A total of 112 athletes, comprising 56 each from the men's and women's teams will be part of the camp. The Committee members include ex-Olympian and Arjuna Awardee Cawas Billimoria, ex-Olympians Sandeep Byala, ex- Olympian Sunith Thakur and Judo masters Arun Dwivedi, and Yogesh K Dhadve.
The committee was formed after the de-recognition of the Judo Federation of India (JFI) by the Sports ministry on April 22. The ministry has also sanctioned Rs 5 crore towards training and competition of the athletes for the upcoming Asian Games and other international competitions.
The athletes selected by the committee will commence training at the Men's and Women's national camps to be held in SAI NSNIS Patiala and the IG Stadium in New Delhi, respectively. For the very first time, top 8 athletes from 7 weight category (both men and women) have been shortlisted for the camps.
A second selection trial will be held on May 23 and 24 for the women's team and on May 25 and 26 for the men's team during the national camp to shortlist top 4 athletes from each weight category for the upcoming international competitions.
These top 4 athletes will be divided into two teams - A and B, from each weight category and they will be given foreign exposure according to their ranking/position in the selection trial. Team A, consisting of the first and second-ranked athletes, will take part in 15-day camps across Georgia, Mongolia and Japan from June to August, as well as compete at the Grand Slam 2022 Judo tournaments in those countries. Team B, meanwhile, will compete and train in Croatia, Kazakhstan and Dakar.
The foreign exposure would include competitive training at the international academies and participation in camps and training centres for upcoming Asian Games. Earlier, only the top-ranked athletes from each weight category used to be selected for the camp and/or given foreign exposure for the competitive games.
SAI also has a comprehensive long term training plan in place which includes 5-6 foreign exposure and camps for the Junior and Cadet Group Judo athletes.
Among the other winners was Olympian Manu Bhaker who triumphed in the Junior Women's 25M Pistol.
Rahi met Abhidnya Ashok Patil in an all Maharashtra clash for the gold medal in the Women's Sport Pistol and eventually won 19-16 in a thriller. They had warded off the challenge of Haryana's Rhythm Sangwan and local favourite Chinki Yadav in the medal match after the four had come through two semi-finals each. Rhythm settled for bronze.
Delhi's Parth Makhija overwhelmed West Bengal's Abhinav Shaw 16-4 in the Men's 10M Air Rifle T1 decider and then edged out former world number one Divyansh Singh Panwar of Rajasthan 16-10 in the Junior gold medal match to come out the biggest winner of the day.
Manu Bhaker denied Rhythm Sangwan yet another gold in an Haryana clash this time in the Junior Women's 25M Pistol. Manu prevailed 19-14 in a pulsating encounter.
Over 3300 Shooters, including all top Shooters of the country, are participating in the year's first National trials in Bhopal, after they had to be postponed from January this year, because of the raging pandemic.
Indian teams for the upcoming World Cup in Baku and Junior World Cup in Suhl are to be selected on the basis of these trials.
The camp commenced in January 2022 and will conclude till end of February 2022.
The Swimming Federation of India (SFI) has entered into an agreement with the Odisha government for the development of aquatic sports in the State as well as in the country.
Under the agreement, the SFI has started the preparation of the national waterpolo men’s team in Bhubaneswar ahead of the major international meets like Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, and FINA World Championships to be held this year.
“SFI has entered into an MoU with the Odisha Government for the development of aquatic sport in Odisha and the country. With a sports friendly ecosystem and proactive support from the Odisha government, Bhubaneshwar was the natural choice for the waterpolo camps. Moreover, the facilities and infrastructure Kalinga Stadium including the ABTP center at Kalinga Stadium, ticks all the boxes for us,” said Monal Chokshi, Secretary General, SFI.
With support from the Serbian Waterpolo Federation, two of the top Serbian coaches have arrived in India to work with both the senior and junior groups.
“We need to adopt a new playbook. With the Serbian coaches as part of the camps, we are sure that our players will rise to a new level of waterpolo. With eight months to the Asian Games, and beyond Indian waterpolo is set to rediscover itself in Odisha its home away from home shared,” said Saibal Shaw, Indian team coach in charge of the camp.
Andric Nimanja and Babovic Miodrag, Serbian coaches will also be conducting a 5-day workshop for Indian coaches. The workshop shop which will be held in March, will allow other waterpolo coaches to adopt the latest tactics and game strategies.
The All India Chess Federation (AICF) is eyeing a rich medal haul from its players at the Games, which are scheduled to be held from September 10 to 25.
"Eyeing the four gold medals at stake in the games, the legendary Grandmaster Anand took a different role and will mentor the team and the first session between him and the players will kick start next Thursday," the AICF said in a release.
The AICF is hoping to improve on India's performance at the 2010 Guangzhou Games, where India won two bronze medals.
"The All India Chess Federations started the preparation well in advance by selecting 10 probable each for the men and women's team."
The players have been selected on the basis of their international rating.
The probable for the men's include, Vidit Gujarathi, P Harikrishna, Nihal Sarin, S L Narayanan, K Sasikiran, B Adhiban, Karthikeyan Murali, Arjun Erigaisi, Abhijeet Gupta and Surya Shekhar Ganguly.
The women's team probable comprises Koneru Humpy, D Harika, Vaishali R, Tania Sachdev, Bhakti Kulkarni, Vantika Agrawal, Mary Ann Gomes, Soumya Swaminathan and Eesha Karavade.
The selection committee consisting of Abhijit Kunte, Dibeyandu Barua and Dinesh Sharma will decide the final list of five players in April.
The chess event at the Games will start on September 11 and will be played in two formats. The individual event for men and women will be played in Rapid time control from September 11 to 14 September while four board five-member team event will be played under Standard time control from September 16 to September 24.
The World Athletics Championships, postponed from 2021, is scheduled to be held at Oregon (USA) from July 15-24, 2022 while the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham will start on July 28 and will continue till August 8. The Asian Games will be held at Hangzhou, China from September 10-25 while the Diamond League will comprise 14 events to be held from May 13-September 8, making it quite a busy schedule ahead for Chopra.
If he goes ahead with this plan, Chopra will participate in three major events in three months, which will leave him with very little time for preparations in between because of the travel restrictions because of the Covid-19 protocols.
Having just started training in the United States following a lengthy break after he became only the second Indian after Abhinav Bindra to win Olympic gold, Chopra said things are going well at the camp. He is currently at Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Centre in California for a three-month camp with his German coach Klaus Bartonietz.
"My training is going well and I am getting back my fitness. Initially, it was very difficult and I experienced some pain and stiffness as I started my physical training, but now things are better," Chopra told the media in a virtual interaction on Thursday,
Chopra had decided to end his season in August considering that everyone wanted to have a slice of the Tokyo Games gold winner.
He had spent the last few months soaking up the adulation, participating in events, and meeting people. He had generally been enjoying his time with family and friends, ignoring diet restrictions and fitness regimen, gaining weight.
Now after a couple of weeks' training, which had initially been hard according to him, the 24-year-old reigning Commonwealth and Asian Games gold medallist from Haryana feels he is getting back to peak fitness and will will soon sit down with his coach and support staff to plan his schedule in the season.
