Hangzhou: India's Hriday Vipul Chheda, Anush Agarwalla, Divyakriti Singh and Sudipti Hajela pose for photographs after winning the gold medal in the Equestrian Dressage Team event at the 19th Asian Games, in Hangzhou, China, Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2023. (PTI Photo/Gurinder Osan)Asian Games 2023 highlights, Day 3: On Day 3, a historic equestrian dressage gold medal was the headline event for India on Tuesday in Hangzhou. In addition to that Indian sailors Neha Thakur and Eabad Ali grabbed a silver and bronze respectively to open the country’s medal count in the sport on day three of the Asian Games.
Vinayakk Mohanarangan along side Amit Kamath will be on the blog today with our man on the ground in Hangzhou, Mihir Vasavda, sending us updates as well. You can read all of our top stories by clicking on this link.
Looking forward to Thursday there is going to be plenty of action it is a very busy shooting day. There are medal events in skeet (men and women), 25m pistol women and 50m 3-positions women, all of which have team as well as individual medals available. Indians are involved in each of these events. Manu Bhaker and Esha Singh had a good first day in the 25m pistol event and will be looking to finish strongly.
In the hockey, Savita Punia and Co get their campaign underway with a match against Singapore. Indian Women’s Hockey Team has faced Singapore three times and won each time, with their most recent victory coming during the Women’s Asia Cup 2022. Roshibina Devi Naorem is guaranteed to add to India’s medal tally, as she takes part in the wushu women’s 60kg sanda quarterfinals. She is a bronze medallist from 2018 edition as well.
Follow highlights from Asian Games Day 3 below
Indian shooters Rudrankksh Patil (right), Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar (centre) and Divyansh Singh Panwar pose for photos with their gold medals during the presentation ceremony of Men's 10m Air Rifle team event at the 19th Asian Games, in Hangzhou, China, Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. (PTI)
When he was young, Eabad Ali, who won the bronze medal for windsurfing at the Asian Games, wanted to run like his idol Milkha Singh. Milkha was from the EME (Electrical & Mechanical Engineers) wing of the Indian army; Ali too enrolled in the same division and is now a havaldar. Milkha ran like the wind, Ali sways like the wind over the water. “I saw the event like running on the water with the huge canvas and the board,” the 29-year old Ali tells The Indian Express from China, fresh after winning the medal at the windsurfing RS:X event at the NBX sailing centre in Ningbo. (Read more)
Only after he crossed the finish line did Arjun Lal Jat look around to soak in the scenery – the low-lying mist covering the lush green mountain slopes, hanging over the pristine waters of the Beizhi River, on which boats sailed.
To his left, on the banks of the river, were the overflowing stands. On any other Sunday morning, the locals would’ve hiked up the Fushu range as they usually do. Today, they crammed into the bleachers that faced the mountains, overlooking the finish line. (Read more)
Before they galloped to the top of the podium, they had to hop over innumerable hurdles. The ‘pain’ of selling a house to fund careers, getting mocked at fund-raising meetings and doors getting shut, and nearly missing the Asiad because of federation policies.
On a day of surprise silver and consolation bronze medals — both in sailing — India struck gold in an event the country has had no success in decades and didn’t even have a team at the last Asian Games. (read more from Mihir Vasavda)
The medals will be decided in the individual events on Wednesday. Vidit Gujrathi is level on 5 points with a few others, with the lead at 5.5. Arjun Erigaisi is on 4.5. In women's Koneru Humpy and Harika Dronavalli are both on 4.5, with the third place at 5.5 at the moment. So with 2 rounds to go, it appears Vidit is India's best bet.
On Day 3, a historic equestrian dressage gold medal was the headline event for India on Tuesday in Hangzhou. The medallists from that event will be back in action as individual dressage medals are at stake. A lot of eyes will be on shooting events with quite a few medal events lined up on Wednesday. (Read more)
“I had literally got goosebumps when Neeraj Chopra got it (gold medal) in Olympics, so we have an opportunity to be there and triumph,” Smriti Mandhana had said last year before India’s Commonwealth Games campaign in Birmingham. “I don’t think we’ll just look for a podium finish because when the flag goes higher and the national anthem plays, it’s the best feeling.”
