Guangzhou, Nov 15: The cueists continued their good run by providing a silver medal but the fancied shooters came a cropper in windy conditions as India added two more medals to their kitty on the third day of competitions in the 16th Asian Games here today.
The performance of the snooker team comprising Yasin Merchant, Sneh Aditya Mehta and Brijsh Damani, who gave India their fourth silver, was the highpoint of an otherwise disappointing day which saw most of the Indian portpersons failing to make much of an impact.
While the snooker team lost to China 1-3 in the final to be content with the silver, the men's tennis team bagged a bronze medal to take India's medal tally to one gold, four silver and three bronze.
The shooters, who have provided the bulk of the medals so far, were a big disappointment as they drew a blank at the Aoti shooting range with stars like Gagan Narang and Tejaswini Sawant failing to qualify, handicapped by windy conditions.
The men's hockey team began their campaign on a rousing note by thrashing lowly Hong Kong 7-0 in a group-B league match while the paddlers endured a mixed day in the individual competitions with only Kumarsen Shamini making it to the second round of the mixed as well as women's singles event.
In weightlifting, India's medal hope K Ravi Kumar failed to live up to expectations as he finished fifth with a below-par performance in the men's 69kg weightlifting.
Ravi Kumar would have won a medal had he repeated his 321kg effort which fetched him a gold in the Commonwealth Games but he could only lift 311kg (141+170) to finish fifth.
The snooker trio of veteran Merchant, Mehta and Damani proved too strong for Pakistan as they demolished their arch rivals 3-0 to set up a gold medal clash against hosts China. But they could not get the better of China in the final.
The overcast conditions upset India's hopes for a medal in the men's 50m rifle prone event in the Asian Games as the country's shooting trio, including Gagan Narang, failed to advance to the finals.
Narang, who secured two silver medals in the 10m air rifle event on the opening day including the team honours, was second-best among Indians by finishing a lowly 24th with 587 points. PTI