"I have shed some weight and will be losing some more in the next couple of weeks. I will soon sit down with my coach and support staff and decide my schedule for the season. As all these events are very important, I am planning to participate in all of them," Chopra said on Thursday.
Chopra said he will try to accommodate as many of these important events as possible in his schedule. He said he will participate in all big events unless there is a very short gap between them.
For Chopra, crossing the 90-metre mark remains his aim for the upcoming season and Chopra said he wants to achieve the feat this season. It is a psychological barrier that Chopra wants to cross at the earliest but the bigger task will be to hurl the spear continuously beyond 90 in the next few years.
However, Chopra said he is not obsessed with crossing the 90-metre mark. "I want to cross the 90-metre mark this season, I am very close to it. However, I am not obsessed with it and do not think continuously about it," said Chopra in response to the question.
Chopra said the new wave of Covid-19 is not such a big problem in the USA as in India and some European countries. He said he is following a very relaxed schedule in the US and plans to take the booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine as soon as he is eligible for it.
This is the best ever medal haul by India in wushu at the Asian Games.
Three medals came from the men's competition as Santosh Kumar (56 kiloram), Surya Bhanu Pratap Singh (60kg) and Narender Grewal (65kg) lost in their respective semi-finals. Each losing semi-finalist is assured of a bronze medal.
Santosh lost 0-2 to Vietnam's Truong Giang Bui, while Singh lost by a similar margin to Erfan Ahangarian of Iran. Grewal also suffered a 0-2 loss, to Foroud Zafari of Iran.
Naorem Roshibina Devi took a bronze in the women's section after losing 0-1 to China's Cai YingYing in the 60kg semi-finals.
New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: All eyes are now on the qualification for 2020 Tokyo Olympics as the Indian men's and women's hockey teams today left from the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi for the Asian Games in Indonesia. Birendra Lakra and Amit Rohidas are two players from Odisha in the men's team while Sunita Lakra, Namita Toppo, Lilima Minz and Deep Grace Ekka have been included in the women's squad for the prestigious games which is scheduled to begin from August 18.
While the 18-member Women’s team will begin its campaign against hosts Indonesia in the opening match of Pool B on August 19, the Indian Men will begin their title defence against Indonesia on August 20.
Speaking about improving their previous performance of Bronze Medal in 2014, Women’s Team Captain Rani Rampal said, “We are going into the Asian Games after a strong performance in the FIH Women’s World Cup 2018 which has given us a lot of confidence. Though we were disappointed that we did not make it to the Semi Finals, winning a Gold in the Asian Games will help fade the bitter memories of the World Cup. The team is upbeat, confident and we are eager to further improve our career best World Ranking of No.9 by winning the Asian Games.”
The Women’s team will face Korea, Thailand, Kazakhstan and Indonesia in Pool B and will have to finish in the top two in the Pool Stage to make it to the Semi Final of the Asian Games.
Meanwhile, the Indian Men’s Hockey Team, grouped with Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong China will be aiming to defend their title and ensure good momentum as they approach the season Finale in November at the Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018.
“We had good lead-up to the Asian Games with high intensity training camp in Bengaluru. We also did well in the practice matches against Bangladesh, Korea and New Zealand where we wanted to implement certain changes in goal-scoring positions within the striking circle because that was one of the areas we fell behind in the FIH Champions Trophy 2018. We have also worked a lot on our PC conversion, PC defending and shootouts. Now we just need to execute perfectly in every single match and return home with the Gold,” said Indian Men’s Team Captain PR Sreejesh.
In the 2014 Asian Games, India had beaten arch-rivals Pakistan in a Shootout to win the Gold and earned a qualification for the Rio Olympic Games.
On asked who would be India’s toughest opponent this time around, Sreejesh said, “No team can be taken lightly because every single team would come with the mindset of winning the tournament and get direct qualification for Tokyo Olympics. However, I feel that with the potential we have in the current team we will be fighting to better our own performance and ensure we play like a champion squad."
The team comprising Karnataka's Bharath Pereira, Manipur's Maibam Chingkheinganba and Shreya Nankar from Pune in Maharashtra was selected after the national coaching camp held at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. Odia climbers Anupama Swain, Rajani Bisi, Manoj Dakua and Bishnu Kolar had also taken part in the training camp.
I am delighted after getting selected for the Asian Games. I have been climbing for 13 years. We have been training hard and are in a level where we can expect a medal in the games.
--- Bharath Pereira, Indian Climber
The only woman climber in the team, Shreya Nankar, said "After five years of training as a sport climber, now I am getting a chance to play for the Country in the Asian Games. I will try to clinch a medal for sure."
American Coach Kristofer Peters and three Indian coaches imparted training to 14 climbers from all around the country. "The Indian climbers have potential of podium finish in the Asian Games as we can see good overall improvement after the training camp here," said Coach Kristofer Peters.
The coaching camp, which concluded on Wednesday, was conducted by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation along with the Sports Department of the State Government and Odisha Sport Climbing Association.
A trainee in Badminton legend Pullela Gopichand’s Academy in Hyderabad, Rutaparna who just graduated from the junior level is all excited to leave a mark in the Jakarta Games.
Speaking exclusively to odishatv.in, Rutaparna said, “I am really excited for the Asian Games but certainly not nervous to play in such a big competition. I will get a chance to play against shuttlers from countries like China & Malaysia which will be a great experience for me.”
Rutaparna is the eldest daughter of businessman Ramachandra Panda of Chauliaganj in Cuttack who runs a small auto spare parts shop in the city.
She took up playing badminton professionally after watching her father playing during the winters in Cuttack. She used to remain awake till late in the night to watch her father play and learnt the basics from her father and practised in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. She also credits the support of her mother and younger sister Swetaparna, who also is a junior national-level badminton player.
To perform at the highest level family support is really essential. My parents' support has always been there for me. My mother was reluctant when I started off and wanted me to concentrate on studies but now she is happy with my achievements.
--- Rutaparna Panda
“My sister and I have played as partners in many tournaments including junior nationals. We also became East Zone champions in under-19 girls’ doubles category and I hope she will also do well in future,” she added.
Rutaparna Panda is now residing in Hyderabad for professional coaching at the Gopichand Academy since last one year. She was picked at the National Championships in Patna after the coaches from the academy saw the talent in this young girl.
“I was really happy when I got a call from the academy. Gopi Sir is really humble and friendly and his guidance along with the training and support from other coaches, physios and members of the academy has been instrumental in shaping up my career, said Rutaparna.
Rutaparna Panda and partner Arathi Sara Sunil defeated Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker by 21-10, 21-12 in Women's doubles final at the All India Senior Ranking Tournament in Bengaluru earlier this month which was a selection event marked by Badminton Association of India (BAI) for Asian Games.
“Last few tournaments were very helpful for me especially the Senior Ranking Tournament that I and Arathi won in Bengaluru. I will take a lot of positives from these tournaments and hope it will reflect in my game,” said Rutaparna.
