Shooters once again got India going on day three at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, when the trio of Rahi Sarnobat, Anisa Sayyed and Heena Sidhu clinched bronze medal in the Women's 25m Pistol Team event to start day three. And later in the day squash star Dipika Pallikal settled for bronze while Saurav Ghosal kept India's gold-medal hopes alive by reaching a historic final in the men's singles draw.
Shooters Sarnobat, Sayyed and Sidhu collected 580, 577 and 572 points respectively but failed to match the South Koreans who bagged gold and the Chinese trio that clinched the 25m Pistol Team silver.
Sarnobat's effort was enough to earn her a place in the Individual Semi-final of the same event, while Sayyed finished 10th and Sidhu a disappointing 17th. But Sarnobat failed to make it count, finishing 7th and failing to progress to the medal round.
Before that, Ayonika Paul failed to get among the medals in the Women's 10m Rifle after qualifying for the final. India also failed to win a medal in the Team section of the same event, where Paul teamed up with Apurvi Chandela and Raj Chaudhary. They finished sixth.
World No. 8 Ayonika scored a creditable 417.7 but Apurvi Chandela (413.8) and Raj Choudhary (407.6) failed to come up with a better show and their combined total of 1239.1 left them at the sixth spot.
Ghosal sailed into the gold-medal match after beating Malaysia's Ong Beng Hee in straight games 11-5, 11-4, 11-9, assuring himself of a silver - a first for India.
Pallikal's dream of winning an Asian Games gold, though, also ended in the women's singles semi-finals on Monday. She went down rather tamely to Malaysia's Ann David in straight sets losing 11-4, 11-4, 11-5 and settling for a bronze medal.
India were also assured of at least two bronze medals in wushu with Thoudam Sanathoi Devi and Narender Grewal storming into the semifinals in their respective events.
Sanathoi beat Amgalanjargal Sangidorj of Mongolia in a 2-0 'Win By Round' (WBR) verdict in a dominating performance in her Sanda 52kg category quarterfinal contest at Ganghwa Dolmens Gymnasium.
Grewal also outplayed his Pakistani opponent Abdullah in the men's Sanda 60kg quarterfinal contest in an identical 2-0 'Win By Round' (WBR) verdict.
With two medals coming their way, India were now placed 13th in the overall tally with one gold and five bronze. Regional powerhouse China lead the pack with 58 medals (26-14-18), followed by hosts South Korea 45 (14-15-16) and Japan 42 (13-13-16).
India had a forgettable day in the tennis event - both in men's and women's section - where Kazakhstan ended India's medal hopes in the Team events.
The women's team lost 2-1, with Prathana Thombare and Ankita Raina losing their singles rubber and the doubles team of Natasha Marie Anne and Rishikain Sunkara getting a consolation win after the Kazakh duo retired in the first set itself.
The men's tennis team conceded a losing 2-0 lead to Kazakhstan following defeats for Sanam Singh and Yuki Bhambri. India won the doubles rubber through Saketh Sai Myneni and Divij Sharan to make the final scoreline 2-1.
India's campaign in Judo also came to an end on Monday when Kyrgyzstan's Nagira Sarbashova beat Rajwinder Kaur via Ippon in the Repechage round after she lost her her +78kg quarter-final.
It was a good day for the men in basketball as they comfortably beat Kazakhstan 80-61 in a preliminary group fixture. Also the Indian women's hockey team opened its campaign with a 3-0 win over Thailand in a Pool A match, though they were expected to win much more comfortably.
Swimmer Prathapan Nair finished a poor sixth in the men's 50m backstroke heats, failing to qualify for the final.
India's women volleyball team was also thrashed by Japan in a preliminary group game where the Japanese won easily with a scoreline of 25-6, 25-11, 25-12.
In rowing, women's team of Dittymol Varghese, Monalisha Chanu, Chaoba Devi and Manjula Xess was eliminated from Lightweight Quadruple Sculls event after finishing fifth in Repechage.
(With PTI inputs)
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