Saina Nehwal: Badminton Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal won the first ever medal for the nation in a badminton individual event. She won a bronze medal after losing to Chinese Taipei's athlete Tai Tzu Ying 17-21, 14-21. Another Indian shuttler, P V Sindhu was also there in this event, qualified for the final round after defeating Japan's Akane Yamaguchi in the semi-final match. Sudha Singh: Steeplechase (Athletics) Indian athlete Sudha Singh grabbed the silver medal in the Women's 3000m Steeplechase event after clocking 9:40.03 minutes. Sudha also won the gold medal during the 2010 edition of the Games. Bahrain's Winfred (9:36.52 minutes) and Thi Oanh Nguyen (9:43.83 minutes) of Vietnam (9:43.83 minutes) won the gold and bronze medal respectively. Neena Varakil: Long Jump (Athletics) Athlete Neena Varakil won the second silver medal of the day for India in athletics. This time it came in the Women's Long Jump event where Neena Varakil got the score of 6.51m. Her best score came in the fourth attempt which was enough to ensure her the second spot. Bui Thi Thu of Vietnam (6.55m) and China's Xu Xiaoling (6.50m) grabbed the gold and bronze medals respectively. Dharun Ayyasamy: 400m Hurdles (Athletics) Dharun Ayyasamy brought in country's third silver medal of the day in athletics and it came in the Men's 400m Hurdles event. Dharun clocked 48.96s to break the national record. Qatar's Abderrahman Samba finished the race in 47.66s to clinch the gold medal while Abe Takatoshi of Japan finished third. Neeraj Chopra: Javelin Throw (Athletics) Neeraj Chopra bagged the second gold for India at athletics India's flag bearer Neeraj Chopra led all the expectations high after breaking the national record with his throw of 88.06m to bring home the first gold medal of the day. He broke his Commonwealth Games record with this throw and this throw could also have won him a bronze medal at Rio Olympics 2016. Liu Qizhen of China (82.22m) and Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem (80.75m) were distant away from Chopra to win the silver and bronze medals respectively. India ended the day nine at the ninth position in the medal tally with 41 medals that included eight gold, 13 silver and 20 bronze.<doc-sep>The eighteenth Asian Games have finally come to a close. Day Fourteen saw the final few events for India. It also saw India broke their own best-ever tally for medals won in a single Asian Games. Eight years ago in Guangzhou, India won Sixty-Five medals, which was at that time their best-ever tally. Finally, eight years later, that record was broken, as the Indian contingent won Sixty-nine medals at the 2018 Asian Games. Some of the medalists were expected but some came as a total surprise. It is only fair then, that we revisit their heroics once again. Athletics Much to everyone's surprise, Athletics proved to be the biggest contributor to India's medal tally at the Asian Games. Nineteen of India's Sixty-nine medals came through this particular sport. In total, Athletics brought seven Gold medals, ten Silver medals and two Bronze medals. Tajinderpal Singh Toor started the campaign for Indian athletics with a Gold medal in Men's Shot Put. The 23-year-old also broke the Games record in the process. His dominant performance was matched by another Indian, albeit in the Javelin throw event. Flag-bearer Neeraj Chopra threw his personal best to win the Gold medal in this one. It proved to be another dominant performance from Chopra, who's worst throw ended up being better than the Silver-medal winning one. Jinson Johnson and Manjit Singh also won Gold medals in Athletics in Men's 1500m and 800m, respectively. Their achievement was matched by the Women's 4x400m Relay Team, who kept India's good run going by winning the Gold medal in the fifth successive Asian Games. Arpinder Singh also won the Gold medal in Men's Triple Jump while Swapna Barman soldiered on with an injury to finish first in Women's Heptathlon. Amongst the Silver medalists for India were Muhammed Anas Yahiya and Hima Das, who finished second in Men's and Women's 400m, respectively. Das and Yahiya then teamed up, along with Rajiv Arokia and MR Poovamma to win the Silver medal in Mixed 4x400m relay. Yahiya returned to the podium one more time, as he and his teammates finished second in the Men's 4x400m Relay as well. Dutee Chand also had an incredible competition, as she claimed the Silver medal in both Women's 100m and 200m races. Dharun Ayyasamy and Sudha Singh won the penultimate prize in Men's 400m Hurdles and Women's 3000m, respectively. Neena Varakil won the Silver medal in Women's Long Jump and Jinson Johnson added to his Gold by winning the Silver in Men's 800m. Chitra Unnikrishnan and Seema Punia won the Bronze medal in Women's 1500m and Discus Throw, respectively. Shooting After Athletics, Shooting turned out to be the biggest contributor to India's medal tally. Many were expecting medals from this event, to begin with, and it did not disappoint. The Gold medal in Shooting came from two surprising sources. 