Being a specialist doubles player, Rutaparna focuses on coordination with her partner and during the Asian Games she wants to concentrate on that as well.
Rutaparna said that she has already played with many senior international players like PV SIndhu and Saina Nehwal in the academy during weekends but their presence in the team during the Asian Games will be something really different and positive for her.
Among others, middle-weight (75kg) boxer Vikas Krishan settled for a bronze medal after conceding a walkout in the semi-finals against Abilkhan Amankul of Kazakhstan due to an injury.
The disappointments of the day were Indian singles paddlers Achanta Sharath Kamal and Manika, who lost their respective singles matches.
On 13th day, India is sitting at the eighth spot with a total of 65 medals (13 gold, 23 silver 29 bronze), equalling the highest tally of 2010 Guangzhou edition.
The hopes of a gold medal were pinned on India's last event of the day but a 2-1 win by Japan's women's hockey team condemned them to take silver.
Japan took the lead through Minami Shimizu in the 11th minute but India pulled the level through Neha Goyal in the 25th minute. Motomi Kawamura regained Japan's lead in the 44th minute. India couldn't find their equaliser and had to settle for the silver medal.
It was India's second silver medal in women's hockey in Asiad history. The last time they had finished second was in the 1998 edition in which they lost to South Korea with the same scoreline.
In the sailing competition, Varsha Gautham and Sweta Shervegar bagged a silver medal in the 49er FX women category, while Harshita Tomar settled for bronze in the Open Laser 4.7 category.
In the 49er FX category, Varsha and Sweta scored a total of 44 points and 40 net points to finish second behind Singapore's Min Kimberly Lim and Rui Qi Cecilia Low, who got 44 total points and 14 net points.
In the Open Laser 4.7 category, Harshita scored a total of 62 points and 50 net points to finish third.
In squash, India's women's team of Joshana Chinappa, Dipika Pallikal, Sunayna Kuruvilla and Tanvi Khanna entered the finals with a 2-0 victory over Malaysia. In the finals, India will take on Hong Kong, who defeated Japan 2-0.
Joshna Chinappa registered a 3-2 (10-12, 9-11, 11-6, 12-10, 9-11) victory over legendary Nicol David, while Dipika crushed Low Wee Wern 3-0 (2-11, 9-11, 7-11) to give India an unassailable 2-0 lead.
In the men's category, the Indian team, comprising Saurav Ghoshal, Harinder Sandhu, Ramit Tondon and Mahesh Mangaonkar, lost 0-2 to Hong Kong and settled for bronze medal.
While Sourav lost 0-3 (6-11, 9-11, 11-13) to Max Lee, Harinder fell 1-3 (9-11, 11-9, 9-11, 3-11) to Leo Au as Hong Kong won 2-0 to set up a title clash against Malaysia.
In table tennis, it was the end of road for singles shuttlers as Manika Batra and Achanta Sharath Kamal lost their respective singles matches while men's and women's team shined.
Sharath lost 7-11, 11-9, 10-12, 16-14, 9-11 to Chuang Chihyuan of Taiwan in the men's singles pre-quarterfinals.
Manika lost 2-11, 8-11, 8-11, 11-6, 4-11 in a pre-quarterfinal contest against Wang Manyu of China.
In boxing, Amit advanced to the finals as he registered a 3-2 split decision victory over Carlo Paalam of the Philippines to enter the finals of the men's light flyweight (49 kg) category.
Amit was off to a slow start against Carlo as both boxers were a bit cautious during the opening round. Both boxers employed a lower guard and were equally matched.
The second round picked up a bit of tempo as the two boxers tried to up the ante. Amit managed to land a few scoring punches as the second round drew to a close.
That prompted Carlo to employ a higher guard in the third and final round. As a result, although the Indian dominated the round, he was unable to land too many scoring punches.
However, Amit's performance was enough to give him a victory by a split decision.
In the 49er FX category, Varsha and Sweta scored a total of 44 points and 40 net points to finish second.
The gold went to Singapore's Min Kimberly Lim and Rui Qi Cecilia Low with 44 total points and 14 net points while the bronze went to Thailand's Nichpa Waiwai and Kamonchanok Klahan.
The Thailand duo scored 46 total points and 42 net points.
In the Open Laser 4.7 category, Harshita scored a total 62 points and 50 net points to finish third.
Muhammad Fauzi Kaman Shah of Malaysia took gold and the bronze went to Jianxiong Wang of China.
Both of them thus ensured a spot on the podium for themselves as the losers in the last four stage are awarded bronze medals.
In the quarter-finals, Amit overpowered Kim Jang Ryong of North Korea by a unanimous 5-0 decision in the men's light flyweight (49 kilogram) category.
Vikas faced a much tougher challenge against Tuoheta Erbieke Tanglatihan of China in the men's middleweight (75kg) division. The Indian was stretched to the limit by his agile and technically strong opponent before eking out a narrow 3-2 win.
In the semi-finals, Amit will take on Paalam Carlo of the Philippines while Vikas will face Kazakhstan's Amankul Abilkhan.
But there was bad news for Indian fans in the women's section as Sarjubala Devi lost 0-5 to Chang Yuan of China in the 51kg quarter-finals.
Amit was far superior for his opponent and dominated all the three rounds. The bout saw a fast opening round with both boxers coming up with repeated barrage of punches.
Amit repeatedly used a low guard in an attempt to draw the Korean in and create gaps in his defence. At the same time, the Indian's quickness and superior technique allowed him to maintain a strong defence.
The Indian Army boxer continued to beat his opponent's defence and land punches at regular intervals in the second round.
The third round followed a similar pattern as Amit emerged a deserving 5-0 winner.
Vikas' middleweight quarter-final bout saw a slow start with both boxers reluctant to be too adventurous, preferring to sit back and size up their opponent instead.
Vikas managed to take the initial momentum when he landed a couple of scoring punches. The Chinese boxer tried to be more aggressive as the round neared its closing stages, but Vikas' strong defence stood him in good stead.
Vikas however, suffered a cut above his left eye in the final minute of the opening round which seemed to affect his performance for the rest of the fight.
With Vikas struggling with the cut, Tuoheta dominated the second round. Needing a big comeback going into the third and final round, the Indian adopted a much aggressive approach. Both boxers ramped up the intensity and the fight saw an exciting finish.
Pincky was outclassed 0-10 by world and Asian champion Gulnor Sulaymanova of Uzbekistan in the final.
Gulnor dominated the final, pulling off a halal, which ended the bout.
Gulnor had earlier thrashed Malaprabha 10-0 in the semi-finals.
Significantly, kurash, a traditional central Asian form of wrestling has been included in the Asian Games.
Earlier on Tuesday morning, India's Jatin progressed to the Round of 16 of the kurash competition with a 1-0 victory over South Korea's Hee Jun Choi in the men's 66 kg category.
He however, crashed after losing 0-3 to Taiwan's Haocheng Chan in the pre-quarters.
Meanwhile, Jacky Gahlot, suffered a 0-10 loss at the hands of Mongolia's Batsuuri Adiya in the same event.
