Asian Games 2010 Day 2: India wins first gold and more medals

By Victor DSouza, Doha
From various sources
Bellevision Media Network

Sunday, 14 November 2010: Pankaj Advani provided the first gold for India in the 16th Asian Games by clinching the title in billiards singles while Alok Kumar claimed a bronze in 8-ball pool event and the shooters accounted for a silver and bronze on the second day of competitions here today. Hosts China continued to rule the roost and maintained the top position on the medals table with a tally of 37-14-12 while South Korea (13-10-12) and Japan (8-20-15) were in the second and third spots respectively.

 

Defending champion Advani kept his reputation intact with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Myanmar`s Oo Nay Thway in the billiards final as India pushed their medals tally to one gold, three silver and two bronze to retain their fifth position on the table. The shooters were again in the spotlight with Heena Siddhu, Annu Raj Singh and Sania Rai claiming the silver in the women`s 10 m air pistol team event and Vijay Kumar bagging the bronze in the men`s 10 m air pistol at the Aoti shooting range.

 

After Narang`s exploits on the opening day, the Indian women shooters Heena Sidhu, Annu Raj Singh and Sonia Rai had their moment of glory as they won the silver medal in the 10m Air Pistol team event. The Indian trio combined to shoot 1140, a point adrift of the gold medallist Korean troika of Yunmi Gim, Byunghee Kim and Lim Ho Lee. Chinese shooters settled for the bronze medal with a score of 1139. Heena shot a score of 381, while Annu and Sonia managed scores of 380 and 379 respectively to help India win its third silver in shooting.

 

 

Vijay just about made the cut for the finals by finishing eighth in the qualification round but shot the highest score of 101.4 in the medal round for a total of 680.4 to take the bronze. Lee Daem-Yung of South Korea won the gold with a total of 685.8 while Chinese veteran Tang Zongliang totalled 684.5 for silver. Earlier in the qualification round, Gurpreet Singh totalled 573 to finish 20th while Omkar scored 568 to settle for the 28th position.

 

India`s men`s tennis team also assured itself of a bronze medal by securing a place in the semi-finals against top seed Chinese Taipei but the performance in other disciplines such as weightlifting, judo, swimming, cycling and triathlon left much to be desired on a day of mixed fortunes. Away from the shooting ranges, India`s tennis players kept themselves in medal reckoning by moving into the semi finals by prevailing over last edition`s bronze medalists Thailand with a 2-1 margin.

 

Unranked Sanam Singh defeated 546th ranked Kittipong Wachiramanowong 6-1 6-4 in the first singles match in one hour and eight minutes. World number 106 and Commonwealth Games gold medalist Somdev Devvarman then clinched the issue for India by edging past 464-ranked Danai Udomchoke 7-5 7-5 in one hour and 43 minutes.

 

In table tennis, Indian paddlers put up a good show as both men`s and women`s teams advanced to the quarter-finals. Making a postive start to the day, the Indian women routed Maldives 3-0 and then Achanta Sharath Kamal starred in men`s 3-1 win over Vietnam in the men`s competition as he won two singles rubbers. In the women`s event, Mamta Prabhu, Madhurika Patkar and Kumaresan Shamini needed just 30 minutes to win their respective singles rubbers and seal India`s place in the next stage.

 

Medals Tally

 

Country	G	S	B	Total
China	37	14	12	63
South Korea	13	10	12	35
Japan	8	20	15	43
Hong Kong	2	2	2	6
India	1	3	2	6
Chinese Taipei	1	2	6	9
Macau	1	0	0	1
Uzbekistan	0	3	3	6
North Korea	0	3	2	5
Kazakhstan	0	1	6	7