhatnagar came up with a sequence of 47, 40 and 43.

In the showpiece athletics event, long-distance runner Preeja Sreedharan clocked a personal best of 31:50:47 in the women's 10,000m final.

Kavita Raut, who won the bronze in the women's 10000m at the Commonwealth Games last month, walked away with the silver with a personal best timing of 31:51.44.

Later, Sudha Singh fetched India's second gold medal in track and field events and fifth overall by winning the 3000m Steeplechase event with her personal-best timing.

Sudha made up for her poor outing at last month's Commonwealth Games, clocking 9:55.67s to take the honours at the Aoti Main Stadium.

The Indian hopes of a gold medal in the women's singles tennis event were dashed when Sania Mirza settled for a bronze after losing to third seed Akgul Amanmuradova in the semifinals.

Sania lost the long-drawn-out battle, that lasted two hours and 49 minutes, against the big-serving Uzbek rival 7-6 (7), 3-6, 4-6 by committing a number of forehand errors to exit from the competition.

Indian women archers settled for a bronze in the team event after missing out on an opportunity to stun world number one South Korea in the semifinals shoot-off.

After qualifying for the semifinals with an easy 214-202 victory over North Korea, the Indian trio of Dola Banerjee, Deepika Kumari and Rimil Buriuly were leading by two points at 167-165 after 18 of the 24 arrows against South Korea.

But, the Indians failed to get over their nerves in the final six arrows (two each by the three archers) and the score was tied at 221 each in the end.

In the shoot-off, one of the South Korean trio hit the bull's eye while the other two scored 9 and 10. India could only come up with 9, 8, 9 to lose the tie.

In the bronze medal play-off against Chinese Taipei, India were trailing from the beginning and they were four points behind after 18 of the 24 arrows.

India scored 56 from the last six arrows as against 51 by their opponents to win the close contest 218-217.

Asian games: Ronjan Sodhi, Preeja Sridharan clinch Gold for Inida

In the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, Ronjan Sodhi and Preeja Sridharan clinched Gold medals for India in their respective events on the ninth day of competitions today. India also added one Silver and two bronze to their kitty to enhance their tally to Four Gold, 11 Silver and 14 Bronze.

In pic: Preeja Sridharan and Ronjan Sodhi

Ronjan Sodhi brought an end to the shooting contingent’s gold drought by the winning the medal in the men’s double trap shooting event. Preeja Sridharan bagged the second gold of the day by winning the women’s 10,000 metres race. Kavita Raut finished second for the silver in the same race.

Earlier in the day, the trio of Ronjan Sodhi, Ashar Noria and Vikram Bhatnagar won the bronze in the double trap team event.

The women’s archery team comprising Dola Banerjee, Deepika Kumari and Rimil Buriuly also won a bronze in the team event. It is the Indian women’s maiden Asian Games archery team medal.

Asian games: Preeja, Kavita win gold and silver in 10, 000 m

Nov 21, (Guangzhou)

Top Indian long-distance runner Preeja Sreedharan clocked a personal best of 31:50:47 in the women's 10,000m final to clinch the country's fourth gold medal at the Asian Games here today.

Kavita Raut, who won the bronze in the women's 10000m at the Commonwealth Games last month, walked away with the silver with a personal best timing of 31:51.44.

Sreedharan, who had finished fifth in both the 5000m and the 10,000m in the last edition of the Games in 2006, raised her performance to give India a flying start in track and field competition.

The 28-year-old's previous personal best for the 10,000m was 32:04:41 recorded at Watford in June, 2008.

The 25-year-old Kavita's previous personal best was 32:41.31 in May this year.

Bahrain's Shitaya Eshete Habtegebrel won the bronze with a personal best timing of 31:53:27 at the Aoti Main Stadium.

Asian Games: India trap team wins bronze but fails to win individual medals

Guangzhou, Nov 19 (PTI)

Manavjit Singh

India's veteran shooting trio of Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Mansher Singh and Zoravar Singh Sandhu managed to edge out hosts China by one point for the team bronze medal in the two-day Asian Games men's trap event that concluded here today. The Indian trap members logged 341 points, with Asian record holder Manavjit leading the way, which enabled them to finish one point ahead of China (340). The gold medal went to Kuwait (352) who edged out Lebanon (351). But none of the threesome won an individual medal, including Asian record holder Manavjit, who stormed his way back from eighth to third position and qualified for the final only to finish fifth with an aggregate of 136, including 119 in the qualifying round.