India won the first set 60-56, a solid four-point lead over Korea in the four-set final.
Korea came back strongly in the second set to win 58-54 and level the proceedings at 114-114.
It was a see-saw battle which saw India reclaim advantage in the third set, winning 58-56.
In the final set, the scores were level at 229-229 after it looked like India had won initially. But revised scores read a Korea win at 59-57 to take the match in shootout.
Both the teams had 29/30 in a nailbiting shootout round with Korea hitting the bull's eye in the first shot making the difference.
The Indians gave a tough fight to the overwhelming favourites before going down 228-231 in the final.
The Indian team of Muskan Kirar, Madhumita Kumari and Jyothi Vennam won the first set, but could not sustain the momentum, going down 59-57, 56-58, 58-58, 55-58.
Dutee won Heat 4 with a time of 23.37 seconds which earned her a direct spot in the semi-finals.
She was second in the overall standings at the end of the first round, behind Nigina Sharipova of Uzbekistan, who won Heat 3 with a personal best time of 23.31.
Hima clocked 23.47 to finish fourth in Heat 2, just 200th of a second short of a direct semis berth as Marie Knot of the Philippines took the third spot with 23.45.
But the sprinter from Assam earned a berth the semi-finals as one of the fastest losers in the heats as she was seventh in the overall standings.
India will only need a draw against Sri Lanka on Tuesday to end its pool as a top ranked team and enter the semi-finals.
It was India's fourth successive victory in Pool after winning 17-0 against Indonesia, 26-0 against Hong-Kong China and 8-0 win against Japan in their first three matches respectively.
It was drag-flicker Rupinder Pal Singh (1st minute), Chinglensana Singh Kangujam (5th), Lalit Upadhyay (16th), Manpreet Singh (49th) and Akashdeep Singh (56th) who contributed to India's scoreline.
For South Korea, Skipper Manjae Jung (33th, 35th) and Jhongyun Jang (60th) scored.
India's first goal came from a penalty stroke scored by Rupinder. It was a goal bound ball stopped by the last South Korea defender with his body that resulted in them conceding the penalty stroke.
The team further won two penalty corners in the final minute of the first quarter. While Rupinder's first flick had to be taken again as it was blocked by the first rusher, his second attempt was well-saved by the South Korea goalkeeper.
However, only minutes earlier, Rupinder set-up India's second goal superbly converted by Vice Captain Chinglensana Singh Kangujam.
It was a brilliant showcase of one-touch hockey where Rupinder's long-pass from the centre of the midfield found an impressive deflection off Chinglensana's stick.
India continued to play with superb speed, with impressive counter attacks that put the South Korea defence on immense pressure.
India's third goal came in the 16th Minute through a smart scoop pass from Simranjeet Singh that was well controlled by Lalit Upadhyay who had positioned well to take a successful deflection that landed the ball over the Republic Of Korea goalkeeper into the net.
South Korea however made brave attempts to overcome the initial setback as they created chances to score.
In the 24th minute, Republic Of Korea won two back-to-back penalty corners but couldn't make much of the opportunity as India goalkeeper PR Sreejesh and first rusher Manpreet Singh's efforts respectively ensured India kept a clean sheet.
In the following minute, Amit Rohidas helped win India's fourth penalty corner of the match but could not convert.
South Korea immediately launched a quick-fire counter attack, landing the ball in their striking circle in just three touches. But the shot taken was way off the mark.
South Korea made a strong start to the third quarter when a long-pass into the circle trying to fetch a perfect deflection unfortunately hit the cross-bar.
But a smart referral saw Republic Of Korea win a penalty corner. Sreejesh's block in an attempt to clear the ball was deemed dangerous as it hit the Republic Of Korea striker in the circle.
This time South Korea used a smart variation which was successfully converted by the team's skipper Manjae Jung.
South Korea tricked India's defence to score yet another goal through Manjae that narrowed the team's lead to 2-3.
India missed some potential chances to score in the following minutes as forwards Akashdeep Singh and SV Sunil narrowly missed scoring goals in two separate attempts.
The final quarter was tense as Republic Of Korea defence upped their ante while India pushed for goals.
Manpreet Singh struck India's fourth goal set up by a good interception by Akashdeep. Manpreet was excellent in receiving the ball from Akashdeep and made a quick dribble into the striking circle and took a powerful back-hand shot to beat Republic Of Korea goalkeeper that helped take India's lead to 4-2.
A clever pass by Mandeep Singh to Akashdeep saw him convert yet another splendid back-hand shot taking India's score to a comfortable 5-2.
Meanwhile, India won a penalty corner with a little over four minutes left for the final hooter. A good flick by Rupinder was pushed away by the Republic Of Korea goalkeeper denying India's fifth attempt at penalty corner.
A defensive error saw India concede a penalty corner in the last minute of the match. Their opponents retook the penalty corner after the ball struck the foot of India's first rusher.
They were awarded yet another penalty corner after it again struck the foot of defender Amit Rohidas.
This time Jhongyun Jang was successful in beating Sreejesh to fetch third goal for his team.
Toor hurled the iron ball a distance of 20.75 metres to smash the previous Games record.
The previous mark of 20.57m was set by Aboulmajeed Alhabashi of Saudi Arabia at the 2010 Asiad in Guangzhou, China.
China's Liu Yang was a distant second with his season's best throw of 19.52m. Ivan Ivanov of Kazakhstan took bronze with 19.40m.
This is the eighth gold medal for India in men's shot put in the history of the Asian Games.
Toor dominated the final right from the start but reserved his best for the very last attempt.
The tall, burly 23-year-old from Punjab had taken the lead with an effort of 19.96 metres in his first attempt. He threw 19.15 in his second attempt but fouled his third throw.
The fourth attempt saw the Indian clock yet another 19.96m before he simply blew away the competition with his last attempt.
The defending champions lost 24-27 in a nail-biting encounter as Iran celebrated its first ever gold medal at the Asiad.
This is the first time the Asiad will see a team other than India win the gold medal. The Indians had won both the previous editions since women's kabaddi was included in the Asian Games programme at Guangzhou 2010.
This is a historic win for Iran as they now have both their men's and women's teams in the kabaddi finals for the first time. The Iranian women, who took silver at Incheon 2014, will now meet South Korea in the final. The Koreans also have both their men's and women's teams in the finals.
For India, this was a devastating blow, specially after their men's team were outplayed by Iran in Thursday's semi-finals.
The first half was a well balanced affair before Iran gradually asserted their supremacy as the match wore on.
The Indians enjoyed a slender lead in the initial few minutes before the Iranians gradually found their rhythm. While the Indian defenders struggled to get their act together, the Iran defence was tighter and their attackers reaped rich rewards by repeatedly targeting the bonus line.
With the Indians desperate to make a comeback, the match exploded with excitement after the break.
Immediately after the restart, a couple of failed raids and some poor defending by India saw Iran tighten their grip on the match as they inflicted an all out on the defending champions.
Kavita then fumbled her tackle which gave away a cheap point to an Iranian raider.
The Indians tried to make a comeback as Sayali took bonus to reduce the margin to two while skipper Payal Chowdhury took another couple of points in the next Indian raid.