16-year-old Saurabh Chaudhary won the Gold in Men's 10m Air Pistol, to the shock of Indian fans. Elsewhere, Rahi Sarnobat took the spotlight from wonder-girl Manu Bhaker to win the Gold medal in Women's 25m Pistol. Four more Silver medals came through Shooting. Yet another teenager proved to be India's hero in Shooting, as Shardul Vihan won the Silver medal in Men's Double trap. Meanwhile, youngster Lakshay did the same in Men's Trap. Deepak Kumar and Sanjeev Rajput won the Silver medal too, in Men's 10m Air Rifle and Men's 50m Rifle 3 positions. Finally, India's three Bronze medals in shooting came through Abhishek Verma, Heena Sidhu, and Mixed Air Rifle team. Verma won the medal in Men's 10m Air Pistol event, while Sidhu did the same for Women. Ravi Kumar and Apurvi Chandela made up the team that won the Bronze in Mixed Team 10m Air Rifle. Wrestling Wrestling added three more medals to India's total tally. Bajrang Punia started things off by winning the Gold medal in Men's 65 Kg Freestyle event. The youngster absolutely destroyed his competition to win the ultimate prize. Vinesh Phogat won the Gold medal as well, in the Women's 50 Kg Freestyle event. Once again, the Indian proved too much to handle for her opponents, as she walked her way to the Gold. Divya Kakran won the only other medal for India. She won the Bronze in Women's 68kg Freestyle. Bridge For the first time in Asiad history, Bridge was an official part of the roster. Unlike Esports and Canoe Polo, Bridge was not an exhibition event. Instead, it proved to be very much competitive. India won three medals in Bridge- One Gold and Two Bronze. The solitary Gold in the card game came through Men's Pair. Pranab Bardhan and Shibhnath Sarkar, the duo who finished top of the charts. The two Bronze medals came through Men's and Mixed teams. Rowing Rowing was another one of the 'surprise' sports in which India won a medal. Once again, Rowing contributed towards one Gold and Two Bronze. The Gold medal came through Men's Quadruple Sculls team. Sawarn Singh, Dattu Bhokanal, Om Prakash, and Sukhmeet Singh made up the team. Dushyant won the Bronze medal for India in Men's Lightweight Sculls. The rower was suffering from high blood pressure throughout the race and had to be stretchered off after the medal ceremony. The second Bronze in Rowing came through Men's Lightweight Double Sculls. Rohit Kumar and Bhagwan Singh winning the medal in this one. Tennis Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan won the Gold medal in Men's Doubles. They started, what turned out to be, a fine run for Racquet sports in the competition. Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Ankita Raina won a Bronze medal each in Men's and Women's Singles, respectively. Boxing Boxing was one of the major sports which turned out to be a disappointment for India. Much was expected of the Indian Boxing contingent. However, only two proved to be medal winners in the end. 22-year-old Amit Phangal beat Olympic Gold medalist Hasanboy Dusmatov in Men's 49 Kg Final to win the Gold medal. The youngster won the medal by a split decision. There could have been potentially another Gold for India had Vikas Krishan not injured himself. The 26-year-old suffered an injury in the Quarterfinal and as a consequence, was ruled out of the Semifinal. He was de-facto allotted a Bronze medal. Archery Compound Archery, once again, proved to be India's saving grace by winning two Silver medals. Both the Men's team and the Women's team lost to South Korea in the Final, thereby winning the Silver medal. Equestrian Another two medals to India's medal tally were added by Equestrian. One of the two Silver medals was won by Fouaad Mirza in Eventing Individual. The Eventing Team also won a medal for India. Squash Squash continued Racquet Sports' fine run in the competition by adding five more medals to India's tally. Out of those five, one turned out to be Silver while the remaining four were Bronze. The Indian Women's team won the Silver medal on Day Fourteen. Joshna Chinappa, Dipika Pallikal, Sunayna Kuruvilla, and Tanvi Khanna were a part of this team. Chinappa and Pallikal won the Bronze medal in Women's Singles as well. Saurav Ghosal did the same in Men's Singles. Ghosal then bagged another medal in the Men's