INCHEON: Rower Dushyant Chauhan was the lone bright spot after the shooters drew a blank as India managed just one bronze medal to slip to the 14th position in overall standings on the fifth day of competitions in the 17th Asian Games here today.
Dushyant was the only athlete to manage a podium finish as he grabbed a bronze in the men’s lightweight single sculls event on what turned out to be a mixed day for the Indian contingent.
The strong shooting squad, which had accounted for the bulk of medal collection so far, drew a blank today which led to India dropping one place in the medal table.
With the addition of just one bronze today, India took their tally to 12 (1 gold, 1 silver, 10 bronze). Powerhouse China continued to lead the pack with 99 medals (50-25-24) followed by hosts South Korea with 70 medals (24-23-23) and Japan (64 = 18-23-23).
The badminton and squash teams had a good day in their respective matches but the women’s hockey team lost 1-2 to China in a preliminary match.
Early in the day, Dushyant, hailing from Haryana and belonging to the Bengal Engineering Group in Roorkie, led from the 500m till the last 200m in the 2000m race before strong northerly winds and rain put paid to his gold medal hopes as he fell behind two others and finished third by clocking 7:26.57.
Chauhan was second behind gold-medalist Lok Kwan Hai by just under two seconds in the first 500m and then caught up with his rival before overtaking him in the course of the next 500m and looked assured of a gold before inclement weather hampered his chances.
He not only lost the gold medal, but also the silver as the host country’s Lee Hakbeom, who was third with 500m left, also surged past the Indian rower to clinch the second spot in 7:25.95.
It was the first medal of the day after a fruitless stint at the shooting range for India and the 10th bronze in the Games.
After scooping six medals, including a gold won by Jitu Rai, on the first four days of the Asian Games, Indian shooters misfired at the Ongnyeon pistol and rifle range here. -PTI
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