Asian Games, Day 10 Highlights: Yashvir-Rohit ensure double podium in Javelin; Sreeshankar wins long jump silver

Asian Games organisers faced multiple scheduling headaches on Monday as persistent rain disrupted several competitions at the sprawling multi-sport event. Tennis, surfing and cricket were among sports hit by poor weather on day nine of full competition.

Both the men's cricket quarter-finals between Pakistan-Hong Kong and India-Afghanistan were washed out after the playing field was drenched at Korogi Athletic Park on the outskirts of Nagoya. With no contingency built into the schedule, Pakistan and ⁠India advanced ​to the semi-finals of the T20 tournament by virtue of their higher ranking.

It was a bitter pill for Afghanistan, which saw the gold medal go to India due to the rankings rule three years ago when their Hangzhou Games final was ​abandoned ​due to rain.

"The rain started yesterday, so hard ⁠luck for us," said Afghanistan opener Mohammed Akram. "We would have been happy to play here with India – our players are in ‌form. But unfortunately the rain has ruined everything."

Powerful typhoon Surigae lashed Japan's southern Okinawa prefecture on Monday and was projected to track northeast toward central Japan and the Tokyo region by midweek, raising the prospect of strong winds and heavy rain further disrupting the Games.

Typhoon Dujuan hit the Games early on week one, causing equestrian events in Tokyo to be suspended, though most ⁠competitions were unaffected.

The continental ⁠sporting showpiece is mainly based in the city of Nagoya and Aichi Prefecture but Tokyo is also hosting diving ⁠events while Osaka ‌has soccer matches.

The rain saw several tennis matches scrapped on ​Sunday and caused match delays on Monday. Fans hoping ‌to catch Filipino headliner Alex Eala's opening match against Thai opponent Patcharin Cheapchandej were repeatedly frustrated at the Higashiyama Park Tennis Centre.

Eala, the ‌women's top seed, had ​her match ​shifted off ​centre court amid the scheduling logjam but was yet to start by mid-afternoon. Poor wave conditions saw the surfing called off ​early at the Long Beach venue southeast of Nagoya, ⁠with medal finals having already been pushed into the final scheduled day on Tuesday.

India's Kishore Kumar Anbarasu was able to complete his heat before it was abandoned, ‌beating China's Ma ⁠Wensong to make it into the quarter-finals on the sport's Asian Games debut. “It was not the easiest conditions. It was ​very hard to find the good waves," said Anbarasu. The Asian Games run until October 4.

Via Reuters

The Indian men's cricket team entered the Asian Games semi-final without even taking the field after its quarter-final against Afghanistan was abandoned due to inclement weather here on Monday. The defending champion side made it to the last four as it is ranked No.1 in the ICC T20I rankings while Afghanistan is currently placed 10th. India will take on winners of the quarter-final between Nepal and Sri Lanka to be held here on Tuesday. If that match is abandoned, then Sri Lanka, by virtue of their higher ranking, will take on India in the semi-final.

There has been consistent rain in Nagoya for the past few days and even a curtailed match was a remote possibility on the day.

"Hopefully, in the upcoming games, we will get the opportunity to play some good cricket and show our game to the people in Japan," said India leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi after the game's cancellation was announced. The first quarterfinal between Pakistan and Hong Kong was also washed out, allowing the former to move ahead on the basis of their higher ICC ranking.

(VIA Press Trust of India)

Shooting updates from Nitin Sharma

In the next shoot-off, Esha starts with a miss and Chinese hits. Chinese misses while Esha hits.

Esha hits while Chinese too hits.

Both miss.

With one shot remaining and tied.

Esha misses and Chinese wins with a hit. Esha shot five shoot-offs and ends up with a silver.

("Phew. What a final," says Nitin Sharma, who has been sending updates for this liveblog at the speed of pellets shot at the target)

Now Esha is at 34 and Chinese Xiao Jiaruixuan is at 35 before the final series now. Chinese have been waiting for more than five minutes. Esha starts with a miss and Chinese hits. Esha hits and Chinese hits too. Esha hits and Chinese misses.

Esha hits and Chinese hits. and now after the final shot, its another shot shoot off. Both are tied at 38-38. Esha hit a four while Chinese shot a 3.

AND WE WILL HAVE A SHOOT OFF TO DECIDE THE GOLD MEDAL

Another hold up in the 25m women's air pistol event, where Esha Singh is involved in her third shootoff. The range officer interrupts the shootoff just before the shooters have started the series.

Not sure what that is about.

