Bajrang, Tennis players provide silver lining, India 10th in overall standings

Wrestler Bajrang and the men's tennis combination of Sanam Singh and Saketh Myneni picked up silver medals but India dropped a rung to the 10th position in the overall standings on the 10th day of competitions in the 17th Asian Games here today.

Apart from Bajrang and the tennis team's silver-winning feats, athlete O P Jaisha (women's 1500m race) and wrestler Narsingh Pancham Yadav (74kg) clinched bronze medals on a rather mixed day for the Indian contingent.

Bajrang (61kg) was the star performer as he scripted remarkable come-from-behind victories to reach the final where he ultimately succumbed to Massoud Mahmoud of Iran in a closely-contested bout.

The wrestlers continued to provide the much-needed boost to India's medal collection as Narsingh Yadav also claimed a bronze in the men's 74kg freestyle event.

With the addition of four medals today, India slipped to the 10th position with a total of haul of 39 -- four gold, seven silver and 28 bronze. China maintained their supremacy with a tally of 231 (110-69-52) followed by hosts South Korea 144 and Japan 131.

Bajrang and Narsingh capped off India's freestyle wrestling competition on a high with the country earning five medals from the mat.

Bajrang lost 1-3 to Massoud Mahmoud in the finals, while Narsingh got the better of Daisuke Shimada of Japan 3-1 in the men's 74kg division to finish third on the podium. Pawan Kumar went down fighting in his repechage bout in 86kg division to crash out of the event.

The tennis players were the first to clinch a silver today after Sanam and Saketh lost a hard-fought final in straight sets to Korea's Yongkyu Lim and Hyeon Chung. The fifth seeded Indians lost the summit clash 5-7 6-7 (2) in an hour and 29 minutes to the eighth seeded local favourites.

India's kabaddi players also continued their fine form. The six-time champions notched up their second successive win after thrashing Thailand 66-27 in a Group A preliminary-round match. 

The Indian men's team, which has won all five World Cups played till now, dished out another dominating show to teach the Thai players a lesson or two in Kabaddi as they surged 29-15 ahead at the break and wrapped up the match after pocketing the second half 37-12.

The Indian women's team, which also started their campaign on a winning note beating Bangladesh yesterday, will play against Korea tomorrow in their second and final Pool A tie.

The Indian table tennis players had a bitter-sweet day as the mixed doubles team of Achanta Sharath Kamal and Poulomi Ghatak crashed out while the women's doubles team got the better of arch-rivals Pakistan in a round-of-32 match, here.

Star paddler Sharath Kamal and Poulomi lost to the Thai duo of Padasak Tanviriyavechakul and Suthasiniin Sawettabut 6-11 9-11 14-16 in a round-of-32 match at the Suwon Gymnasium. West Bengal ace Poulomi then combined with Ankita Das to thrash the Pakistani pair of Shabnam Bilal and Rahila Kashif 11-5 11-1 11-7 in just 12 minutes.

The India duo of Amalraj Anthony Arputharaj and Madhurika Suhas Patkar got past the Mongolian pair of Munkh Orgil Batbayar and Enkhjin Barkhas 12-10 11-3 11-6 to enter the mixed doubles pre-quarterfinals. In the women's singles, Ankita humbled Menwah Alshammari of Kuwait 11-4 11-9 11-3 11-9 in a best-of-seven clash to move into the round-of-32.

In the final outing of the day for Indian paddlers, Neha Aggarwal, the only female table tennis player to represent the nation in Olympics -- 2008 Beijing Games, combined with Madhurika to make it to the last-16.
The Neha-Madhurika duo eased past Aishath Nisa and Aminath Shiura Shareef of Maldives 11-3 11-6 11-2 in the round-of-32 clash.

After a disappointing few days for Indian basketball, the women cagers finally had reason to smile after they beat Mongolia to set up a fifth-place play-off against Kazakhstan. Playing for pride at the Hwaseong Sports Complex Gymnasium, the women's team outplayed its Mongolian counterpart 68-50 after taking a lead from the first quarter itself.