Day 6, Asian Games: Srikanth Bows Out, Dipika Pallikal Moves to SF

The Indian men’s hockey team continue their excellent form at the Asian Games. They take down Japan 8-0. SV Sunil, Dilpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh (2), Mandeep Singh (2), Akashdeep Singh, Vivek Sagar scored for India.

The Indian men’s hockey team lead 3-0 against Japan at half-time in their Pool A match. SV Sunil, Dilpreet Singh and Rupinder Pal Singh have found the back of the net for India.

HS Prannoy bows out in Round of 32 after losing 12-21, 21-15, 15-21 to Thailand’s Kantaphon Wangcharoen.

Manoj Kumar eased into the pre-quarters of the 69 kg category with a 5-0 win over Bhutan's Sangay Wangdi.

In the Round of 16 he faces Kyrgyzstan's Abdurakhman Abdurakhmanov, who got an opening-round bye.

India have won a bronze medal in the men’s singles event with Prajnesh Gunneswaran losing the semi-final tie to top seed Denis Istomin in straight sets.

The final scoreline read 2-6, 2-6.

This is India’s third medal in tennis after Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan won the gold in the men’s doubles event and Ankita Raina won the bronze in women’s singles.

Sandeep Sejwal has finished seventh in the 50m Breaststroke final. With a time of 27.98, Sejwal was almost a second off the pace.

In fact, he had qualified with a better time of 27.95.

Gaurav Solanki has bowed out in the Round of 32 of the men's flyweight event after losing 0-5 to Japan's Ryomei Tanaka.

The three judges awarded the bout in favour of the Japanese with a scoreline of 30-27, 29-28, 29-28.

One more Indian left fighting for a medal in tennis. World number 161 Prajnesh Gunneswaran is playing Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin who’s the top seed in the draw.

The semi-final match is poised at 3-0 to the Uzbek after 23 minutes.

Even if Prajnesh loses this match, he will still win a bronze since two players are awarded the bronze in the sport.

Not her main event but Dipa Karmakare has failed to reach the podium of the balance beam event after finishing fifth in the final. Dipa managed a score of 12.500 in the eight-woman final, she had scored 12.750 in the qualification round.

China's Chen Yile clinched the gold with a score of 14.600 while North Korean Kim Jong Su (13.400) and Zhang Jin (13.325) of China took the silver and bronze respectively.

Considering that she was not 100 per cent fit, Dipa's performance is actually not too bad.

Actually, in the men’s event, one medal was already assured with India’s number 1 and 2 players facing each other in the quarter-final.

Moving into the semis is Saurav Ghosal who beat friend and compatriot Harinder Pal Sandhu 3-1.

Dipika Pallikal has assured herself of a medal in squash with an easy 3-0 win over Misaki Kobayashi of Japan. She’s through to the semis and with two bronze medals being awarded in the sport at the Asian Games, it now upto Pallikal on what colour medal she picks up.

Another big upset! World number 8 Kidambi Srikanth has been knocked out of the men’s singles draw after a straight games defeat to Wing Ki Wong Vincent.

Hong Kong’s Vincent is ranked 28th in the world and this is just his fourth victory of the entire year. The final scoreline of the Round of 32 match read 23-21, 21-19 to the 28-year-old Vincent.

India’s top men’s badminton player Kidambi Srikanth has lost the opening set of his Round of 32 match against Wing Ki Wong Vincent. It was a close one that dragged a whole 21 minutes but the world number 28 managed to take it at 23-21.

Iran has completed a 27-24 victory over India in the women’s kabaddi final and India will have to settle for a silver.

Iran’s men’s team beat India in the semi-final last night and this is the first time in the history of the sport that India has failed to win a gold medal at the Asian Games.

Just three minutes left in this final and India trail Iran 25-21 and this is starting to look a little too tough for the two-time defending champions.

It’s the gold medal match between India and Iran and this one is going a little off script for India as well. With just five minutes left in the match, Iran are leading 23-20.

The Indian men’s kabaddi team lost to Iran in the semi-final yesterday and were forced to settle for the bronze.

The men’s handball team has edged past arch-rivals Pakistan 28-27 in a main round group 3 match.