But consecutive raid points and a successful tackle by Iran maintained their advantage.
The Indians continued their attempts to chip away the lead, but the poor defence by the Indians continued to leak points as Iran held on to the three-point lead. An unsuccessful raid by Payal saw Iran increase their lead to four points.
The match was set up for a dramatic finish as Sakshi produced a three-point raid to bring the deficit to a single point and give India hope.
But Iran immediately hit back with a point in the very next raid before an unsuccessful Indian raid in the final seconds killed the defending champion's hope of retaining their crown.
This is the first time since the traditional rural sport was included in the Asian Games in 1990 that the Indian men's team will not take home the gold.
Apart from ending India's 28-year run as defending champions at the Asiad, Thursday's defeat was also India's first at any major tournament. Along with the Asian Games, India have won every World Cup, Asia Cup and South Asian Games till now.
This is also Iran's first victory over India in the knock-out stages of any tournament. For the Iranians, this is also revenge of sorts for their defeats to India in the finals of the last two Asian Games.
In a match which saw a thrilling battle between Indian raiders and Iran's defence, Iran proved superior. Iran struggled initially, but used their expertise in the super tackle to script an amazing comeback.
Right from the start, Indian raiders struggled to get points while Iran, on the other hand, maintained their dominance throughout the match thanks to their defence. Iran took most of their points through super-tackles which helped them overpower overwhelming favourites India.
The match was off to a somewhat tentative start before exploding with power-packed action in the second half. Both teams displayed a strong, physical style and sometimes overt aggression which kept the packed stadium at the edge of their seats.
Rishank Devadiga drew first blood for India through a brilliant raid followed by three more consecutive points, thanks to defender Girish Ernak.
When the scoreboard was reading 4-0, Iran defender Nabibaksh grabbed Rishank to open his team's account.
Experienced raider Pardeep Narwal also joined the party and stole few points to make score read 6-1. But after that Abolfazl Maghsoudlou got the big fish as he touched defender Girish to send him out.
When the score was 6-4 in favour of India, the series of super-tackles started for Iran which blew away India's attack.
India started giving away easy points and both teams went to the half time break locked at 9-9.
The second half saw Iran dominating Indian raiders. The late substitution of star player Rahul Chaudhary also allowed Iran to put pressure on India.
Rahul came on the mat with less than 10 minutes remaining and straightaway took three points but lack of support from defence and other raiders put Rahul on back-foot.
Monu Goyat, Pardeep, Rishank also looked hapless in front of the Iran defence and went off the mat one by one.
Iran Nabibaksh then touched Mohit and Girish towards the end to inflict an all out on their opponents and dash Indian hopes. At the end, Abozar Mighani and Fazel Athrachali made it a formality and comfortably marched into the final.
(Photo Source: The Indian Express)
The 15-year-old shot 73 to claim the silver medal, while Korea's 34-year-old Shin Hyunwoo clinched gold scoring 74.
Qatar's Al Marri Hamad Ali settled for bronze after shooting 53.
Vihan has emerged as one of the leading double trap shooters in India and had clinched four gold medals at the Shotgun Nationals Championship last year.
The Indian contingent enjoyed a superb start to the day as shooters Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma bagged the gold and bronze medals respectively in the Men's 10 metre Air Pistol event.
The 16-year-old Saurabh had a memorable Asiad debut after producing an Asian Games record score of 240.7. It was India's third gold medal at the ongoing Games.
Abhishek, 29, stood third scoring 219.3 to take India's medal tally to seven. He had finished sixth during the qualification round.
Tomoyuki Matsuda of Japan secured the silver with 239.7. He and Saurabh pulled away for the gold medal battle with points of 220.1 and 220.5 respectively as Abhishek was eliminated with 219.3 points after eight series.
Matsuda, 42, was leading the charge going into the ninth and final series having led after each of the series. But in the final series, he came up with first shot score of 8.9 to blow his chances as Saurabh overtook him with a 10.2 in his first shot of the series.
In the second shot of the series, Matsuda scored 10.3 but Saurabh did well with 10.4 to seal the title.
Veteran shooter Sanjeev Rajput clinched a silver medal in the men's 50 metre Rifle 3 Positions event. Sanjeev scored 452.7 in the final. The 37-year-old had earlier bagged bronze in the same category at the 2006 Doha Asian Games.
China's Hui Zicheng secured the gold medal after scoring 453.3, while Japan's Takayuki Matsumoto settled for bronze with a score of 441.4.
The 37-year old Rajput gave a good account of himself in the keeling and prone positions, although he struggled in the standing round which eventually stood in the way of his winning the gold.
India's mixed trap shooting team of Lakshay Sheoran and Shreyasi Singh finished sixth and last at the 18th Asian Games here on Tuesday. Lakshay-Shreyasi scored 16 points in the finals to be eliminated first with a disappointing performance.
It was a day to remember for Indian wushu athletes as Naorem Roshibina Devi, Santosh Kumar, Surya Bhanu Pratap Singh and Narender Grewal assured themselves of a medal each after advancing to the semi-finals of their respective categories.
This is the best ever performance by India in wushu at the Asiad.
Naorem defeated Mubashra of Pakistan 2-0 in the quarter-finals of the women's sanda 60 kilogram category. This was the first medal for India in wushu at this year's Asian Games.
Naorem will take on Cai Yingying of China in the semi-finals. The loser will have to be content with a bronze medal.
Cai had defeated Kurniati Mei Yulianengsih of Indonesia 2-0 in the quarter-finals.
Later, Santosh edged out Phitak Paokrathok of Thailand 2-1 in the last eight stage of the men's sanda 56kg division.
Santosh will take on Bui Truong Giang of China in the semi-finals.
The Indian had started his campaign with a 2-0 win over Vietnam's Linn Thu Rain. He went on to defeat Zaid Ali Wazea of Yemen by a similar scoreline in the pre-quarterfinals.
Surya defeated Jean Claude Saclag of Philippines 2-0 in the quarter-finals of the men's sanda 60kg category. He will fight Iran's Erfan Ahangarian for a place in the final.
Surya had earned a hard fought 2-1 win over Abdul Haris Sofyan of Indonesia in his first match.
In the men's sanda 65kg quarter-finals, Grewal beat Akmal Rakhimov of Uzbekistan 2-0. He will meet Foroud Zafari of Iran in the semi-finals.
But disappointment was in store for Indians in the men's sanda 70kg event as Pardeep Kumar lost 1-2 to Indonesia's Puja Riyaya.
Pardeep was leading 1-0 till the late stages of the second round when Puja earned a point to draw level. Puja went on to take the lead in the third round which ultimately proved to be decisive.
It was a historic day for the Indian sepaktakraw squad as well. The country earned its first-ever medal in the event after settling for a bronze medal by losing to Thailand in the semi-finals of the men's team regu event here.
India, who had finished second in Group B, lost 0-2 to sepaktakraw powerhouse Thailand in a semi-final to get a podium finish.
Meanwhile, the wrestling arena produced yet another medal for India as Divya Kakran took bronze in the women's 68 kilogram freestyle category.
