Asian Games: India shines in rowing and volleyball; qualify for next rounds

Starting the day, Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh displayed their determination by securing the second position in the Lightweight Men's Double Sculls event in Rowing.

Satnam Singh and Parminder Singh also finished in their respective heat with a time of 6:27.01. With this, both qualify for the repechage where they will compete for Final A berths. The duo ended up behind China's Zhiyu Liu and Zhang Liang.

The women's Rowing team also opened their account at Asiad on a positive note as Kiran and Anshika Bharti, the Indian Lightweight Women's Double Sculls duo, secured the spot in their heat by clocking a time of 7:27.57. They will next compete in the repechage round for a place in the final.

In the Men's Doubles coxless, India's Babu Lal Yadav and Lekh Ram finished third by registering a timing of 6:42.59.

India finished first in men's Fours heats at the Asian Games 2023 and qualified directly to the final. The mens Quadruple Sculls team ended up in second place in heats. They will now have to fight for a place in the final by competing in a repechage.

In the first heat of the men's singles sculls, India's Balraj Panwar finished third and qualified for the semifinals. He clocked 7:11.01s to finish the race.

On the other hand, the women's eight team finished 2nd with a timing of 6:16.65 and qualified for repechage.

While in the women's eight preliminary race, India finished 4th with 6:41.37 and qualified for the final.

India had a disappointing result in the Modern Pentathlon as Mayank Chaphekar finished at the 28th position in the Fencing ranking round.He had 166 points with 8 victories and 20 defeats in the Fencing ranking round.

However, India ended the day with a historic win where men's Volleyball team qualified for the quarter-finals after defeating South Korea by 3-2 in a dramatic fashion.

Both teams went toe-to-toe in a match that lasted for the entire five games. Korea took the first game but India bounced back to take a 2-1 lead. South Korea didn't allow the Indian team to take away the game as they took the fourth game. The match went to a fifth game which kept the fans on the edge of their seats as India scripted a thrilling victory.

South Korea took the first game in a hard-fought battle as India tried to mount a comeback right in the final moments of the first game. Junwoo kicked off the proceedings for the Korean team.

They managed to bag three points in a row as the Indian team continued to struggle to match their intensity.

Ashwal Rai struck back and claimed Indias first point by attacking the negative space. Korea continued to maintain the gap till the 13th point.

With the scoreboard reading 9-12 in favour of Korea, India produced a massive block to break the three-point deficit and then make the first game level at 13-13.

The game went on neck to neck, with India maintaining the lead by a single point. India had a two-point lead as they were the first to reach the 20-point mark. Korea increased the intensity of their attack and came from behind to clinch the first game by 25-27.

The second game kicked off with India hoping to keep the game alive with a must-win second-game victory.

It was another neck-to-neck game but India managed to take the lead for the majority of the game and the Korean team tried to make another turnaround. With the game tied 25-25, India held on to their nerves to take the game away by 29-27 with India captain Vinit Kumar picking up consecutive points.

In the third game, India continued to ride high on confidence and took the game with 25-22. India had a comfortable six-point lead (20-14) but their opposition showcased grit and determination to make it 22-18. However, India ensured that South Korea couldn't complete another turnaround as they took the lead of 2-1.

In the fourth game, the tables turned and India were chasing down South Korea's lead throughout the game.

They maintained the lead as India tried to orchestrate a comeback but fell short of clinching the game as well as the entire tie.

With the scores reading 2-2, both teams looked eager to take the final 15-point game. Both teams were determined to give their all. shots were blocked, spikes were made but in the end, it was the Indian defensive block that shut out South Korea's attack to take the game by 17-15 and seal their place in the quarterfinals. (ANI)