For India, Greenidge D'Cunha netted nine goals with Adithya Nagaraj scoring half a dozen. Naveen Punia and Karamjeet Singh found the back of the net four times each as Harender Singh bagged a hat-trick. Khatkar Naveen also joined the goal fest with one to his name.

The Indian women’s kabaddi team’s final match against Iran is now underway. Defending champions India are vying for their third-straight gold at Asian Games.

And in attendance at the stadium are the Indian men’s kabaddi team who suffered a huge upset defeat against Iran in the semi-finals yesterday.

Archer Deepika Kumari was left shattered after India’s shock loss to a lower-ranked Mongolia in the recurve mixed team quarter-finals earlier today. She sat on the pavement outside the stadium, her hands covering her face in dejection as her teammate Atanu Das and coach Sawaiyan Manjhi tried to console her.

Heena Sidhu has opened India’s account in shooting on Day 6 of the Asian Games, winning a bronze in the 10m Air Pistol event.

A former world number 1 in this event, Heena qualified for the final in the seventh position but still managed to fight her way to the podium. This is her third Asian Games medal.

With just three shooters left in the final, Heena shot a near-perfect 10.8 but a 9.6 in the next attempt dashed her hopes of a better finish. Her final score was 219.3.

The other Indian in the event, 16-year-old Manu Bhaker, was eliminated at the fifth place with a score of 176.2.

Manu Bhaker has become the fourth shooter to be eliminated from the final of the 10m Air Pistol final. The 16-year-old had qualified for the final in the third position.

India’s former world number one Heena Sidhu though is still in contention for a medal.

Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan have won India a gold medal in the men’s doubles event.

Bopanna and Sharan played a solid match against Kazakhstan's Aleksandr Bublik and Denis Yevseyev to bag India’s second gold of the day. The final scoreline read 6-3, 6-4.

This is now India’s fourth men’s doubles gold in tennis at the Asian Games after Somdev Devvarman and Sanam Singh finished on top of the podium at the 2010 Guangzhou Games and Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes won at the 2002 and 2006 Games.

The 10m Air Pistol event final featuring Indian shooters Heena Sidhu and Manu Bhaker is now underway.

16-year-old CWG Gold medallist Bhaker had earlier qualified in the third spot with a score of 574. Former world no 1 Heena made it through in the second-last spot, with a score of 571.

The Indian pair of Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan have won the first set 6-3.

With a 3-2 lead over their opponents in the second set, Bopanna-Sharan are inching towards a gold medal.

Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan’s gold medal match against Kazakhstan’s Aleksandr Bublik and Denis Yevseyev in the men’s doubles event is underway.

The Indian pair hold a comfortable 3-0 lead over their opponents in the first set.

It’s been an exciting start for India on Day 6 of the Asian Games, with the rowers clinching three medals in the morning. But there’s a lot more in store, with the women’s Kabaddi team playing Iran in their gold medal match and shooters Heena Sidhu and Manu Bhaker competing in the final. Here’s a list of the events to look forward to on Day 6:

Shooting
10m Air Pistol Women Final: Heena Sidhu, Manu Bhaker – 11:30 am IST

Kabaddi
Women’s Gold Medal Match: India vs Iran – 1:30 pm IST

Squash
Men’s Singles Quarters: Saurav Ghosal vs Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu – 2:30 pm IST
Women’s Singles Quarters:
Dipika Pallikal vs Misaki Kobayashi – 2:30pm IST
Joshana Chinappa vs Ho Ling Chan – 4:30pm IST

Artistic Gymnastics
Women's Balance Beam Final: Dipa Karmakar – 3:08pm IST

Swimming
Men’s 50m Breaststroke Final: Sandeep Sejwal – 4:36 pm IST

Hockey
Men's Tournament Pool A match: India vs Japan – 6:30pm IST

After trailing against Pakistan at the start of the game, the Indian men’s handball team have managed to take the lead in their Group 3 match.

The Indian team are leading 14-12 at half-time, with 30 minutes of the game still remaining.

Another disappointing finish for the Indian recurve archers. Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das suffer an upset defeat against lower-ranked Mongolia, losing 4-5 in the mixed team quarterfinals.

The team of Bishindee Urantungalag, ranked as low as 254 and Otgobbold Baatarkhuya, ranked 94 in the world, nosed ahead by taking the first set 2-0.

