New Delhi: New shooting sensation Jitu Rai stole the limelight by provided the first gold medal, while Shweta Chaudhry claimed a bronze as India launched their campaign in the 17th Asian Games on a rousing note with two medals on the opening day of competitions here today.
While Jitu struck gold in the 50m pistol event, Shweta's bronze came in the 10m air pistol competition at the Ongnyeon Shooting Range here but medal aspirants Heena Sidhu and Malaika Goel turned out to be disappointments as they failed to even reach the finals.
India also assured themselves of a bronze medal in badminton and squash events on what turned out to be a reasonably good opening show with a gold medal coming on the
very first day.
In badminton, India today ended a 28-year-old medal drought in Asian Games after the women's shuttlers, led by Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu, edged out Thailand 3-2 to
reach the semifinals of the team event.
India started their weightlifting campaign on a dismal note as all three of them who took the field today finished in the bottom half of the table in their respective weight categories in both men's and women's divisions.
The Indian men's badminton team lost to South Korea 0-3 in the pre-quarterfinals. Doubles pair of B. Sumeeth Reddy-Manu Attri, Kidambi Srikanth and recently-crowned Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap, all lost their matches against the host nation.
India's schedule on the second day of competitions in the Asian Games on Sunday.
BADMINTON: India vs South Korea: Women's team semifinals: 14:30 IST
BASKETBALL: India vs Saudi Arabia: Men's Qualifying Round: 12:45 IST
CYCLING TRACK: Women's Keirin First Round Heats: Deborah and Mohan Mahitha (12:30 IST)
EQUESTRIAN: Dressage Individual Intermediate I: Rajendra Shubhsri, Vanita Malhotra, Shruti Vora, Nadia Haridass (09:30 IST)
FOOTBALL: India vs Thailand: Women's First Round (13:30 IST)
HANDBALL: India vs South Korea: Men's Preliminary Round (12:30 IST) India vs Thailand: Women's Preliminary Round: (14:30 IST)
HOCKEY: India vs Sri Lanka: Men's Pool B Match (13:30 IST)
ROWING: Men's Single Sculls Heat 1: Sawarn Singh (07:00 IST) Lightweight Men's Quadruple Sculls Heat 1: Rakesh Raliya, Vikram Singh, Laxmi Narain Sonu, Shokendar Tomar (07:30 IST).
SHOOTING: 10m Air Pistol Men's Qualification: Jitu Rai, Samresh Jung, Prakash Nanjappa (05:30 IST)
10m Air Pistol Men's Team Finals: Jitu Rai, Samresh Jung, Prakash Nanjappa (05:30 IST)
Trap Men's Qualification Day 2: Mansher Singh, Darius Kynan Chenai, Manavjit Singh Sandhu (05:30 IST)
Trap Men's Team Finals: Mansher Singh, Darius Kynan Chenai, Manavjit Singh Sandhu (05:30 IST)
SQUASH: Men's Singles Quarterfinal: Saurav Ghosal vs Iqbal Nasir (Pakistan): 11:30 IST
Women's Singles Quarterfinal: Joshana Chinappa vs Dipika Pallikal: 11:30 IST
SWIMMING: Men's 200m Freestyle Heats: Saurabh Sangvekar Men's 100m Backstroke Heats: Prathapan Nair Men's 200m Butterfly Heats: Aaron D'Souza
TENNIS: Men's Team Second Round: India vs Nepal (07:00 IST).
