The men's squash and archery teams secured historic gold medals as India enjoyed their most productive day in the 17th Asian Games so far with an impressive collection of 10 medals to jump to the 11th position in the overall standings on the eighth day of competitions here today.
Young archer Abhishek Verma was hero of the day as he combined with Rajat Chauhan and Sandeep Kumar to clinch the gold medal in the compound team event before picking up the individual silver medal at the Gyeyang Asiad Archery Field.
Abhishek's heroics was followed by men's squash team led by Saurav Ghosal which claimed the coveted gold medal in the team event while the women's team of Dipika Pallikal, Anaka Alankamony and Joshana Chinappa also excelled by clinching the silver medal.
Shooter Chain Singh (50m rifle 3 position), archer Trisha Deb (women's compound individual), grappler Vinesh Phogat (women's 48kg), Geetika Jakhar (women's 63kg) and athlete Lalita Babar (women's 3000m steeplechase), women's compound team -- comprising Trisha, Purvasha Shende and Jyothi Surekha Vennam -- were the bronze medal winners on what turned out to be India's best day at the Games.
With the addition of 10 more medals, India, overnight placed 16th, rose to the 11th position on the table with three gold, four silver and 20 bronze medals. China continued to leave their opponents behind with an impressive haul of 195 medals (96-58-41), followed by South Korea (35-42-40) and Japan (32-43-38).
India were also assured of at least five bronze medals in tennis event by reaching the semifinals.
While the archers and squash players stole the limelight with their medal-winning heroics, the Indian boxers also moved to the quarterfinals with easy victories over their opponents.
The men's hockey team also kept their medal hopes alive by advancing to the semifinals with a scrappy 2-0 win over China in their last pool B match.
Women grapplers Vinesh and Geetika bagged a bronze medal each in 48kg and 63kg freestyle events respectively as India made an impressive start in their wrestling campaign.
Glasgow Commonwealth Games gold winner Vinesh needed two minutes 31 seconds to beat Narangerel Erdenesukh of Mongolia in a completely one-sided bronze-medal bout. The referee stopped the bout after the Indian had taken 10-0 lead over her hapless opponent.
