Asain Games 2010 Day 9: India clinches three more gold and climb to 8th spot

By Victor D’Souza, Doha
From various sources
Bellevision Media Network

Sunday, 21 November 2010: The athletes provided a huge boost to the country’s lacklustre campaign in the 16th Asian Games by fetching two gold medals while Ronjan Sodhi brought an end to the gold drought in shooting as India bagged as many as nine medals on an eventful ninth day of competitions on Sunday. With the addition of nine more medals, India’s medal tally climbed to five gold, 11 silver and 17 bronze.

 

After a disappointing medal collection on the first week of competitions, long distance runner Preeja Sreedharan and steeple chaser Sudha Singh stole the thunder with their gold-winning feats on the track to raise hopes of a top ten finish for India on the medal table. Ace shooter Ronjan Sodhi finally brought an end to the shooting contingent’s gold drought by taking the honour in the men’s double trap event.

 

Kavita Raut fetched a silver in the women’s 10,000 m run while star tennis player Sania Mirza and grapplers Ravinder Singh (60 kg Greco Roman) and Sunil Kumar Rana (66 kg Greco Roman) were among those who claimed individual bronze medals. Sodhi teamed up with Asher Noria and Vikram Bhatnagar to claim the bronze in the double trap team event while the women’s archery team comprising Dola Banerjee, Deepika Kumari and Rimil Buriuly also chipped in with a bronze.

 

 

Somdev Devvarman also assured India of at least a bronze medal by storming into the semi-finals but Karan Rastogi went down fighting to top seed Denis Istomin in the men’s singles tennis quarterfinals. The men`s hockey team also had a good day as they beat Japan 3-2 for their fourth consecutive win and finished atop the points-table in group B. While Sodhi won the top honours in the individual, he combined with Asher Noria and Vikram Bhatnagar to rake in the team bronze medal. Kavita Raut walked away with the silver.

 

Later, Sudha Singh fetched India’s second gold medal in track and field events and fifth overall by winning the 3000m Steeplechase event with her personal-best timing. The Indian hopes of a gold medal in the women’s singles tennis event were dashed when Sania Mirza settled for a bronze after losing to third seed Akgul Amanmuradova in the semi-finals.

 

Indian wrestlers started their campaign impressively with Ravinder Singh and Sunil Kumar Rana clinching bronze medals in their respective weight categories in the Greco-Roman style. Indian men spikers` dream run in Games came to a screeching halt after they were thumped 0-3 by Thailand in the quarterfinals.The Indian women spikers, on the other hand, slumped to their third consecutive defeat in four matches after they were thrashed 0-3 by Kazakhstan in their preliminary Group B, match.

 

In tennis, second seed Somdev, ranked 106 on the ATP circuit, fought back from 1-4 down in the opening set to complete a 6-4, 6-4 win over lowly ranked Chinese rival Zhang Ze. Preeti Beniwal gave India a rousing start in women’s boxing as she advanced to the 60kg quarterfinals. Indian women archers settled for a bronze in the team event after missing out on an opportunity to stun world number one South Korea in the semi-finals shoot-off.

 

Medals Tally

 

 

Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
China	146	71	70	287
South Korea	55	46	61	162
Japan	30	53	62	145
Iran	10	8	14	32
Hong Kong	7	13	9	29
Thailand	7	7	22	36
Chinese Taipei	6	8	29	43
India	5	11	17	33
North Korea	5	8	12	25
Malaysia	5	8	7	20