It was a campaign that ended with India losing the gold medal game to Australia. A year later though, the 27-year-old had her hands on the gold medal as India beat Sri Lanka in the summit clash of the Asian Games women’s final. (Read more)
We have never seen the sea but our daughter has made the Indian flag fly high in the sea today.”
That’s how Mukesh Thakur described his feelings after his 17-year-old daughter Neha came away with a sailing silver in the girls’ dinghy ILCA 4 event at the Asian Games on Tuesday. (Read more)
Xiao Ai can navigate a crowded hall and deliver products from one end to another. She acts as a guide inside the giant maze that the Hangzhou Expo Centre is. She can assist in currency exchange, switch seamlessly between English and Chinese and unfailingly takes a two-hour nap every afternoon. Xiao Ai is the most sought-after volunteer at the Main Media Centre – home to more than 10,000 journalists covering the Asian Games.
But she isn’t a human. Xiao Ai is a robot. (Read more)
In a far-flung corner of Hangzhou, as India skittled out Sri Lanka and defended a low target to secure a historic Asian Games gold, a few hundred onlookers had one only question on their lips: ‘What’s cricket?’
They counted the ‘points’ – ‘1 point, 4 points, 6 points…’ – and the number of ‘outs’. They cheered the big shots and dismissals. Beyond the runs and the wickets, though, the majority-Chinese spectators – most of them students and retirees – melted under the hot sun at the Pingfeng Cricket Ground with equal measure of awe and bewilderment. (Read more from our reporter Mihir Vasavda)
As India win historic gold in equestrian riding, understanding what dressage means, how horses travel from one nation to other, do horses need a passport to fly, and what's the difference between a trot, a canter, a gallop and a walk? (Read more while we get you more live updates)
Heatbreak for Surya Bhanu Pratap Singh who falls one step short of the podium, losing in the quarterfinals against Korea's Kim Minsoo.
Two wins from two for the Indian men's team today in Pool A. India defeat Qatar in their 2nd fixture. The wins came from Mahesh Mangaonkar (3-0), Saurav Ghosal (3-1) and Abhay Singh (3-1). India had defeated Singapore earlier in the day.
Another National Record alert. Another good swim for the Indian team, as they break the new national mark that was set earlier today in qualification. They finish the final with a timing of 3:40.20 to shave a little bit off the 3:40.84 from earlier.
Men's 4 x 100m Medley Relay about to start, featuring Indians. They had set a national record earlier in the day.
Some wild swings coming Narendar's way from Elchoro Oomatbek. But the Indian boxer just floors his opponent in the first round itself. The doctor is called in and the Kyrgyz boxer is considered unfit to compete further.
That was quick by Narender. But at the higher weight classes, knockouts can be far more common, as we saw over here. An easy first fight for the Indian, who progresses to the next round at the Asian Games.
Deepak Bhoria’s fast hands helped him get out of a tricky situation on Monday as the Indian 51 kg boxer prevailed over Malaysia’s Muhammad Abdul Qaiyum to progress to the Round of 16 at the Hangzhou Asian Games. Also progressing to the next round was India’s Nishant Dev, who beat Nepal’s Dipesh Lama but Arundhati Chaudhary went down to Chinese World Champion Yang Liu in the women’s 66kg category and missed out on an Olympic quota.
After finding success at the World Championships, Bhoria has continued on as India’s 51kg entrant for major events and has seemed to completely displace former World Championship silver medallist Amit Panghal – who appealed the decision to send Bhoria to the Asian Games over him and lost in court. (Read more while we get you more updates)
National Record alert: A 15:20.91 for Aryan Nehra which is a new Indian best timing in men's 1500m freestyle. He finishes 7th, ahead of Kushagra Rawat who finishes 8th with 15:44.61.
On Tuesday, social media was abuzz with celebrities like singer Asha Bhosle and former India cricketers like Gautam Gambhir and VVS Laxman celebrating hurdler Jyothi Yarraji claiming India’s third gold medal at the ongoing Asian Games in Hangzhou. Many politicians and bureaucrats, besides other verified Twitter handles, also got in on the act, celebrating the achievement of Yarraji.
