At the Asian Games, Esha Singh won a silver medal in shooting, while Gulveer Singh and Murali Sreeshankar won silver medals in athletics.
In the 400-meter hurdles, Tamil Nadu’s Vidya Ramraj broke a 42-year-old national record to win bronze.
With a double medal in javelin throw and a bronze in the martial art of kurash, India’s overall medal tally in the competition crossed 40.
Shooting
In the women's 25m pistol event, Esha Singh won the silver medal in the shoot-off. At the end of the final round, Esha Singh and China's Jiaruizhuan Jiao were tied with 38 points each. In the shoot-off held to decide the winner, Jiao won and clinched the gold. Esha took silver.
North Korea’s Kim Hyon Suk won the bronze with 34 points. Earlier, in the qualification round, Esha Singh, with 580 points, was the last shooter to narrowly qualify for the final round. Among the other Indians in the field, Manu Bhaker, who won two medals at the Paris Olympics, finished 11th with 579 points and exited after the qualification round. Rahi Sarnobat managed only 30th place with 568 points.
Athletics
Friday
1,500 m - In the men’s 1,500-meter race, Gulveer Singh finished in 3 minutes, 36.72 seconds, set a personal best, and won the silver medal. Japan’s Kazuto Iizawa (3:36.35) won gold with a competition record, and Nagiya Mori (3:37.92) took bronze.
Another Indian in the field, Yunus Shah, finished in 3 minutes, 43.88 seconds to place 9th. This is Gulveer Singh’s second medal at the current Asian Games. Notably, he had already won silver in the 10,000 meters.
Long jump
In the men’s long jump, Murali Sreeshankar won silver with a distance of 8.07 meters. China’s Yuhao Shi won gold (8.17), and Uzbekistan’s Anvar Anvarov took bronze (8.06). Another Indian in the field, David Solomon, finished 7th (7.70).
It is noteworthy that Murali Sreeshankar also won silver at the previous Asian Games and, more recently, at the Commonwealth Games.
Javelin throw
India won a double medal haul in the men’s javelin throw. Yashvir Singh won silver with a throw of 85.72 meters, and Rohit Yadav took bronze with 84.35 meters. Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Pathirage clinched gold with 88.33 meters. It is also worth noting that Yashvir had previously won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games.
Bronze
400m hurdles - In the women’s 400-meter hurdles, Tamil Nadu’s Vidya Ramraj finished the race in 54.75 seconds and won the bronze medal with a personal best time.
She also broke P. T. Usha’s 42-year-old national record in this event. Usha, who is now the president of the Indian Olympic Association, had held the national record since clocking 55.42 seconds at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and Vidya has now broken that record.
While Vidya finished in second place, Maryam Karim of the United Arab Emirates won the gold medal with a competition record of 54.31 seconds. Kazakhstan’s Adelina Zems claimed the silver medal with 54.58 seconds. Another Indian athlete, Anu Raghavan, finished fifth (55.88 seconds), which was also her personal best.
5,000 meters - In the women’s 5,000-meter race, Parul Chaudhary won the bronze medal with a time of 15 minutes, 14.61 seconds. Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi won gold (15:10.18), and Japan’s Nozomi Tanaka took silver (15:11.65). Another Indian in the field, Seema, finished only sixth.
This is Parul Chaudhary’s second medal at the ongoing Asian Games. It is noteworthy that she won bronze in the 3,000-meter steeplechase held last Sunday.
In the women’s discus throw final, Seema Kaliraman, who won bronze at the Commonwealth Games, finished 4th with a throw of 59.88 meters, missing out on a medal. However, that mark became her personal best. Sania Yadav finished last with a throw of 49.90 meters.
In the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase, Avinash Sable finished in 8 minutes, 21.67 seconds, placing 4th and missing out on a medal.
In the men’s 400-meter hurdles, Santhoshkumar Tamilarasan finished in 49.95 seconds to take 7th place.
Kurash
India’s Pinki Balhara won the bronze medal in the women’s 78 kg category. She lost 0-5 to South Korea’s Sumin Mo in the semifinals. However, she was awarded the bronze medal on the basis of having advanced to the semifinals. Pinki became the first Indian to win two medals in the kurash category at the Asian Games. She had already won silver in the 52 kg category in 2018. “When I took the mat in the quarterfinals, I injured my right knee. I collided with the South Korean athlete there. In the semifinals too, it was the same country’s athlete I faced, and since she knew that information, she targeted it and attacked me,” said Pinki.
Boxing
India’s Lovlina Borgohain, Priya Gangas, and Kapil Bhokaria advanced to the semifinals and secured medals. With this, India has now guaranteed a total of 6 medals in boxing.
In the women’s 75 kg quarterfinal, Lovlina defeated South Korea’s Seong Suyeon 5-0. Lovlina, who won silver at the 2023 Asian Games, has secured her second medal. In the women’s 60 kg category, Priya defeated Tajikistan’s Mikona Samadova 5-0. Kapil Bhokaria advanced to the semifinals in the men’s 90 kg category by defeating South Korea’s Kim Kise with a 5-0 score.
Squash
The Indian men’s and women’s teams advanced to the quarterfinals. In the women’s section, India defeated Japan 2-1. Joshna Chinappa beat Erisa Sano 11-1, 11-8, 11-9. However, in the next match, Anahat Singh lost to Satomi Watanabe 8-11, 11-8, 11-7, 8-11, 9-11. Finally, Tanvi Khanna defeated Akari Midorikawa 12-10, 11-9, 4-11, 12-10.
The men’s team beat South Korea 3-0. Velavan Senthilkumar defeated Juyoung Na 11-6, 11-4, 11-7, while Abhay Singh beat Jeongmin Ryu 11-4, 11-7, 11-1. Veer Chotrani defeated Seojin Oh 11-6, 11-4, 11-2.