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 on Monday.
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.
Earlier, on the way to the finals, Bajrang had beaten Tumenbileg Tuvshintulga of Mongolia 3-1 in the Round of 16 before registering victory by technical superiority over Tajikistan’s Farkhodi Usmonzoda in the quarters (4-1).
The semifinal bout against Japan’s Noriyuki Takatsuka turned out to be a neck-to-neck battle. There was little to separate between the two other than the fact that the Japanese was a bit quicker on his feet.
The Japanese managed to pick up the first two points and, at the end of first round, was leading 2-0.
Bajrang, however, fought back in the second round and made a strong comeback to level the scores 2-2. He scored the last point in the bout to finally wrap it up 3-1 (classification point) to enter the final.
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 on Monday, 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.
Tennis gold continues to elude IndiaThe tennis players were the first to clinch a silver on Monday 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.
The Koreans, cheered by the home fans, were precise in shot-making and won points with some intelligent tennis against the fighting Indians. The Koreans stood out with their shot selection as some of the drop volleys won them crucial points.
Sanam had won men’s doubles gold with Somdev Devvarman at the Guangzhou edition in 2010.
The Indians kept fighting hard after losing the first set and stretched the second to a tie-breaker. However they were outplayed in the deciding tie break as they trailed 1-4.
The Koreans were soon up 6-2 to earn four match points and converted the first when Sanam hit a forehand long on Lim’s serve.
India now have won four medals in tennis, including three bronze – men’s singles, women’s doubles and men’s doubles.
Myneni still has the opportunity to win a gold with Sania Mirza in the mixed doubles to be held later on Monday.