team event. He, along with Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu, Ramit Tandon, and Mahesh Mangaonkar won the Bronze medal. Sailing Sailing was another one of the surprise events in which India won multiple medals. The first one came through Varsha Gautham and Sweta Shervegar win the Silver medal in Women's 49er FX event. Meanwhile, Varun Thakkar and Ganapathy Chengappa won the Bronze medal in Men's 49er event. Harshita Tomar won the Bronze medal, as well, in the Mixed Open Laser 4.7 event. Badminton In Badminton, two remarkable Women added two medals to India's total tally. Saina Nehwal added her first Asiad medal to her personal collection as she won the Bronze medal. The experienced shuttler stormed through the first few rounds, before ultimately losing in the Semifinal to top-seed Tai Tzu Ying. PV Sindhu, meanwhile, went one better than her compatriot. She won the Silver medal in the same competition. Sindhu got the better of some tough competition on her way to the final.<doc-sep>Indian shooters and tennis players are drawing close to their campaign at Asian Games 2018 but are yet to get money. (Reuters Photo) Indian athletes, who are participating in the 18th Asian Games in the twin cities of Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia, have not yet received their daily allowances from India. With their allowances still on hold, the Indian shooting and tennis contingent are drawing close to the end of their campaign in the multi-sport event. All the Indian athletes in Jakarta and Palembang have been given forex cards but so far, the participants have received no money in those accounts. Speaking on the same, deputy chef de mission BS Kushwaha told ANI, "Handed over forex cards to athletes and informed the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), but yes, some got it activated and some of them are waiting as it took two to three days. There were issues of signatures. They (athletes) will get their allowance once the card is activated." ASIAN GAMES 2018 DAY 8 LIVE UPDATES When asked about the delay, Kushwaha added that he had no idea about it. India have so far bagged 29 medals, including seven gold, five silver and 17 bronze. India stand at the eighth spot in the medals tally table. INDIA'S ASIAN GAMES 2018 GOLD MEDALLISTS SO FAR Bajrang Punia, wrestling: Wrestler Bajrang won India's its first gold medal at the games in the 65kg freestyle category. An in-form Bajrang outclassed Uzbekistan's Sirojiddin Khasanov (13-3), Tajikistan's Fayziev Abdulqosim (12-2) and Mongolia's N Batmagnai Batchuluu (10-0) to storm into the gold medal bout. In the final, he was tested by Japan's Takatani Daichi but the Haryana grappler held his nerve to prevail 10-8 in an exciting battle. Vinesh Phogat, wrestling: Vinesh created history after she won the 50kg category final. Vinesh is the first Indian female wrestler to win gold at the Games. Vinesh defeated Japan's Irie Yuki 6-2 in the final to bag the top prize. Saurabh Chaudhary, shooting: Saurabh, clinched the top prize in men's 10m air pistol event with Games record of 240.7. The 16-year-old, son of a farmer, became the youngest Indian shooter to strike gold at the games. Rahi Sarnobat, shooting: Rahi scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman shooter to win a gold medal at the Asian Games as she prevailed in a nervy shoot-off in the 25m pistol event. 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 finals. Indian rowing team: The Indian rowing team clinched the gold medal in the men's Quadruple Sculls final. The Indian rowing team comprising of Sawarn Singh, Dattu Bhokanal, Om Prakash and Sukhmeet Singh crossed the finish line in first place with a time of 6:17.13 to bag the yellow medal. Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan, tennis: Bopanna and Sharan won the gold medal in the men's doubles tennis event at the ongoing 18th Asian Games 2018 in the twin cities of Jakarta and Palembang by winning the gold medal match against Kazakhstan's men's doubles pair. Bopanna and Sharan, who were the top seeds in the event, played to their billing throughout the tournament and beat Kazakhstan's Aleksandr Bublik and Denis Yevseyev 6-3, 6-4 to scoop the top prize in the event. Tajinderpal Singh Toor, shot put: Tajinderpal Singh Toor won the gold in the men's shot put at the 2018 Asian Games on Saturday. Tajinderpal broke the Games Record in his fifth attempt with a throw of 20.75, which is also the National Record. The 23-year-old is also Asia's highest ranked shotputter and produced an inspired throw of 19.96 in his very first attempt after which he threw 20.75 and 20.00 in his last two attempts to own the gold. (With ANI inputs)<doc-sep>
