Asian Games 2010 Day 5: India manages a silver in wushu as shooters fail

By Victor DSouza, Doha
From various sources
Bellevision Media Network

Wednesday, 17 November 2010: Sandhyarani Devi proved to be the saving grace for India by bagging a silver medal in wushu while the fancied shooters fell by the wayside for the third successive time on a rather unproductive fifth day of competitions in the 16th Asian Games here today. With the addition of just a silver medal, India`s medal tally rose to one gold, five silver and seven bronze but the collection could have been far better had the shooters lived up to their reputation. Hosts China maintained their supremacy to lead the table with a whopping tally of 97-39-36 while South Korea (29-22-31) and Japan (17-41-35) maintained their positions in the second and third spots respectively.

 

The 27-year-old Sandhyarani`s achievement was the lone bright spot in an otherwise heart-breaking day which generally saw below-par performances in most disciplines though star pugilist Vijender booked a berth in the quarter-finals and the men`s hockey team kept themselves in medal reckoning with a 9-0 trouncing of Bangladesh. Pugilist Vikas Krishan (60kg) also had a good day as he romped into the pre-quarter finals, but Virdhawal khade, who scripted history by breaking the swimming medal drought after 24 years, failed to qualify to the finals in his event alongwith compatriots Aaron Agnel Dsouza and Rehan Poncha.

 

The women hockey team`s chances of a medal was severely dented after going down to South Korea by a solitary goal. The Indian eves now need to win two of their last three matches to keep themselves in the race for a bronze medal. India had a mixed day in tennis as Karan Rastogi and Vishnu Vardhan started their campaign with a comfortable victory in men`s double while Rushmi Chakravarti and Poojashree Venkatesha crashed out of the women`s doubles in the first round.

 

India`s medal quest has been badly hit by the poor show of the shooters who again drew a blank at the Aoti shooting range. The shooters put up a dismal show on another windy day with only pistol expert and Melbourne Commonwealth Games hero Samaresh Jung coming up with something notable in the morning session of the competitions. In boxing, Vijender prevailed over Yu Ting Yang of Chinese Taipei 9-4 to move into the quarter finals of the 75 kg category. Vikas (60kg) beat Thailand`s Saylom Ardee in his opening round bout to join Suranjoy Singh (52kg) as the second Indian in the pre-quarters stage.

 

 

 

The Indian hockey team too delivered by routing Bangladesh 9-0. Penalty corner specialist Sandeep Singh pumped in four goals in that tally to guide India to their second straight victory in Group B men`s league. However, there was disappointment elsewhere with swimmers failing to create a splash. After ending India`s 24-year-old medal drought in the pool in Asian Games, teen swimming sensation Virdhawal Khade topped his 100m freestyle heats but the effort was not good enough to fetch a place in the finals of the event.

 

Top Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap crashed out with a first-round loss while Arvind Bhat received a walkover to enter the pre-quarterfinals in the badminton competition. India saw another unsuccessful day in cue sports as Indira Gowda went down fighting 4-5 against Thuy Vi Duon of Vietnam in the pre-quarterfinals of the women`s 8-ball pool singles event. In Taekwando competitions, which started today, India`s Jasvant lost a closely contested fight against Yulius Fernado of Indonesia 5-6 to crash out of the men`s 74kg event.

 

The cyclists too managed a below par show and signed off without a medal in the track events. In men`s Points Race (120 laps, 30 km), Atul Kumar and Rajendra Bishnoi finished 15th and 20th respectively. In the men`s Keirin finals, Prince Herbert Sara Hylem barely managed a ninth-place finish while Bikram Okram Singh was 13th. Indian women suffered a 2-20 thrashing at the hands of Uzbekistan in their last round-robin league match to finish fourth in the water polo competition while the pair of Kasi Viswanadha Raju and Kiran Reddy suffered their second consecutive defeat in the volleyball competition when they lost 1-2 to Malaysia.

 

India`s woeful show continued in sepaktakraw with both the men`s and women`s team losing their second consecutive group matches to bow out of medal contention. Even as the men`s team went down fighting 1-2 against the hosts in Group B, Indian women could not win a single match in their pool and got beaten 0-3 at the hands of the mighty Chinese eves.

 

Medals Tally

 

 

Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
China	97	39	36	172
South Korea	29	22	31	82
Japan	17	41	35	93
North Korea	5	7	10	22
Iran	5	4	8	17
Chinese Taipei	4	5	16	25
Uzbekistan	3	8	8	19
Hong Kong	3	6	4	13
Malaysia	3	3	4	10
Kazakhstan	2	6	11	19
India	1	5	7	13