The Indian women’s cricket team clinched the country’s first gold medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Tuesday, while the men’s badminton team assured itself of a medal by advancing to the semifinals.
Gymnast Pranati Nayak also booked her place in the women’s vault final, while the men’s hockey team continued its dominant campaign with a 16-1 win over Sri Lanka.
The women’s cricket team successfully defended the gold medal it won at the previous edition, defeating Sri Lanka in the final at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin.
Smriti Mandhana led India’s batting effort with a 79-run knock as India posted a record 216/3. Deepti Sharma, Shafali Verma, Shreyanka Patil and Sree Charani then shared nine wickets to help India secure a massive 147-run victory.
India’s total was the highest in the history of women’s cricket at the Asian Games and also the highest score in a women’s T20 final.
The gold medal lifted India to eighth position in the medals table with one gold, four silver and two bronze medals.
In badminton, the Indian men’s team defeated hosts Japan 3-0 to storm into the semifinals and assure itself of a medal.
Lakshya Sen produced a strong comeback against Kodai Naraoka, winning 11-21, 21-5, 21-19 in the opening singles. The doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty then strengthened India’s position before Ayush Shetty completed the 3-0 victory with a straight-sets win over Koki Watanabe.
India had earlier defeated Bangladesh 3-0 in the round of 16. The team will face the winner of the China-South Korea quarterfinal in the semifinal on Wednesday.
The women’s badminton team, however, bowed out after losing 1-3 to hosts Japan in the quarterfinals. Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand secured India’s only win in the tie.
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu lost to three-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi, while Unnati Hooda and Tanvi Sharma also suffered defeats in the singles matches.
In gymnastics, Pranati Nayak qualified for the women’s vault final after finishing seventh in the qualification round with a score of 12.916. She had finished eighth at the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou.
India also registered wins in boxing, with Sakshi Chaudhary and Jadumani Singh Mandengbam advancing in their respective events.
Sakshi defeated Philippines’ Paris Olympics bronze medallist Aira Villegas 5-0 in the women’s 51kg Round of 32, while Jadumani Singh secured a 5-0 win over Nepal’s Chandra Bahadur Thapa in the men’s 55kg category.
The men’s hockey team recorded its second consecutive win in Pool A, thrashing Sri Lanka 16-1 at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium in Kakamigahara.
Jugraj Singh scored four goals, while Abhishek completed a hat-trick as India followed its 13-1 win over Indonesia in the opening match with another emphatic victory.
China continued to lead the medals table with 53 medals, including 32 gold, while hosts Japan were second with 46 medals, including 11 gold.
