Following an enthralling performance in the Common Wealth games including promises a of large number of improvements, India didn’t have a satisfactory start at the Incheon Asian games 2014. With lesser events coming up and only 4 silvers till now, as compared to the 30 in Glasgow games, it seems implausible that our squad will leave a lasting impact in South Korea.
With a significant increase in the bronze medals, still we haven’t made it to the top 10. Even with a pet event (shooting) over now, the marksmen did not seem to perform as per their potential, with Jitu Rai being the only one getting a gold in men’s 50m pistol. The silver was bagged by Pemba Tamang, Vijay Kumar, Gurpreet Singh in the 25m center fire group event. The bronze medals by Shweta Chourdhry in 10m Air pistol, Olympic legend Abhinav Bindra in 10m Air rifle, Chain Singh in 50m rifle 3 positions, Jitu Rai, Samaresh Jung and Prakash Nanjappa 10m Air pistol group, Rahi Sarnobat, Anisa Sayyed, Heena Sidhu in 25m pistol group, Shagun Chaudhary, Shreyasi Singh, Varsha Varman in Duble trap event.
The major upset was when CWG favorite Gagan Narang failed to scoop a single medal, reverting back to his inconsistency. Nevertheless, we hope he will hone his skill for the Olympics.
The 2nd gold in the kittywas won by Rajat Chauhan, Sandeep Kumar, Abhishek Verma for the men’s compound archery team event. The silver (only one) being clinched by Abhishek Verma in Men’s individual compound. The bronze scored by Trisha Deb in Womens individual compound and once again as a part of the Compound team along with Purvasha Shende and Jyothi Surekha.
The 3rd gold of the total was in squash, won by Harinder Pal Sandhu, Saurav Ghoshal, Mahesh Magaonkar in the group event. The silvers were clinched by Saurav Ghosal in Mens Single, Dipika Pallikal , Joshna Chinappa, Anaka Alankamony for the Women’s team. The bronze once again by Dipika Pallikal for the single’s event.
A short while ago, Yogeshwar Dutt clinched the 4th gold medal in men’s 65kg freestyle wrestling which should act as a catalyst for better performances from our other wrestlers. And for women’s wrestling with only 2 events till now, Vinesh Phogat and Geetika Jakhar have won the medals in 48kg and 63 kg respectively
For athletics, the silver was acquired by Lalita Babbar in women’s 3000m Steeplechase and bronze by Sudha Singh for the same event with a differnece of a few milliseconds between the two.
Getting back on the remaining bronze medals, for badminton the women’s team comprising of Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, PC Thulasi, Pradnya Gadre, N Siki Reddy, Ashwini Ponappa snagged one. and in Wushu , Sanathoi Devi Yamnam clinched the medal in 52kg Women’s Sanda and Narender Grewal for Mens’s 60kg Sanda.
With the upcoming wrestling events, we have keep our fingers crossed and hope that an event in which India has been dominanting for so long will yield something extraordinary, taking our minds off the current mediocrity. Wishing the Indian squad the best, Team EssentiallySports.
