 "Asian Games 2018: Meet all the 69 medal winners who have made India proud")
Defending champions India beat arch-rivals Pakistan 2-1 in a keenly-contested match to bag a consolation bronze medal in the men's hockey competition at the 18th Asian Games on Saturday. The Indians, who were the pre-tournament favourites being the highest ranked side in the competition, scored through a field goal from Akashdeep Singh (3rd minute) and a penalty corner conversion by Harmanpreet Singh (50th). Pakistan's lone goal came from a counter-attack scored by Muhammad Atiq. The bronze came as a consolation prize for India after they lost to Malaysia in the semi-finals on Thursday.
The Indian women's squash team finished second best to a clinical Hong Kong in the final, settling for a successive silver at the 18th Asian Games Saturday. Sunayna Kuruvilla and India number one Joshna Chinappa lost their respective singles as the team suffered its second defeat against Hong Kong in a space of three days. With a runners-up finish, India equalled their best ever performance at the Games. They had also reached the final at Incheon four years ago.
Amit Panghal (49kg) on Saturday became only the eighth Indian boxer ever to claim a gold medal at the Asian Games with a stunning tactical win over reigning Olympic and Asian champion Hasanboy Dusmatov in the summit clash.The 22-year-old Armyman, the only Indian to make the finals, prevailed 3-2 against the more fancied Dusmatov, who had beaten him in a split verdict in last year's world championships.
Pranab Bardhan became the oldest man in Indian contingent to win a medal at the 18th Asian Games as he joined forces with Shibhnath Sarkar to clinch gold in men's pair event of the bridge competition on Saturday. The 60-year-old Bardhan and his 56-year old partner finished the men's pair event with a score of 384 as they edged out China's Lixin Yang and Gang Chen, who finished with 378 points after five round of competition. Bridge made its debut at the Asian Games, this year.
The Indian women's hockey team failed to break its 36-year-old gold jinx after losing to Japan 1-2 in a keenly contested summit clash to settle for the silver medal at the 18th Asian Games. The loss will hurt the Indians badly as a gold here would have guaranteed a direct qualification in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Minami Shimizu and Motomori Kawamura scored for Japan through penalty corners in the 11th an 44th minute while Neha Goyal's field goal in the 25th minute was the lone strike for India, who were aiming to win their first Asiad gold since 1982. The Indians had qualified for the final of the Asian Games after a gap of 20 years, having beaten China in the semifinals.
Indian boxer Vikas Krishan, who had sustained an eye injury during the ongoing 18th edition of the Asian Games, has pulled out of the semi-final bout of the men's middle 75 kg boxing event. As a result of the pullout, the 26-year-old had to settle for a bronze medal in the prestigious quadrennial tournament. Krishan became the first Indian boxer to clinch three medals in the Asian Games. He had won a gold medal in the 60 kg category in Guangzhou 2010 followed by a bronze in middleweight category at 2014 Incheon edition of the Asian Games.
Defending champions India settled for a bronze medal after losing 0-2 to Hong Kong in the semifinals of the men's squash event at the 18th Asian Games. The Indian men's team comprising Saurav Ghosal, Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu, Ramit Tandon and Mahesh Mangaonkar was no match for Hong Kong, who had won bronze in the last edition at Incheon, South Korea.
Not long after giving up text books, Varun Ashok Thakkar and K C Ganapathy are happily writing their own scripts -- in water -- and feel the plunge into sailing was a risk worth taking. They don't regret dropping out of full time school, and the bronze medal at the ongoing Asian Games vindicates their decision as well as the feeling. Once fierce rivals, Thakkar and Ganapthy today joined forces to clinch a bronze medal in 49er event after finishing third with 43 net points.
Harshita Tomar settled for bronze in the Open Laser 4.7 category at the 18th Asian Games on Friday. She scored a total 62 points and 50 net points to finish third. Muhammad Fauzi Kaman Shah of Malaysia took gold and the bronze went to Jianxiong Wang of China.
Varsha Gautham and Sweta Shervegar bagged a silver medal in the 49er FX women sailing competition at the 18th Asian Games on Friday. They scored a total of 44 points and 40 net points to finish second. The gold went to Singapore's Min Kimberly Lim and Rui Qi Cecilia Low with 44 total points and 14 net points while the bronze went to Thailand's Nichpa Waiwai and Kamonchanok Klahan.
India's 4x400m men's relay team won a silver in the final event of athletics in the Asian Games. The Indian quartet of Kunhu Muhammed, Dharunn Ayyasamy, Mohd. Anas and Arokia Rajiv clocked 3:01.85 to finish behind Qatar who won gold in an Asian record time of 3:00.56. Japan took the bronze in 3:01.94.