The Indian team clawed its back by taking the next two but the Mongolians forced a shoot-off by snatching the fourth.

In the deciding shoot-off, both the teams found 10s in the first shot. The Mongolians found nine on the second while Deepika shot a seven.

Shooters Harjinder Singh and Amit Kumar finish fourth and fifth respectively, in the 300m Standard Rifle Men’s final.

Singh finished with a total score of 560 – three points behind the bronze medal winner Lee Wongyu from Republic Korea. Amit Kumar was just a point behind Harjinder, finishing with a total score of 559.

The gold medal winner, Republic of Korea’s Choi Youngjeon, set the Games record with a total score of 569.

After three rowing medals on Day 6, India miss a podium finish in the men’s Lightweight Eight by a whisker. The team was just 0.54 seconds slower than bronze medal winners Hong Kong, China.

Manu Bhaker and former world no 1 Heena Sidhu have both made the final of the 10m Air Pistol event. Manu qualified in the third spot with a score of 574, six points behind leader China’s Qian Wang. Heena made it through in the second-last spot, with a score of 571.

Manu and Heena had pulled off an Indian 1-2 in the event at the 2018 Commonwealth Games with Bhaker winning the gold.

25-year-old Wang Qian is a silver medallist in this event from the shooting World Cup this year.

Third medal of the day! The Indian rowing team of Sawarn Singh, Dattu Bhoknal, Om Prakash and Sukhmeet win gold in the men’s Quadruple Sculls rowing event after clocking 6:17.13.

This is India’s first gold in rowing and fifth overall at the 2018 Asian Games.

Hosts Indonesia (6:20.58) and Thailand (6:22.41) were placed second and third respectively in the quadruple sculls.

Second medal of the day for India, and it’s once again in rowing. Rohit Kumar and Bhagwan Singh win bronze in the men’s Lightweight Double Sculls event.

The Indian duo finish with a timing of 7:04.61 to win India’s 20th medal at the 2018 Asian Games.

25-year-old Indian Army rower Bhagwan quit pursuing journalism and took up rowing in 2012 to financially support his ailing alcoholic father. Read his story here.

Manu Bhaker is currently placed second in the qualification round after shooting 94, 98, 96, 97 in her first four series in Women's 10m Air Pistol.

Competing in the same event is Heena Sidhu, who is outside the top 10 after shooting 94, 94. 96 and 93.

Rower Dushyant bags bronze in the men’s Lightweight Single Sculls event. He clocks 7:18.76 to win India’s first medal in rowing at this Asian Games.

After a series of fourth-place finishes among the Indian rowers, Dushyant manages to get a podium finish.

This is his second bronze medal at the Asian Games after he clinched a bronze in the same event at Incheon in 2014.

Indian swimmer Sandeep Sejwal clocks 27.95 to finish first in Heat 1 of the Men’s 50m breaststroke event.

Sejwal is through to the finals, with a sixth-place overall finish.

The final is scheduled to start at 4:36 pm IST.

The Indian shooters kick off Day 6 of the Asian Games.

Heena Sidhu and Manu Bhaker are competing in the 10m Air Pistol Women event.

Commonwealth Games gold medallist Anish Bhanwala and Shivam Shukla’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men event is also underway.

In the 300m Standard Rifle Men, Amit Kumar and Harjinder Singh are vying for a medal.

All of 15, Shardul Vihan clinched a silver medal in the men's double trap shooting event on Day 5 of the Asian Games. Uttar Pradesh teenager Vihan shot 73 to claim the silver medal, while Korea's 34-year-old Shin Hyunwoo clinched the gold medal with a score of 74.

Seven-time champions India failed to reach the Asian Games men's kabaddi final for the first time after a shock 18-27 loss to Iran in the semi-finals on the fifth day of the Games.

On Day 6, gymnast Dipa Karmakar will be in action in the balance beam event at 2:38 pm IST. Karmakar hasn’t been able to perform exceedingly well in the competition yet. Hopefully, she will shine in the balance beam event.

The Indian hockey team will be up against Japan at 6:30 pm IST. They beat Indonesia 17-0 and Hong Kong 26-0 in their first two Pool A games.

Kidambi Srikanth will take on Wong Wing Ki in the round of 32 match at 10:30 am IST.