Esha starts with a hit while Korean too starts with a hit. Esha hits second shot while Korean misses. Esha hits the third shot while Korean misses. Esha misses while Korean hits. Esha leads 3-2 with one shot remaining before range officer stops the shoot.

MEDAL CONFIRMED FOR ESHA, WHICH WILL BE INDIA'S FIRST!

After the seventh series, Esha Singh is placed at the fourth spot with a score of 26. Kim Hyung-suk of North Korea leads with a score of 29. Esha shoots a perfect series of 5 to confirm a medal and climbs to the third spot with the Vietnamese eliminated at the fourth spot. Kim Hyung-suk of North Korea leads with a score of 32 along with Chinese too at 32. Esha is placed third with a score of 31.

After the fifth series, Esha Singh is placed tied at the top along with Kim Hyung-suk of North Korea and Chinese Xiao Jiaruixuanwith a score of 2. Iranian Haniyeh Rostamiyan is eliminated at the seventh spot.

After the first series, Esha Singh is placed at the top with a perfect series score of 5. Kim Hyung-suk of North Korea is at the second spot with a score of 4.

After the second series, Esha Singh is placed at the top with a score of nine. Kim Hyung-suk of North Korea and Xiao Jiaruixuan of China are tied at the second spot with a score of 8.

After the third series, Esha Singh drops to the second spot with a score of three in the second series and combined score of 12. Chinese Xiao Jiaruixuan leads with a score of 13 while Korean Kim Hyung-suk of North Korea is placed third with a score of 11.

Esha Singh is currently ranked one in the ISSF World Ranking in 25m pistol. The the top six spots in world ranking are held by Asians and world number three Xiao Jiaruixuan of China is the only top ten world ranked shooter apart from the Singh in the women’s 25m pistol. Paris Olympics champion Yang Ji-in of Korea did not make it to the final apart from Paris Olympics fourth placed finisher.

From Nitin Sharma

Tokyo Bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain assures another medal for India with a 5-0 decision against South Korean Seong Suyeon in the women’s 75 quarters. In a draw of eight boxers, the Indian was lucky that the Kazakh and Uzbek are in the fourth quarter-final and the Indian will now face either of them in the semi-finals.

From Nitin Sharma

It's belated, 12-hour-late processing of the 4th place.

The controversy in the Shaili Singh long jump bronze, cruelly lost after a late surge by two Chinese - was about the hair-touch being counted.

But does she tend to jump from way behind on the white line board? Like 10 cm+. Happened twice

Striding and take off surely affects the eventual distance?

The India vs Afghanistan quarter-final has been abandoned due to heavy rain in Nagoya. India are through to the semi-finals by courtesy of them being the higher seeded team. Same happened with Pakistan in their quarter-final against Hong Kong, China.

So India's next opponent will be the winner of the game between Sri Lanka and Nepal (if the Nagoya weather permits that game to happen in the first place).

Mihir Vasavda informs us from Nagoya: Rahi Sarnobat scored 86 in her first rapid series. She hit the frame in one of her shots, India appealed but the decision stood. It all but ends India’s hopes of a team medal.

To this, Nitin Sharma adds: India were placed second and with that shot not counted and Rahi finishing with a 86 in the first series, India seems to be out of contention for a team medal.

In the team standings, China is at the top followed by India. Esha Singh is placed sixth and Manu Bhaker tenth. It’s a close contest with the two Chinese finishing their rounds placed at fifth and 15th spot. India will hope that the eighth placed Chinese, who has not yet started her round, drops while 19th placed Rahi, who has not started her round, climbs further to have a chance for Indian team to win the gold medal here. India had won the team gold in the event in Hangzhou. India’s cumulative total of 1446 with China’s cumulative total is 1447 with one shooter yet to start.

From Nitin Sharma

Rains in Nagoya have led to the Pakistan vs Hong Kong, China quarter-final being abandoned without a ball being bowled. Pakistan are through to the semi-finals by virtue of a higher seeding and await the winners of the Bangladesh-Malaysia match.

India are slotted to play Afghanistan in the quarters today. Clouds over that as well, thanks to the rain situation in Nagoya!

Manu shot series of 97, 96 and 99 today in the rapid stage but her series of 96, 95 and 96 in precision stage yesterday hurt her chances.