Divya thrashed Chen Wenling of Chinese Taipei by technical superiority in the play-off for the bronze medal. A wrestler is declared winner by technical superiority when he takes a lead of 10 or more points.
The Indian hardly broke a sweat, taking just one minute and 29 seconds in the first period to open up a 10-0 lead which gave her the win.
But the men's Greco Roman wrestlers proved to be a disappointment as Gyanender (60kg) and Manish (67kg) lost in the quarter-finals of their respective categories.
The Indian rowers continued to do well as the men's lightweight four team and men's single sculls rower Dattu Bhokanal qualified for the finals of their respective events.
Dattu, 27, topped the Heat 1 of the repechage round with a timing of 7:45.71 minutes. Hius timing was third best in the round.
In the men's lightweight four, India's Bhopal Singh, Jagvir Singh, Tejas Hanamant Singh and Pranay Ganesh claimed the second spot in the Heat 1 of the repechage round.
Meanwhile, in the women's pair, Sanjukta Dung Dung and Harpreet Kaur made it to Final B after finishing third in Heat 1 of the repechage round with a timing of 8:54.67 minutes.
The men's and women's kabaddi teams continued to dominate the opposition.
After suffering a shock defeat to South Korea in their last match, the Indian men's kabaddi team bounced back in style as they defeated Thailand 49-30 in their fourth match.
Rahul Chaudhari was the standout raider in a match which saw Thailand giving a fight in patches.
Earlier, the Indian women's kabaddi team thrashed Indonesia 54-22 in their last group tie in yet another spectacular show.
After registering victories in all of their group games, the Indian team is now on top of Group A with eight points and has entered the semi-finals.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Indian women had outclassed Sri Lanka 38-12. India had earlier defeated Japan and Thailand in their previous outings.
The Indian women's hockey team registered their second consecutive victory at the Asian Games as they hammered Kazakhstan 21-0 in a Pool B match.
World No. 9 India showed their quality with their dominant performance against a lowly ranked Kazakh side, scoring 21 goals in the team's second biggest victory of the Asian Games.
In swimming, Virdhawal Khade missed out on a medal by a narrow margin as he finished fourth in the men's 50 metre freestyle final.
Khade registered a time of 22.47 seconds which was a mere .01 second slower than Japan's Shunichi Nakao who took the bronze.
Yu Hexin of China won the gold medal with a time of 22.11 seconds. The silver medal went to Japan as well with Katsumi Nakamura registering 22.20 seconds to come in second.
The Indian women's hockey team registered their second consecutive victory in the 18th Asian Games as they hammered Kazakhstan 21-0 in their Pool B match here on Tuesday.
The World No. 9 India showed their quality with their dominant performance against a lowly ranked Kazakh side, scoring 21 goals in the team's second biggest victory of the Asian Games.
But the Indian archers ahd a disappointing outing as they finished seventh in the ranking round of the women's recurve archery event.
The Indian team of Deepika Kumari, Laxmirani Majhi, Promila Daimary and Ankita Bhakat scored a cumulative total of 1908 with 55 10s and 16 Xs in the 15-team contest.
South Korea delivered a Games record score of 2038 with 112 10s and 35 Xs to top the round, while Chinese Taipei and China finished second and third with scores of 2010 and 1960 respectively.
In the individual ranking round, Deepika was 17th with a score of 649, with 22 10s and 10 Xs. The second best performer for India was Promila, who scored 642, which includes 19 10s and three Xs to be 21st.
Ankita was 36th with a total of 617, with 14 10s and three Xs. Laxmirani was 44th with a total of 608, with 16 10s and four Xs.
South Korean Chaeyoung Kang topped the round with a Games record score of 681, with 40 10s and seven Xs. Chaeyoung has three World Cup medals this year.
Her compatriots, Eungyeong Lee and Hyejin Chang were second and third with scores of 680 and 677 respectively.
Saurabh clinched the gold after a score of 240.7 while Abhishek stood third scoring 219.3.
Tomoyuki Matsuda of Japan secured the silver with 239.7.
Besides the grapplers, Indian shooters Deepak Kumar and Lakhsya Sheoran on Monday bagged silver medals in their respective categories while Apurvi Chandela and Ravi Kumar bagged a bronze on the opening day of the competitions on Sunday.
According to a statement from Twitter, fans in India took to the social media site to celebrate the flurry of medals.
"Twitter was buzzing with chatter around the Asian Games courtesy golds for Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat, silver for Deepak Kumar, and bronze for Apurvi Chandela and Ravi Kumar. Conversation numbers soared past the 400k mark with regards to tweets related to Team India at the Asian Games 2018, showing once again that live sport happens on Twitter," the statement said.
The Indian contingent caught the eye of some notable figures from the country, including batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Youngsters Dilpreet Singh, Simranjeet Singhand Mandeep Singh scored a hat-trick each, while the other goals came from Rupinder Pal Singh, Akashdeep Singh, SV Sunil, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Harmanpreet Singh, Lalit Upadhyay and Amit Rohidas, even as Indonesia couldn't come up with a goal.
With the Indian forwards showcasing top form, puncturing Indonesian defence hooter-to-hooter, the match eventually turned out to be one-sided as PR Sreejesh-led squad demonstrated different variations to score goals.
The team recorded 43 per cent conversion rate as they scored 10 goals off the 28 field attempts while they converted 6 of the 11 penalty corners earned. One goal came off a penalty stroke.
"This was exactly the kind of start we were looking for. We were not chasing any record of winning by maximum goals but a 17-0 margin in the first match instills confidence especially for the youngsters. The idea was to use different scoring combinations which we had worked on during the National Camp and I am happy with the way the team executed," stated chief coach Harendra Singh after the win.
A lethal charge in their attack right from the start saw India win two penalty corners in the first three minutes of the match. India's first goal came within 46 seconds of the start with ace drag-flicker Rupinder Pal Singh, making a comeback into the team after the Commonwealth Games in April, scored off a penalty corner. He converted a penalty stroke in the third minute after a deliberate foul by Indonesian defender to obstruct Harmanpreet Singh's drag-flick.
India's third goal came off a calm and composed Dilpreet who picked up a rebound after Harmanpreet's drag-flick was padded away by the Indonesian goalkeeper.
One of the finest goals of the match came through a splendid combination work between experienced players Sardar Singh and S.V. Sunil in the 25th minute. A swift pass after fiercely charging into the top of the striking circle by ball carrier Sunil, saw Sardar infuse magic with his dribble past Indonesian defenders to pass it back to Sunil who simply deflected it into the goal.
The calmness and composure shown by young guns Simranjeet Singh, Mandeep Singh (both 2016 Junior World Cup winners) and Dilpreet Singh was heartening as they led the attack with brilliance.
Though in a few instances Indonesian defence looked to resist, it was barely enough to stop the Indians from scoring. As Vivek Sagar Prasad, Akashdeep Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Lalit Upadhyay and Amit Rohidas added to the scoreline, India's defence was rarely tested with goalkeeper Krishan Pathak holding fort in India's goalpost.