Manavjit's qualification sequence was 23, 24, 23, 24 and 25 and he shot 17 in the final. Mansher secured 113 points (22, 23, 22, 24, 22) to finish a poor 17th from 37 starters while Zoravar was even more pathetic, ending a distant 28th with qualifying score of 109. He commenced with a very modest 19 before improving to log 22, 23 and 24 before going off the boil again with his last shot which was a 21. The first bronze from the shot gun events took India's meager tally from shooting to six, made up of three silver and as many bronze medals. The shot gun events would continue on November 21 with the men's and women's team and individual double trap scheduled, after tomorrow's rest day.

Indian rowers fetch two silver in Asian Games

Guangzhou, Nov 18 (PTI)

Lokesh Kumar, Satish Joshi, Rajesh Kumar Yadav and Manjeet Singh

India today won two unexpected medals in rowing with the men's four and lightweight four teams bagging a silver each in the Asian Games here today. The men's four team of Anil Kumar, Saji Thomas, Ranjit Singh and Jenil Krishnan won silver, completing the distance of 2000m in 6:16.79, behind China (6:06.40).

Uzbekistan won bronze with a timing of 6:22.70. In the men's lightweight four event final, the Indian quartet of Lokesh Kumar, Manjeet Singh, Rajesh Kumar Yadav and Satish Joshi finished second with a timing of 6:13.32, behind Japan who clocked 6:10.14. Hong Kong won the bronze, clocking 6:14.84. The women's four team of Monalisa Khumanthem, Rameshwori Devi, Tababi Devi and Shruti Kamath, however, disappointed with a fifth place finish clocking 7:08.85. In the men's sculls finals also, Indians failed to finish at the podium.

The doubles sculls pair of Anil Mehroliya and Devender Khandwal finished sixth, clocking 6:49.34 while Sandeep Kumar and Shokender Tomar were fifth out of six competing pairs in lightweight double sculls with a timing of 6:42.23.

I missed coach Chertkov, but got over it: Ashish Kumar

Guangzhou, Nov 16 (PTI)

Bronze medalist Ashish Kumar

After Ashish Kumar opened a new chapter for India in gymnastics by clinching the country's first ever medal in this sport -- a bronze, in the Asian Games here today, the youngster said he missed the presence of his coach Vladimir Chertkov. But the gymnast added that he was determined not to make it lose his focus. "On the day he (Chertkov) left I was hugely disappointed and was quite unhappy. But I had to get out of it, otherwise I would not have won a medal," said the 19-year-old after bagging the third spot in the men's floor exercise routine today. Ashish , who came to national limelight during last month's Commonwealth Games by winning a vault silver and bronze in floor, tallied 14.925 points to take the bronze in a bitterly fought contest, in which China's Zhang Chenglong and Korea's Kim Soo Myun tied for the gold with identical 15.400 points.

Ashish said he is now targeting an Olympic medal in 2012 at London by improving his ranking. "Now, confidence is there to go for an Olympic medal. But I am currently ranked 32nd. So, next year I would participate in a number of World Cups to improve that," he said, adding he dedicated his medal to the entire team of coaches who have worked with him. "I am very happy because it is the first gymnastics medal in the history of Indian gymnastics (at the Asian Games)," the Allahabad-born railway employee, added. Ashish's performance is even more praiseworthy considering that the team's foreign coach Chertkov deserted it before the commencement of the Games and returned to India after he was miffed with the contingent authorities over being denied permission to be in the opening ceremony march past on November 12.

Ashish said he did not have the time to practice for this tough world class event which had China, Korea and Japan in the fray. "It was very tough for me because I did not have much time to practice for the Asian Games. We have just had the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. And it is very tough with China and Korea (in fray)," said Ashish. "I started in 1994 when I was four years old. Now I am 19. It's a great experience. I won silver (on vault) and bronze (in floor) at the Commonwealth Games and now I have another bronze at the Asian Games." Team's coach Ashok Mishra, who is with Ashish since January 2009 in a succession of camps to prepare the gymnasts for this year's CWG, said that the competition was very close and the gymnast did not feel the absence of Chertkov. "It (Chertkov's leaving) has not made a difference. He trained under a foreign coach as a child. We have trained the gymnasts for almost two years in a succession of camps which has paid dividends," he said. Among those who were pushed out of the medal bracket in the floor apparatus were China's Feng Zhe who finished with 14.900 points, Hishashi Mizutori of Japan (14.825), Yoo Won Chul (Korea, 14.275), who got a penalty of 0.3, Uzbek Masharipov Otabek (14.000) and Ryotaka Deguchi (Japan, 13.425).

Gold medal winner Zhong Chenglong is the world horizontal bar champion while the man who tied for the No 1 spot, Korean Kim Soo Myun, was a member of his country's team that won a bronze in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and his pet event is floor.