|
India's Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand produced a major performance at the Asian Games on Saturday, defeating world No. 3 and home favourites Mayu Matsumoto and Yuki Fukushima of Japan 24-22, 21-18 to storm into the women's doubles quarterfinals, while squash stars Abhay Singh and Anahat Singh also booked their places in the respective singles finals.
Treesa and Gayatri, who had defeated the same Japanese pair in the team event earlier in the competition, once again held their nerve against the experienced duo in a tightly contested encounter, according to ESPN After edging a marathon opening game 24-22, the Indians found themselves 8-11 down in the second game. They fought back to level the score at 15-15 before another surge from the Japanese pair took them to 18-18. Treesa and Gayatri responded with an attacking approach, moving ahead 19-18 before earning match point and eventually closing out the contest to seal their place in the last eight. The Indians are now one victory away from securing an Asian Games medal. They will face Malaysia's world No. 5 pair Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan in the quarterfinals. Teenager Unnati Hooda also produced a significant upset in women's singles, defeating world No. 6 Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia 21-19, 21-13 to reach the quarterfinals. The 19-year-old Indian will next face world No. 3 and home favourite Akane Yamaguchi of Japan for a place in the semifinals. In squash, Abhay Singh reached the men's singles final after defeating Pakistan's Muhammad Irfan 11-3, 12-10, 11-6 in the semifinal. Abhay dominated the third game 11-6 to complete a straight-games victory and secure his place in the gold medal match. He will face either Pakistan's Noor Zaman or Malaysia's Eain Yow Ng in the final. Anahat Singh also progressed to the women's singles final after beating Japan's Satomi Watanabe 3-2 in the semifinal. India's mixed doubles pair Joshna Chinappa and Velavan Senthilkumar secured a bronze medal after losing their semifinal against Hong Kong's Tang Ming Hong and Lee Ka Yi. Earlier in the day, India added another gold through the women's kabaddi team, who defeated Iran 37-34 in the final to successfully defend their Asian Games title. Sawan Barwal won silver in the men's marathon with a national record time of 2:11:37, while Ashi Chouksey, Tilottama Sen and Vidarsa Vinod claimed silver in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions team event. India's medal tally stood at 27, comprising three gold, 11 silver and 13 bronze medals, placing the country 12th in the standings at the time of writing. (ANI)
|