Indian sprinters Muhammed Anas, Hima Das and claimed silver medals, while two rare silver medals in equestrian and two bronze medals in the bridge event soared India's medal tally to 36 at the end of the ninth day at the 18th Asian Games on Sunday. Among other success stories on the day, ace Indian singles shuttlers Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu entered the semi-finals to assure two historic medals, while the men's and women's compound archery teams advanced to the finals and India's men's hockey team defeated South Korea 5-3 to be on the verge of qualifying for the semi-finals. The first medals in the day came from the equestrian competition. In the final of the jumping team event, the Indian team of Rakesh Kumar, Ashish Malik, Jitender Singh and Fouaad Mirza scored 121.30 points to finish second. Fouaad also shone in the individual event, taking the silver with 26.40 points. Then in the evening, the athletes took charge, with Anas and Hima claiming the silver medals in the men's and women's 400 metres races respectively, while Dutee finished second in the women's 100 metres race. Reigning Asian champion Anas completed the race in 45.69 seconds to be second, while Hima clocked a national record mark of 50.79 seconds to take the second place in the women's race. The other two Indian competitors in the races, Rajiv Arokia and Nirmala finished fourth. While Rajiv timed 45.84 seconds to complete the men's 400m race, Nirmala finished the race in 52.96 seconds. Dutee clocked 11.32 seconds to earn the silver. The gold medal went to Edidiong Odiong of Bahrain, who clocked 11.30 while China's Yongli Wei took the bronze, clocking 11.33. In the men's 10,000m category, India's Govindan Lakshmanan missed out on a medal as he was disqualified following an official review. India's Anu Raghavan and Jauna Murmu qualified for the women's 400m hurdles final. Anu took a time of 56.77 seconds to finish at the third place in Heat 2, while Jauna clocked 59.20 seconds to take the fourth spot in Heat 1. India collected two bronze medals in Bridge which is making its debut at the Games. India's mixed team and men's bridge teams lost their semi-final matches. The mixed team, comprising Kiran Nadar, Satyanarayana Bachiraju, Hema Deora, Gopinath Manna, Himani Khandelwal and Rajeev Khandelwal, lost to Thailand in their semi-final match. The men's team of Jaggy Shivdasani, Rajeshwar Tewari, Sumit Mukherjee, Debabrata Majumder, Raju Tolani and Ajay Khare, fell against Singapore in the semi-finals. India's success also continued in archery, with the men's and women's compound archery teams overcoming Taiwan teams in the semi-finals on Sunday to set up title clashes against South Korean teams. The men's team, comprising Rajat Chauhan, Aman Saini and Abhishek Verma, beat Qatar (227-213), Philippines (227-226) and Taiwan (230-227) in the three matches on the day to be one win away from successfully defending their title. The women's team's of Muskan Kirar, Madhumita Kumari and Jyothi Surekha Vennam got past Indonesia (229-224) and Taiwan (225-222) in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively. In badminton court, Olympic 2016 silver medallist Sindhu edged past Thailand's Nitchaon Jindapol 21-11, 16-21, 21-14, while Saina defeated Ratchanok Inthanon of Thailand 21-18, 21-16 in their quarter-final matches. In the semi-finals, Saina will meet Taiwanese top seed Tai Tzu Ying, while third-seeded Sindhu will take on Japanese Akane Yamaguchi. This is the first time Indian women singles shuttlers are assured of a medal in Asian Games. And India will have the first singles medals in badminton after the 1982 Asiad when Syed Modi won the bronze. In men's hockey, India will only need a draw against Sri Lanka on Tuesday to end Pool A as the top-ranked team and enter the semi-finals. India's 5-3 win over South Korea was their fourth successive victory here. It was drag-flicker Rupinder Pal Singh (1st minute), Chinglensana Singh Kangujam (5th), Lalit Upadhyay (16th), Manpreet Singh (49th) and Akashdeep Singh (56th) who contributed to India's scoreline. For South Korea, Skipper Manjae Jung (33th, 35th) and Jhongyun Jang (60th) scored. Meanwhile, the Indian women's table tennis team reached the quarter-finals. The team comprising Mouma Das, Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutritha Mukherjee, defeated Qatar 3-0 in the first match but lost to China 0-3 in the second match. In the third match of the day, India outplayed Iran 3-1 to join China in the quarter-finals. The men's team of G Sathiyan, Sharath Kamal and Harmeet Desai won their first match 3-0 against the UAE.