Asian Games 2018: India wins gold in tennis and rowing, bronze in shooting

Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan won gold in the men’s doubles category, shooter Heena Sidhu took bronze in the women’s 10m Air Pistol event at the 18th Asian Games

Photo courtesy: Twitter
Photo courtesy: Twitter
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NH Web Desk

Bopanna-Sharan pair lands men's doubles gold

At the Asian Games 2018, Indian tennis stars Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan notched up their maiden men's doubles gold medal, dominating the final clash with a thoroughly clinical performance on Friday.

Bopanna and Sharan defeated Aleksander Bublik and Denis Yevseyev of Kazakhstan 6-3 6-4 in 52 minutes.

Less than 20 minutes into the match, the Indians were 4-1 ahead, breaking Bublik and Yevseyev at the very first opportunity they got.

In no time, the top seeds were serving for the set with a 5-3 lead and Bopanna's booming serve wrapped it up in style for them.


Army spirit comes to fore: Indian rowers sing redemption song with 3 medals

The Indian rowing contingent redeemed itself by winning three medals, including a historic gold in quadruple sculls, on the final day of the competition at the 18th Asian Games.

The rowers had to overcome an unexpected and disastrous outing on Wednesday, when they were in contention for four medals, to ensure that India doesn't return home empty handed from the Jakabaring lake.

All Armymen, most of them from humble background, fought with the never-say-die spirit that soldiers are best known for. They rowed their boats as if there was no tomorrow.

"Yesterday we had a bad day but soldiers never give up. I told my teammates that we will go for the gold and we will give it all. It was about karo ya maro (do or die). And we did it," said Sawarn Singh, the senior-most member of the gold-winning quadruple sculls team.

Dushyant Chauhan, bronze medallist in lightweight single sculls at Incheon, defended his third place in the event.

Courtesy Bhagwan Singh and Rohit Kumar, India won another bronze in men's lightweight double sculls.


Heena Sidhu wins bronze, heartbreak for Manu

Indian shooter Heena Sidhu settled for a bronze medal in a topsy-turvy women's 10m air rifle final of the Asian Games.

Heena shot a near-perfect 10.8 with just three shooters left in the field but a 9.6 in the next attempt dashed her hopes of a better finish at the Jakabaring Shooting Range.

Having made an incredible comeback after languishing at 13th and 17th places in the qualification stage, Heena did not look content with the eventual third-place finish as she managed to reduce the gap to a mere 0.1 between her and the gold medal.

Heena shot 219.3 in the final.

There was more disappointment in store for 16-year-old Manu Bhaker as the Commonwealth Games gold-medallist was eliminated at fifth place with a score of 176.2.


With inputs from IANS and PTI

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