The 17-0 win is India's best record at the Asian Games with their previous best being 12-0 win against Bangladesh in 1982.
Vinesh completely dominated the contest, taking a 4-0 lead initially before stretching it further to 6-2 to pocket the yellow metal.
Earlier, Vinesh hardly broke a sweat in her semi-final encounter against Daulatbike Yakshimuratova of Uzbekistan, whom she trounced in mere 75 seconds by technical superiority (10-0).
Led by raider Payel Chaudhari, the Indian eves rode on their attack to lead the first half 12-10.
They also dominated the second half as their raiders were successful in breaking the opponent's weak defence and the team finished the game 33-23.
India had earlier crushed Japan 43-12 in their campaign opener on Sunday.
The Indian pair scored 429.9 in the final round to finish on the podium.
Chinese Taipei won the gold with a score of 494.1 while China took silver with 492.5.
A day after celebrating the 73rd anniversary of the country's independence, Indonesian President Joko Widodo declared the Games open following a speech by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) chief Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, reports Xinhua news agency.
Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra was India's flag bearer in the opening ceremony, with 568 athletes marching behind him.
Chinese President Xi Jinping's special envoy and Vice Premier Sun Chunlan attended the ceremony, standing up from her seat and waving to the Chinese delegation as the Asian sports powerhouse was led into the stadium by Rio Olympics taekwondo gold medallist and flagbearer Zhao Shuai in the athletes parade.
China sent a relatively young delegation, with 631 out of their 845-athlete squad participating in neither the Olympics nor the Asian Games.
"The Asian Games can serve as a mid-term exam for us in build-up to the Tokyo Olympics," Chinese delegation general secretary Liu Guoyong said prior to the opening ceremony. "The Games could let them have a feel for major international sporting events."
The Chinese squad also features 19 Olympic champions, including Rio Olympics women's volleyball MVP Zhu Ting, world's famous shuttler Lin Dan and swimming king Sun Yang.
To highlight the athletes parade, the North and South Koreas marched together under a unified Korean flag, just like that during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in February. They will also field joint teams in women's basketball, rowing and canoeing events.
The athletes' parade was followed by a stellar art performance, which was full of Indonesia's diverse cultures, history, legendary folklore and traditional dance with an immense volcanic mountainscape as the storytelling canvas.
The cauldron for the Asian Games was lit by Indonesia's first ever Olympic gold medallist, famous shuttler Susi Susanti.
China will try to become runaway leaders again in Jakarta after they have led the medals table in the past nine editions. They will be competing in 376 medal events in 38 sports.
The Jakarta Asiad will stage 465 events out of 40 sports, among which 330 events from 32 sports will feature in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The Games will also showcase climbing and skateboarding, the two sports being added to the schedule of the Tokyo Olympics. The Indonesian martial art of pencak silat will be among 10 events making their Asian Games debut.
Jakarta has had less than the normal amount of time to prepare for the Games. It was selected only four years ago after Vietnam, the original host, pulled out due to financial setbacks.
The Asian Games, attracting more than 10,000 athletes, will run through Sept. 2. Jakarta will be the main venue while several sports will take place in Palembang, the capital city of South Sumatra Province.
It's the second time for Jakarta to host the Asiad, which had its fourth edition in the Indonesian capital in 1962. The inaugural Asian Games were held in New Delhi, India in 1951.
The Asiad flame entered Jakarta through East Jakarta-West Java province's border town of Bogor earlier in the day in a ceremony which featured the torching of a mini cauldron with the historical flame in Jakarta eastern municipality.
Through a series of relay runs, the flame was scheduled to pass through landmark places and tourism spots in each of Jakarta's east, south, north, west and central municipalities, reports Xinhua news agency.
The Asiad flame's cross-nation relay began from Yogyakarta province on July 18.
The flame was lit in India's Dhyan Chand Stadium in New Delhi that hosted the first Asian Games in 1951. It arrived in Yogyakarta airport after being flown from New Delhi on July 15.
Before being lit in the Asian Games opening ceremony on August 18, the flame will be kept in Indonesia's presidential palace.
"This is our best chance to win a team medal at the Asian Games. It's very difficult individually, but when I say good performance at the Asian Games, it's winning a medal," Sharath told IANS in an interview.
"We've never won an Asian Games medal, but we have always made it to the quarterfinals in the team championships. So we are just one match away from a medal. It depends on the draw. Hopefully, we don't meet China. Any other team is beatable. Against Japan, we had a very close match at the Asian Championships. Against Hong Kong and Korea, it's always open," he said.
Unlike the CWG, there is no third/fourth place game at the Asian Games, so a spot in the semifinal assures a medal.
"There will be lot of pressure on other teams as they know India are doing well. We're still the underdogs, but there will be pressure on opponents," said the 2004 CWG gold medalist.
India scalped eight medals at the 2018 CWG, their best-ever finish. Sharath pocketed three (men's team gold, men's singles bronze and men's doubles silver with G. Sathiyan).
"We need to stand up to the expectations of CWG as we did exceedingly well there. So if we can continue our form at the Asian Games, more than individually, the sport will benefit a lot. The sport in India will get the kind of recognition which has been due for a very long time," Sharath said.
The Indian squad will be headed to Chengdu (China) for a 10-day camp before the Games.
Sharath said although the paddlers hate going to that part of the world, they always return as faster players.
"We hate having training camps in China. The food is bad, everything is bad. But one thing which is good there is the practice system. They don't teach you anything. They don't want anybody to get better. But the only thing which is good is, even with weak players who we get (for) sparring, they have speed in the ball, body, foot work and their thought process. That is exactly the reason why we are going there.
"Whenever we are playing in Asia, China is the place to train despite adversities as we get faster at the end of the day. There will be lot of multi-ball training which I think they are best at.
"So with multi-ball training, you can do a lot of corrections to your technique, timing and it is the fitness part also," the Arjuna awardee explained.
What are the areas Sharath feels the team needs to work on?
"We cannot think on those lines. It's too close now," he opined.
"There is no time to work on weaknesses now. We've spent the last two years doing that. Now it's about sharpening the skills. For example, my serves have been good and I need to keep working on that," Sharath added.
Ranked World No.33, one short of his career best of 32 attained in 2015, Sharath placed hopes on G. Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai to do well along with him, if they are to return with a medal from Indonesia.
Personally, the ace paddler has a chance to break into the top-30 after the Asian Games. A win in the round of 32, which Sharath should accomplish by his own admission, will fetch him 540 points.
A victory in the team event will add 180 points to his tally. According to the just-released August rankings, Sharath is 504 points adrift of 30th ranked Chen Chien-An of Chinese Taipei.
"We three have to do well at the same time to get past the quarters hurdle. Any one slips up, and we are gone.
"I'm not concerned about my rankings as I know with the kind of form I'm in, I'll break into top 30 after the Asian Games," he signed off.
The Asian Games are set to be held from August 18 to September 2.
Men's squad: Achanta Sharath Kamal, Gnanasekaran Sathiyan, Anthony Amalraj, Harmeet Desai. Manav Thakkar.