While some shooters in the 25m women's pistol qualification event are still left to fire, The Indian Express' Nitin Sharma explains why Manu Bhaker won't be in the contention to make the finals:

Manu Bhaker is out of the final race. At present, the top seven shooters have completed their stage and the seventh placed shooter is at 580. With Chinese shooter placed at eight spot with her series yet to begin and Korean Oh Yejin placed ninth at a score of 579 and more inner ten’s than Manu, even if the eight-placed Chinese shooter drops further, Manu will be eliminated in terms of having lesser inner ten’s than the Korean. Esha sits at the sixth spot and seems assured of a place in the final with only seven shooters left to shoot and way below the top eight.

PV Sindhu is "hurting" after an agonising Asian Games exit but the pain has only reinforced her desire to achieve more, with the two-time Olympic medallist promising to work on the shortcomings and insisting that "one painful result cannot define a journey that means so much". Sindhu's campaign ended in a quarterfinal defeat against Chen Yufei of China after she came within three points of closing out the match on Sunday. Sindhu lost to Chen Yufei.

"I needed a little time to put this into words. My Asian Games campaign is over, and I'm hurting. Three points from closing out that quarterfinal. I keep coming back to those three points," Sindhu wrote on X.

The 31-year-old acknowledged that long, demanding rallies at crucial moments once again proved decisive, much like they did during her recent campaign in China.

"I had my chance. Letting it slip hurts," she said.

But rather than allowing the disappointment to define her campaign, Sindhu has already turned her attention towards addressing the issues that surfaced under pressure. "My team and I are already working on closing out those moments. We will fix it," she said.

From making her debut at the 2014 edition to returning for her fourth Games 12 years later, the Indian star said there was also reason to take pride in the journey she has made while representing the country. "There's room for pride, too. From my first Asian Games in 2014 to my fourth now, twelve years of giving everything for India. I want to let myself feel that. One painful result cannot define a journey that means so much," she wrote.

That determination was perhaps best summed up by Sindhu's admission that, despite the immediate pain of defeat, her appetite for competition and success remains undiminished. "I'm hurting, but that's okay. I'm glad it still means enough to hurt this much. I still want this. I still bring all of myself to that court. That feeling keeps me going," she wrote.

(Via Press Trust of India)

Another flawless win for the Indian men's team. The Indian team defeated Hong Kong China in straight sets 25-22, 25-19, 25-21.

They will face Qatar next.

From Pritish Raj

Tanvi speeds to an 11-3, 11-5, 11-5 win over Zhang in 13 minutes to level the tie 1-1. India's seniormost pro, 40-year-old Joshana Chinappa, to play the deciding rubber against Liu Ziyi.

From Bhuvan Gupta

After a lengthy fight in the decider, where she was trailing 5-9 at one point, Shameena goes down 12-14 and loses the match to Ziyuan.

India go 0-1 behind in the tie and Tanvi Khanna now must win against Yuning Zhang.

By Bhuvan Gupta

The scores froze on the Asian Games website for a good 15 minutes before getting updated again. In the meantime, Shameena has taken the first two games 11-9 and 11-6, and lost the third 9-11. She trails 5-8 in Game 4 currently as the Chinese player's comeback is taking worrying proportions.

from Bhuvan Gupta

The Indian contingent's tennis campaign was to begin with Sumit Nagal's singles opener against Seongchan Hong at 6:30 am IST. The match appears to be delayed as per the official website, and though it's slated on Show Court, there's no sign of a live stream on Sony LIV either.

from Bhuvan Gupta

Manu Bhaker, Rahi Sarnobat and Esha Singh will be in action soon in the 25m women pistol shooting event.

After Sunday's Precision qualification event, Esha was India's top-ranked shooter in the event, with a score of 290 (with 9x). Meanwhile, Rahi was 15th with a score of 287 (with 6x) and two-time Olympic medallist Manu was 16th with a score of 287 (with 6x).

Today in the rapid qualification, all three shooters will have a lot of aim at, including a team medal as a trio.

Joining Sahil in the pre-quarter-finals of Compound Men’s Individual archery event is Thirumuru Ganesh Maniratnam who has defeated Sostar Andaru Rinaldi (Indonesia) 144-142.

Unfortunately, both the Indian archers are slotted for a head-to-head battle in the next round with a spot in the quarters up for grabs.

Good morning sports fans, we're back with another blog that's full of hope and optimism. Hope that India will finally win its fifth gold medal at these Asian Games.

For context, at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, India had won 107 medals (28 gold, 38 silver, and 41 bronze). We're now into our 10th day, with just seven days left. Ordinarily, today would have been the day we would have been looking at the Nagoya skies for the flying spear of Neeraj Chopra. But the javelin thrower is out of the Games with injury.

So where will the rest of the golds come from?