The Indian contingent started off Sunday on a promising note, earning the nation its first medal of the Asian Games 2023, with silver medals in 10m Air Rifle Team event and Men’s Doubles Sculls Rowing. The Indian team, that is aiming to cross the 100-medal mark this time around in Hangzhou, wasted little time in opening their medals tally. Though, there will be some disappointment in the hearts of the athletes, considering the fact that they couldn’t fetch the elusive gold medals in their respective events.
In shooting, the trio of Ramita, Mehuli Ghosh and Ashi Chouksey secured silver in the women’s 10m air rifle team event at the end of the qualification round with a total score of 1886. The gold medal went to the hosts China, with a score of 1896.6 while Mongolia took bronze with 1880.
Ramita (631.9) – 2nd, Mehuli – (630.8) – 5th, qualify for the individual final. China’s Han Jiayu sets a new Qualification Asian Record with a score of 634.1, 0.1 better than the previous mark set by her compatriot Zhao Ruozhu in New Delhi in 2019.
In rowing, the duo of Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh won silver in the Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls with a timing of 6:28.18s. In this event too, the Gold medal went to China, with a timing of 6:23.16s while the bronze went to to Uzbekistan, with a timing of 6:33.42s.
The Indians, who finished 11th in the Tokyo Olympics, went on to upset the odds, to seal their place on the podium.
Chinese pair of Fan Junjie and Sun Man secured the top spot by clocking 6:23.16s. With this China have already secured a second gold in the Asian Games. Uzbekistan settled for a bronze medal by clocking 6:33.42s.
Throught the contest, the Indian pair gave the hosts a run for their money as they were breathing down their necks for the entire time.
With 500m to go and China managed to open up a bigger gap by building a lead of 2.73 seconds. Uzbekistan maintained their position on third.
With Agency Inputs
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