Asian Games 2023 Day 5 Wrap: India add 3 more medals to tally, football campaign ends with defeat to Saudi Arabia

India added 3 more medals to their tally that reached 25 at the end of Day 5 at Asian Games 2023. India won a Gold medal in shooting, silver in wushu, and a historic bronze medal in equestrian, while two tennis teams assured themselves of medals. It was a mixed day in boxing but the day ended with NIshant Dev making his intentions clear with a knockout punch that is worthy of featuring in the highlights reel of India’s campaign in Hangzhou.

India’s campaign in football came to an end as the men’s team lost to Saudi Arabia 2-0 in the Round of 16 match. On the other hand, the men’s hockey team inched closer to the semi-final spot, clinching their third successive win – a 4-2 win over defending champions Japan.

India also began their badminton campaign in style with the women’s team sailing into the quarter-finals. In the pool, India 4x200m women’s relay team set a national record but medals evaded the country in swimming, once again.

Asian Games Day 5 Highlights | Medal Table

In tennis, India assured two medals while squash teams also made it to the semi-finals to confirm meddals.

MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS OF INDIA ON DAY 5

Shooting

India drew a blank in skeet mixed team event as Anant Jeet Singh and Ganemat Shekon finished 5th in the qualification out of 6 pairs. However, it was in the Men’s 10m Pistol event that the Indian trio of Sarabjot Singh, Arjun Singh Cheema, Shiva Narwal won Gold.

With the Gold in the event, India took its shooting tally to 13, the sport’s best ever showing at an edition of the Asian Games. India have won four gold, four silver and five bronze medals in shooting with 3 more days of competitions left in the sport.

However, Sarabjot Singh and Arjun Cheema were not able to win medals in the individual event.

Wushu

india’s Roshibina Devi came up with a valiant fight in the women’s 60kg final but she finished with a silver after losing Chinese opponent Xiaowei Wu 2-0.

Equestrian

Anush Agarwalla won a historic bronze medal in Dressage Individual with him and his horse Etro putting on a fine show.

Anush Agarwalla’s bronze in the Dressage Individual final is the first time India has won a medal in the category at the Asian Games. The Kolkata rider’s achievement comes days after the Dressage Team from India won a historic Gold in Hangzhou. On Tuesday, India’s Hriday Chheda, Anush Agarwalla, Divyakriti Singh and Sudipti Hajela combined to give the country its first Dressage medal in the Asian Games history and it was the popular yellow metal.

Tennis

India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan and Saketh Myneni gave themselves a chance to win Gold as they reached the final of men’s doubles.

Ramkumar and Myneni defeated the unseeded Korean pairing of Sononwoo Kwon and Seonchan Hong in a thrilling semi-final encounter 6-1, 6-7, 10-0.

Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan are the 7th Indian pair to reach the men’s doubles final at the Asian Games. India have won as many as 5 Gold medals in the category at the continental multi-sport event.

Meanwhile, Rohan Bopanna and Rutuja Bhosale also assured India of a tennis medal by reaching the mixed doubles semi-final.

Squash

Both the Indian and women’s teams advanced to the semi-finals to assure themselves of a medal.

While the men’s team blanked Nepal 3-0 in its final pool tie, the women were handed a 0-3 loss by Malaysia in their last pool B fixture.

Both teams sealed top two spots in their respective pools to make the semifinals which guarantees them at least a bronze.

Boxing

India’s Nishant Dev and Jaismine Lamboria reached the quater-finals after winning there Round of 16 bouts. However, Deepak, a world championships bronze medalist, lost in men’s 56-61kg Round of 16.

Table Tennis

India star paddlers Sharath Kamal, Manika Batra and G Sathiyan progressed to the pre-quarterfinals in singles events.

India’s mixed pair of Sathiyan and Manika failed to control their nerves at the last moment, losing against Zhe Yu Clarence Chew and Jian Zeng of Singapore 2-3 (11-7, 11-9, 11-13, 10-12, 3-11) in a close pre-quarterfinals clash at the Gongshu Canal Sports Park.

The other mixed pair, Sreeja and Harmeet Desai also bowed out of the Games losing 0-3 (4-11, 6-11, 10-12) to Orawan Paranang and Phakpoom Sanguansin of Thailand. (With PTi Inputs)