Shruti Sneha, Pune
Indian athletes’ major goals in the Asian Games on September 25 were to win gold on their debut and highlight their youth. The women’s cricket team won the competition, but the Indian shooting team’s young guns united to set a new world record in the 10m air rifle team competition.
India began the second day of competition with a respectable harvest of two gold and three bronze to boost its medal count to 11, placing it sixth on the table, despite the fact that the rowers were unable to win the yellow metal. Rajeshwari Gayakwad’s outstanding final over helps India restrict Sri Lanka to just 97 for 8. With this triumph, India won their first-ever cricket medal at the Asian Games and their second gold medal overall.
The trio of Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Rudrankksh Patil, and Divyansh Singh Panwar, who were 22, 19, and 20 years old, respectively, demonstrated that the next generation of Indian shooters was prepared for the big stage by upsetting host and favourite China with a total score of 1893. India would win its first gold medal with 7 points. The bronze medal in the individual event was then decided by a shoot-off between the first two. Panwar’s unfortunate loss on countbacks. Anish Bhanwala, Adarsh Singh, and Vijayveer Sidhu placed third as a team in the 25-meter rapid-fire pistol, although Sidhu had to settle for fourth place in the individual competition.
At the Hangzhou Asian Games, India’s top female gymnast, Pranati Nayak, advanced to two finals on Monday in the women’s all-around competition and the vault competition, her two favourite apparatuses. Pranati earned a total of 12.716 points for her performance in Subdivision 3 and placed sixth among the top eight qualifiers in the women’s vault competition. Additionally, she was successful in earning a berth among the 18 gymnasts who will compete in the women’s all-around final on September 27.
In contrast, the women’s cricket team defeated Sri Lanka by 19 runs in the championship match, with 18-year-old Titas Sadhu making a statement. They made sure that a low total would not stand in the way of their ultimate triumph.