After a smart march-past the previous day, India opened country's quest for medals thorough Shweta Chaudhry in the 10m Air Pistol event. But the day belonged to Jitu Rai, the first to win India a gold medal at Incheon.
Jitu, who is the world number one in 10m Air Pistol and number four in 50m Air Pistol, is no stranger to gold rush having won three medals in nine days at the ISSF World Cup in Munich. In 2014, at the Commonwealth Games he created a Games record in qualification round of 50m Pistol event with 562 points and went on to win gold with 194.1 points in the final, another Games record.
With such fantastic credentials, it was perceived he would add the Asian gold to his rich tally, and that he did in style adds to his growing stature with awe-inspiring performances he churns out at major championships regularly.
In a nerve-wrecking final, Jitu won the gold medal in 50m Air Pistol event. Jitu's position dropped to sixth when he shot a 7.7 but he quickly regained lost ground with an 8.8 which brought him to the number two spot. With a 9.9 that followed, he was assured of a medal but he went a step further, kept his cool and won the gold, leaving the Vietnamese to the second spot.
In women's shooting, Heena Sidhu and Malaika Goel are all potential medal winners on a given day, but they disappointing didn't qualify for the final of 10m Air Pistol event, but Shweta Chaudhry carried India on her shoulder to open India's medal account with a bronze..
As rightly pointed out by Khel Ratna-winner shooter Ronjan Sodhi, India should have forged ahead in the women's 10m Air Pistol Team event but that was not to be. This is an area where brilliant stars are not able to pool their combined talent to win a medal in the team event. Both in 10m and 50m Air Pistol events India finished fifth and fourth respectively. This is an area which needs to be addressed.
In Badminton, India had a mixed day.
While the women progress to the final in the Team Event, the men's team bowed out after losing to South Korea. The women's team of Saina Nehwal, PV Singh, Sikky Reddy and Pradnya Gadre entered first beat Macau 3-0 and then beat Thailand 3-2 in the quarter-finals.
It was always going to be difficult for the men's team against the hosts. Still one expected a better fight from the Indian team that crashed out against South Korea rather tamely, 3-0.
Much was expected of Parupalli Kashyap after his dramatic debut when he scored over Chinese players but after winning the first game 21 -6, he lost 14-21 and 10-21.
In squash, both Dipika Pallikal and Joshana Chinnappa, placed world no 12 and 21 respectively, won against their Chinese and South Korean opponents placed more than 150 places below them. The two Indians will face each other in the quarterfinals, which assures India of a bronze in women's singles. There is a good chance they will win a medal in doubles as well like they did at Glasgow and make the country proud.
In the Men's Singles section of the squash event, Saurav Ghoshal has kept medal hopes alive by moving into the quarterfinals.
India's women's tennis team also made a good start by winning their opening encounter against Oman.
Indian men's volleyball team face some resistance from Hong Kong just managed to them 3 -1. This would have pleased former captain of Indian volleyball team Uday Kumar who passed away last night. India will have to vastly improve from the match they played against Hong Kong, who are placed 90 places below India, if they have to advance further in the Asiad.
India's men basketball team too made a good start by beating the much weaker Palestine 89-49. Their next competitor Saudi Arabia, though, are a much stronger outfit and India will have to reach their peak form to register a win against the Saudis.
In other events, India's handball team lost to Chinese Taipei 39-20. Both in defence and goal conversion Taipei appeared a far better team. India will have to fare much better in its future matches to stand any chance of reaching the medal matches.
In judo, although Judoka Navjot Channa started well by winning his match against Kuwait's Abdulla Almaraghy, he lost his pre-quarterfinal against Mongolian player Boldbataar Ganbat in the 60kg event. Channa was a silver medalist in Glasgow but couldn't be among the medals here.
Both Sushila Devi and Kalpana Devi lost their matches in -48 kg and -52 kg categories respectively. They fought through to reach the repechage round but failed to win to stay in contention for bronze.
In rowing, Lightweight category, India's doubles team and Dushyant Chauhan have entered the finals.
In wushu, Narendra Grewal has entered the quarter-finals by beating Nepal's Mangal Prasad in Men's Sanda -60 kg. But Bimoljit Singh lost to Turkmenistan in -65 kg Sanda category Overall India had a mixed day in Incheon bagging a gold and bronze in Shooting events, while failing to shine in Judo. However, progress made in badminton, rowing and squash must keep the contingent in high spirits.
(E R Ramachandran is a sport writer based in Mysore. He will be analyzing Asian Games for ibnlive.com)
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