New Delhi: After Super Sunday when they bagged 15 medals, India failed to add to their gold-medal tally today, but still clinched 7 medals including 4 in athletics at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
With six days of competition remaining, India’s tally stands at 60 medals, made up of 13 gold, 24 silver and 23 bronze. India continue to be in fourth place – behind China, Japan and South Korea – but Chinese Taipei are breathing down their necks with 12 gold medals.
Monday’s highlight was a double-podium finish in women’s 3000m steeplechase. Parul Chaudhary finished second in 9 minutes 27.63 seconds – behind Bahrain’s runaway winner Winfred Yavi in 9:18.28. Preeti came from behind to pip another Bahrain athlete to the bronze medal in a personal best time of 9:43.32.
India, it may be recalled, claimed the men’s steeplechase gold 24 hours earlier through Avinash Sable.
Ancy Sojan went on to win silver in women’s long jump with a best leap of 6.63 metres.
The third silver of the day came in the 4x400m mixed relay event. The Indian quartet of Muhammed Ajmal Variyathodi, Vithya Ramraj, Rajesh Ramesh and Subha Venkatesan finished third in the five-team race, but bronze got upgraded to silver after second-finishers Sri Lanka team was eliminated due to lane violation.
Earlier in the day, roller skating fetched India two bronze medals courtesy the men’s and women’s speed skating 3000m relay race.
The women’s table tennis pair of Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee, who two days ago had stunned the Chinese world champion duo, went down 3-4 in a closely-fought semifinal against North Koreans to bag bronze.
In hockey, eight-time champions Pakistan failed to make the semifinals following a 2-3 defeat today at the hands of Japan, who advanced to te knockouts as the second team in Pool A.
The rampant Indians topped Pool A with an all-win record. In their final league match, India thumped Bangladesh 12-0 to finish with a staggering 58 goals scored in five games.
