Asian Games 2023: The Indian contingent on Sunday bagged the nation's first medals at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. The shooting and rowing athletes won two Silver medals as India opened its medals tally on Day 1 of the Hangzhou spectacle. Women shooters Mehuli Ghosh, Ramita and Ashi Chouksey bagged a Silver medal in the Women's 10m Air Rifle Team event. Meanwhile, Arjun Lal and Arvind Singh took the second prize in Men's Lightweight Double Sculls.
The two rowers also created history as they became the first from the nation to win a Silver in the men's lightweight men's double sculls in the Asian Games history. It is India's sixth Siver and 24th medal overall in rowing in the Asiad history. The duo finished second with a timing of 6:28.18s, while China took first place with timing clocking 6:23.16s. Arjun and Arvind started strongly as they maintained their second place running throughout the four distance periods. They completed the first 500m with a timing of 1:33.80s then got to the 1000m mark as the clock ticked 3:10.81s. They got to the 1500m mark with a timing of 4:48.76, more than two seconds behind China.
The Indian women's team bagged the Silver in the 10m air rifle event with a score of 1886.0, while China took the Gold as they scored 1896.6. The Bronze medal went to Mongolia, who shot 1880.0 to take the final podium position.
For India, Ramita was the leading scorer and second overall as she amassed 631.9 points. Mehuli was second and fifth overall with a total of 630.8 points. Chouksey registered a score of 623.3 and finished outside the top 8. Both Ramita and Mehuli qualified for the individual final, however, Chouksey could not reach the individual medal match.
