Ace discus thrower Vikas Gowda was the country's top performer with a silver as India added four medals to maintain their 10th position in the overall standings on a controversy-marred day for the boxers at the 17th Asian Games here today.
After two productive days, it was a relatively quieter for the Indian contingent with Gowda providing the silver lining and the boxers enduring an agonising day in the ring, where bizarre judging cost them a couple of bouts.
Veteran L Sarita Devi (60kg) and Pooja Rani (75kg) had to settle for bronze medals after losing their semifinal bouts, while the duo of Varsha Gautam and Aishwarya Nedunchezhiyan provided an unexpected bronze medal in sailing.
But it was the boxing arena which hogged the limelight albeit for all the wrong reasons with two boxers -- Sarita and L Devendro Singh (49kg) -- getting eliminated in controversial fashion.
While both appeared to have got the better of their South Korean opponents, the verdict of the judges against them prompting the Indian contingent to lodge a protest at least for Sarita. However, the appeal was rejected.
The Indian men's hockey team also kept themselves on course for a coveted gold medal by advancing to the final with a hard-fought 1-0 win over South Korea. India were also assured of at least a silver in boxing with five-time world champion M C Mary Kom (51kg) making it to the final.
With the addition of four medals today, India maintained their 10th position on the table with a tally of 45 -- six gold, eight silver and 31 bronze. China kept the top spot with a haul of 254 followed by hosts South Korea (162) and Japan (141).
Vikas was India's star today and he hurled the disc to 62.58m to clinch the silver on an otherwise lacklustre day for the athletes.
There was some unexpected good news in sailing when Varsha Gautham and Aishwarya Nedunchezhiyan endured disqualification in one of the 12 races before claiming a bronze medal in the women's two person dinghy Sailing event.
Varsha as skipper and Aishwarya as crew finished with net 25 points.
In hockey, Akashdeep Singh scored a fabulous field goal to guide Indian men's team into the finals after a gap of 12 years.