However, the celebrities had jumped the gun by a few days. Yarraji’s event, the heats for the women’s 100m hurdles will be held on September 30 (6.45 am IST) while the final is scheduled for October 1 (6.45 pm). (Read more about the news here while we get more updates)
In women’s doubles, a while back India's Rutuja Bhosale and Karman Kaur Thandi lost 4-6, 1-6 to fifth seeds from Hong Kong Eudice Chong and Hong Yi Wong. With Ankita Raina and Prathana Thombare also losing earlier, that's the end of the contention in women's doubles for India.
“I’m really proud to be a representative of the Indian dressage team. It’s a great feeling to have won the gold medal. We are a very young team, the average age is 23 years old and it’s the first-ever Asian Games for all of us and our horses. It’s not the efforts of a single person, it’s the efforts of a huge team. The families, coaches, the farriers, the veterinarians, it all worked out today, and I’m super proud of our team. We finally did it," says Anush Agarwalla, who was part of the Indian dressage team that won India's first equestrian gold at the Asian Games on Tuesday.
“In 2018 we didn’t have a dressage team. We didn’t even have three people competing. I’m happy this time we had a team of four and not only did we participate, we got gold. Coming from India it is not easy to make it in equestrian. The facilities are not very developed so we have to live abroad and it’s not easy to live abroad from a young age. I hope we have a team not only for the next Asian Games but also for the Olympics."
Men's 1500m freestyle (fast heat, medal race) begins with Aryan Nehra and Kushagra Rawat the Indian representations.
Pakistan clean swept India 3-0 in the men's 5th-6th place classification match. The former scored 75 points in three sets while the latter could only get 64 points.
India are trailing by two sets and 10-12 in the men's 5th-6th place classification match against Pakistan.
Yuki / Ankita have defeated Aqeel/Sarah of Pakistan 6-0 6-0 to reach the third round of mixed doubles. The Indians are the top seeds. They will take on Phillipines next.
Pakistan beat India in the second set of the volleyball 20-25 to steal the game 2-0.
India are trailing by a set and 15-21 in the men's 5th-6th place classification match against Pakistan.
The Indian team comprising of Divyakriti Singh, Sudipti Hajela, Anush Agarwalla and Hriday Vipul Chheda created history in Hangzhou on Tuesday as they won the country’s first ever equestrian dressage team event gold at the Asian Games.
It also ended a 41-year-old wait for a gold medal in equestrian at the Asian Games for India. (Read more about the historic win while we get you more updates)
India are trailing by a set and 7-10 in the men's 5th-6th place classification match against Pakistan.
Satnam Singh went into the Asian Games as the wunderkid from Mansa, Punjab, handpicked by Olympian Swarn Singh Virk as his heir in single sculls. Satnam would go to the Youth Olympics as a prodigy and earlier this year, break the Army monopoly over the event by becoming the first from the Navy to pick the coveted national title. The buzz around his talent was enormous.
Scheduled to make a splash at Hangzhou in the double sculls, along with pedigreed Parminder Singh – son of medallist Inderpal Singh – the young duo was on course till 1700m on Sunday when Satnam felt a tightness and freeze in his neck. Suddenly his body stopped pulling the stroke, and the bewildered pair looking good for a silver till then watched other boats go past them as they finished last. Satnam needed to be carted to the hospital. (Read more while we get more updates from the Asian Games)
In men's singles, fifth seed Sumit Nagal moves into the quarterfinals, defeating KAZ's Beibit Zhukayev in hard-fought two sets. The first set was especially a tough test, going to a marathon tiebreak. Sumit wins 7-6 (11-9), 6-4 The Indian takes on the top seed from China next.
Heartbreak for Tulika Mann in the women's 78+ judo contest as she loses to Mongolia's Adiyasuren Amarsaikhan in the bronze medal clash. The Mongolian wins by an ippon. The Indian is a multiple-time national champion and was a silver medallist at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games last year.
The winning team of India's equestrian dressage.
What happens in the equestrian discipline of dressage?
Equestrian riding has three disciplines: dressage, show jumping and eventing.
Think of dressage as the equivalent of figure skating. The horse and rider have to exhibit a series of predetermined movements. The horse will walk, trot and canter as music plays in the background. The discipline, contested on a flat 20x60 metres patch of ground, demands complete precision and harmony between horse and rider.
