India’s Sarnobat and wushu players enjoy landmark day

Rahi Sarnobat scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman shooter to win Asiad gold while the wushu players produced their best ever medal haul at the 18th Asian Games yesterday.India also ensured two medals from the tennis court with the men’s doubles team of Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan, and womens’ singles player Ankita Raina entering the semi-finals of their respective categories.India thus rose a rung to the seventh spot on the medals tally with four gold, three silver and eight bronze medals.At the shooting ranges in Palembang, Sarnobat prevailed in a nervy shoot-off in the women’s 25m pistol competition to win gold. The 27-year-old got the better of Thailand’s Naphaswan Yangpaiboon in a shoot-off after both shot a Games record score of 34 in the final round.In the shoot-off, Sarnobat hit three while the Thai shooter missed three to settle for the silver medal as the Indian improved upon her bronze medal winning feat at the 2014 edition.Minjung Kim of Japan took the bronze medal after scoring 29, as Manu Bhaker, another Indian in the fray, finished sixth after a score of 16 as she exited after the seventh series.Meanwhile in Jakarta, India bagged four bronze medals in the wushu sanda competition. This is the best ever medal haul by India in wushu at the Asian Games.Three medals came from the men’s competition as Santosh Kumar (56kg), Surya Bhanu Pratap Singh (60kg) and Narender Grewal (65kg) lost in their respective semi-finals. Each losing semi-finalist is assured of a bronze medal.Naorem Roshibina Devi took a bronze in the women’s section after losing 0-1 to China’s Cai YingYing in the 60kg semi-finals.In the men’s wushu taijijian category, India’s Mayanglambam Gyandash Singh had to be content with the fourth spot. The Indian tennis players also enjoyed a successful day. Bopanna and Sharan defeated Hsieh Chengpeng and Yang Tsung-Hua of Chinese Taipei 6-3, 5-7, 10-1 in a hard fought quarter-final encounter.The Indians will take on K Uesugi and S Shimabukuro of Japan in the semi-finals.The Japanese pair had beaten Gong Maoxin and Ze Zhang of China 4-6, 6-2, 10-2 in another bitterly fought quarter-final.In women’s singles, Raina got past Hong Kong’s Eudice Wong Chong 6-4, 6-1 to enter the last-four stage.Raina and Bopanna advanced to the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles category with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Chong and Wong Chun Hun of Hong Kong.They will meet C B Rungkat and A Sutjiadi of Indonesia in the last eight stage.In archery, Jyothi Surekha Vennam finished second in the ranking round of the women’s compound individual event to propel India to the second spot in the ranking round of the compound women’s team event.Vennam scored 705 points, with 57 10s and 23 Xs, while Muskan Kirar proved to be the second best Indian performer with 691 points, with 45 10s and 21 Xs. Kirar was in ninth spot.Madhumita Kumari was 11th with 689 points, with 46 10s and 13 Xs, while Trisha Deb shot 683 to be 19th. Trisha shot 38 10s and 23 Xs. In the team event, the scores of Vennam, Kirar and Kumari gave India 2085 points, with 148 10x and 57 Xs. South Korea delivered a Games record score of 2105 points, with 162 10s and 69 Xs to top the team chart.The third place went to Chinese Taipei, who have 2085 points, with 147 10s and 59 Xs. Chinese Taipei was powered by Chen Yihsuan, who topped the individual chart with a Games record score of 706 which included 58 10s and 26 Xs.