Asian Games 2010 Day 13: Ashwini and Joseph set track ablaze, India win three golds

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

Thursday, 25 November 2010: Hurdlers Ashwini Chidananda and Joseph Abraham  provided a huge boost to the country`s medal haul in the 16th Asian Games with their gold-winning feats while teen sensation Vikas Krishan bagged a boxing gold as India jumped to the seventh spot on an eventful 13th day of competitions on Thursday. With the addition of seven more medals, India`s medal haul climbed to 10 gold, 14 silver and 29 bronze to climb to the eighth spot on the medal rostrum and equaled the gold tally of the 2006 Games in Doha. China maintained their supremacy atop the medals table with a stupendous tally of 179-103-91 while South Korea (72-60-85) and Japan (39-68-86) were in the second and third position respectively.

 

Taking Indian athletics to a new high, Ashwini and Joseph took centre stage by taking the honour in the men`s and women`s 400m hurdles, an unprecedented feat for any country at the Asian Games. The Indian men`s hockey team and talented middle distance runner Tintu Luka bagged accounted for a bronze each as India added seven more medals to their kitty. Mausam Khatri also had his moment of glory by winning the bronze in men`s 96kg freestyle wrestling event to make amends for the otherwise disappointing show by his colleagues on the mat.

 

Striding smoothly over the low hurdles, long-legged, Ashwini of Kundapura Udupi, stepped on the gas on the final straight to clinch the gold with a personal best of 56.15secs, clipping 0.28secs off her own previous high of 56.43 which she clocked in the qualifying heats. Ashwini`s victory is significant as she had started to concentrate on hurdles just recently. Just a few minutes after Aswhini`s triumph, the 29-year-old Joseph, hailing from Kottayam district in Kerala, made it a historic 400m hurdles golden double by edging past his other rivals in a very tight finish.

 

 

Young Tintu Luka won the bronze medal in 800 metres event but team-mate Sinimole Paulose finished a disappointing seventh. Luka, a protegee of former sprint champion PT Usha, clocked 2:01.36 while Paulose timed 2:06.95. Luka led the pack right from the start, but couldn`t keep pace in the last 50 metres. Teen sensation Vikas Krishan ended Indian boxing`s 12-year-old gold medal drought in the Asian Games by winning the lightweight (60kg) title but Dinesh Kumar (81kg) settled for the silver after losing in the finals. The 18-year-old Vikas stunned defending champion Qing Hu of China 5-4 in the lightweight 60kg final that was low on thrill as the Indian decided to play defensive.

 

With the men`s and women`s kabaddi teams keeping themselves on course for the coveted gold and star pugilist Vijender Singh and two other boxers eyes gold medals, India will be looking for a top-five finish. It was the performance of the athletes which was largely responsible for India climbing two rungs on the medals table. Joseph and Ashwini raced to glory on an action-packed day to give India a golden double in a single athletics event for the first since 1978 Bangkok Asian Games when the county had won both 800m men`s and women`s gold medals.

 

Mausam Khatri gave the Indian wrestling contingent its third medal by bagging a bronze in the men`s 96kg freestyle category. Khatri got the better of Jaegang Kim of South Korea 3-1 to grab the third position in a contest that just over 17 minutes. Woman competitor Nirmala, too, lost 1-3 to Zhuldyz Eshimova of Kazakhstan after giving her opponent a scare by winning the second period.

 

Gunning for their sixth straight gold in men`s kabaddi, title favourites India trounced Japan 52-17 to storm into the final. The Indian women, however, escaped by the skin of their teeth in the semifinal against Iran and won the thrilling match by one point (23-22) to reach tomorrow`s gold medal clash. While the men`s team will take on Iran, who shocked Pakistan 17-16 after trailing 4-7 in the other semifinal, Indian eves will face Thailand, who defeated Bangladesh 34-23.

 

Bellevision congratulates Udupi girl Ashwini Chidananda on her Golden performance.

 

Medals Tally

 

 

Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
China	179	103	91	373
South Korea	72	60	85	217
Japan	39	68	86	193
Iran	19	11	23	53
Kazakhstan	15	18	32	65
Chinese Taipei	12	12	33	57
Uzbekistan	10	17	20	47
India	10	14	29	53
Malaysia	9	17	13	39
Thailand	9	7	30	46