Show jumping is a discipline where the rider and his steed negotiate an obstacle course of sorts with the horse having to jump over multiple fences — which lead us to the inevitable comparisons to sports like pole vault, high jump, hurdles or steeplechase.
Eventing is best described as an equestrian triathlon. It’s a complete test of a horse and rider’s ability across three formats: dressage, cross country and show jumping. Some riders, like Fouaad Mirza, talk about the cross country event being like a war as horses have to speed through rugged terrain to compete.
For India, this is the first gold since 1982 in equestrian. That's 41 years!! And the first-ever gold in the dressage team event at the Asian Games.
? HISTORIC GOLD
India's team of Sudipti Hajela, Divyakriti Singh, Hriday Vipul Chheda and Anush Agarwalla have clinched the dressage team event gold medal. It's India's first in this particular discipline at the Asian Games.
A historic gold medal is all but assured in the team event for India. Japan's final performance is complete and India remain on top. Only performance left is by Qatar and they are placed last at the moment
Just to clarify that the individual event in dressage still has a couple of rounds left. This is known as Prix St-Georges, there is Intermediate 1 and Intermediate Freestyle still to come on subsequent days. Today we are looking at the team medal standings and it is looking real good for India at the moment
Wow, Anush Agarwalla is really happy at the end of his performance astride Etro. And for good reason. His scores of 71.088 have put him 2nd in the individual event but more importantly, it takes India to the top of the team standings overall. Watch out for medals here.
Team India's Sumit Nagal is taking on Kazakhstan’s Beibit Zhukayev.
Sailing, then known as yachting, first appeared at the 1970 Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand. Though it was not included at the following Games four years later, the sport returned at the 1978 Games in Bangkok and has been part of the programme at each edition since.
Sailing - In Men's Windsurfer RS:X, it's a bronze for Eabad Ali finishes third overall, after all 14 races have been completed. He pipped his Malaysian competitor to the bronze.
Boxing, men's 57kg round of 32: Sachin, growing confident, finishes the bout of comfortably. Some fancy footwork thrown in there too. It is an unanimous 5-0 win for the Indian in this bout against Indonesia's Asri Udin
Boxing, men's 57kg round of 32: Sachin with a strong finish to the 2nd round, landing a flurry of punches on his Indonesian opponent. And that means all five judges favour the Indian in this round. 10-9s across the board.
India's Sachin in action in the 57kg round of 32 bout. Sachin has the lead at the end of the opening round, but it's 4-1. It's an open contest this.
Both Ramkumar Ramanathan and Rutuja Bhosale have lost their respective Singles matches. Ankita Raina had won earlier in the day and Sumit Nagal will be in action shortly.
Jyothi Yarraji has not won a medal... in fact she is currently on her way to Hangzhou
Athletes compete in multiple races over the days. Based on where they finish, each athlete will be assigned a point. If the sailor finishes first, they get 1 point. Second place, 2 points. So lower the points, the better placed you are. In the end, all the points are totalled but there is one more catch. The sailors can discard their ONE WORST race. So if out of 11 races, an athlete finished 7th in one race and got 7 points for it, that will be discarded. The NET will be total points won minus their worst point.
In Street Fighter V, India's Ayan Biswas has emerged victorious in his contest against a Saudi Arabian athlete. Ayan registers
a 2-0 victory.
India's Neha Thakur bags the first medal of the day for India in Sailing. And guess what it is a silver
No medals yet on Day 3 so far for India... but Day 2 saw six medals including two golds. Here are Vinayakk Mohanarangan and Amit Kamath from The Indian Express' sports desk recapping Day 2.
The Indian Men's 4 x 100m Medley Relay team qualified for the final with 3:40.84 and it is actually a new national record
Ankita Raina has registered a straight sets win in the third round of women's singles against HKG's Karunaratne, 6-1 6-2
The 25m Pistol Women Precision stage is done in qualification (day 1). Manu Bhaker and Esha Singh have shot well to be in the top three. Rhythm Sangwan in 11th place. Rapid (& medal rounds) tomorrow.
Abhay Singh has made it a 3-0 win for India in the group stage fixture against Singapore. They play again today, taking on Qatar.
Tulika Maan has qualified for the bronze medal match through repechage in women's +78kg. That will be later in the afternoon.