The event was part of nationwide observances to commemorate the 73rd national Independence Day and to welcome the 18th Asian Games slated to commence in the next two weeks in the nation's two host cities of Jakarta and Palembang, reports Xinhua news agency.
"Indonesia has put a historical event on the books," Indonesia Youths and Sports Minister Imam Nahrawi said, referring to the mass exercise based on a traditional dance from eastern Indonesia.
Addressing the record-breaking event, President Joko Widodo wished the Asiad success.
"We want to see great success in the 2018 Asian Games. Our preparations were successful and we expect to see more success ahead both in events and for our athletes," Widodo said.
Coordinator of the record-breaking exercise Firdaus Ali noted that similar events were held in 48 cities across the nation and nine cities in foreign countries.
Indonesia has received commendation from the head of the OCA (Olympic Council of Asia) Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah.
The upcoming Asiad will be the second for Indonesia, which hosted the tournament in 1962. The 18th Asian Games, themed "Energy of Asia," are scheduled to be held from August 18 to September 2 in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang, and will draw over 11,000 athletes from 45 Asian countries and regions.
An invitation was sent by the Indonesian Coordinating Human Development and Cultural Affairs Minister Puan Maharani to the President of the North Korean Supreme People's Assembly, Kim Yong-nam, during a meeting in Pyongyang earlier this week, Efe news reported.
Puan tweeted that "the Asian Games is a time for friendship between countries". Widodo also invited South Korean President Moon Jae-in to the inaugural ceremony.
North and South Korea agreed in June during a meeting at the border to walk under the same flag at the opening ceremony of the Asian Games and compete with joint teams in some categories.
The two Koreas, technically still at war, walked together at the opening of the Winter Olympic Games in February in the South Korean county of PyeongChang which marked the first steps towards the recent rapprochement between the two Koreas and Washington.
The contingent will comprise of 277 men and 247 women athletes from a total of 36 sports disciplines.
Of the various sporting disciplines, athletics will have the highest number of representation with a total of 52 members participating.
Earlier, in the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, the Indian contingent featured a total of 541 athletes spread across 28 disciplines.
This time, eight new disciplines have been added to the contingent where the country has shown promise, namely: Karate, Kurash, Pencak Silat, Roller Skating, Sambo, Sepaktakraw, Triathlon and Soft Tennis.
The seasoned Jinson Johnson and the women's 4x400m relay team were the joint stars with their golden show on the final day of the track-and-field competition in which India signed off seven gold, 10 silver and two bronze medals, the country's best haul since 1951.
India surpassed its previous edition's overall tally of 57 by making it 59 with two more days of competition left. The country also took its gold tally to 13, two more than 2014.
Johnson, who surprisingly lost the gold to compatriot Manjit Singh in the 800m, more than made up for that blip with a brilliant rally today. Johnson clocked 3:44.72sec to claim the top honours ahead of Iran's Amir Moradi, who turned in a timing of 3:45.62sec, his season's best effort.
And then the 4x400m women's relay team notched up a fifth successive gold to continue their remarkable dominance of the event. The Indian quartet of Hima Das, M R Poovamma, Saritaben Gayakwad and Vismaya Velluva Koroth clocked 3:28.72sec to claim the gold.
The men's team could not get the top position but pulled off a creditable silver with the quartet of Kunhu Muhammed, Dharunn Ayyasamy, Muhammed Anas and Arokia Rajiv timing 3:01.85sec to finish behind Qatar, which won gold in an Asian record of 3:00.56sec.
Adding a bronze was veteran discus thrower Seema Punia. The 35-year-old cleared a six-year-best of 62.26m for a third-place finish. Punia won a gold in the 2014 edition.
Asian champion P U Chitra also won a bronze, in the women's 1500m race.
Chitra entered the race as Asian leader this season but had to settle for a bronze with a timing of 4:12.56 sec.
But losing the men's hockey semifinal to Malaysia came as massive blow for the country, which was not just aiming for a gold but also direct Olympic qualification through a top finish here.
The Malaysians handed India a heartbreaking 6-7 loss in sudden death after an exhausting shoot-off.
India will play eight-time champions Pakistan in the bronze medal play-off. Pakistan lost 0-1 to Japan in the other semifinals.
Malaysia, who had beaten India in the last-four stage eight years ago at Guangzhou, made their wasteful opponents pay for their mistakes, both in regulation time and shoot-off. Both teams were tied at 2-2 after 60 minutes.
In the shoot-off, it was anyone's game and Malaysia handled the nerves better to make their second Asiad final.
India, who had scored a record 76 goals in the group stage, were left stunned after S V Sunil missed his attempt in the sudden death. Only Akashdeep and Harmanpreet scored in the first five shots of the shoot-off while Manpreet Singh, Dilpreet Singh and Sunil faltered.
"Malaysia are the deserving winners. We committed too many unforced errors and paid the price. We did not keep things simple. We tried to show our Indian skills and by doing that we lost the momentum. It is a big setback for Indian hockey. The road to Olympics is a lot bumpier now. We missed the easiest chance to qualify," conceded Indian coach Harendra Singh.
There was no end to the disappointments in sports like volleyball, sepaktakraw where Indians continued to falter and failed to find any wins.
In squash, the Indian women's team lost the all-important match against Hong Kong 1-2 to finish second in Group B, resulting in a tougher semifinal opponent in defending champions Malaysia.
Senior players Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa lost their matches against Joey Chan and Annie Au, 1-3 and 0-3, respectively.
Sunayna Kuruvilla, who is Pallikal's cousin, kept India in the hunt with a fighting win over Tze Lok Ho in the second singles.
Kuruvilla, making her Games debut, was trailing 0-2 in the match and 7-10 in the fifth and deciding game but she never gave up despite some debatable calls by the referee. She fought till the last point for the biggest win of her career, prevailing 5-11, 13-15, 11-6, 11-9, 14-12.
In table tennis, Commonwealth Games gold medal winning paddlers A Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the singles events. The two had cinched a historic mixed doubles bronze yesterday.
Indian women's team had won a bronze medal at Incheon four years ago and Sindhu hoped they can change the colour of the medal this time when the multi-sport event gets underway on August 18.
"Definitely, it is going to be very different. Because, we have the team events and also the individuals. Very less time to prepare. But, as a team, last time we got bronze. This time, we would expect a better one," said Sindhu, who clinched her second silver at the World championships last Sunday.
"Also, individuals, I hope that I do well. Taking the World Championship silver, taking it as a confidence, I hope that I move forward and do well."
India haven't won a medal in women's singles at the Asian Games. Eight-time former national champion Syed Modi is the only individual medallist for India at the Asiad, having won a bronze at the 1982 New Delhi edition.
Sindhu defeated top Asian players such as Japanese duo of Nozomi Okuhara and Akane Yamaguchi and Korea's Sung Ji Hyun en route to her second successive final at the World Championship.
Given her impressive form, chief national coach Pullela Gopichand is hopeful of another successful outing at the Asian Games.
"I think to beat Okuhara in the quarter-finals and Yamaguchi in the semi-finals is something very good. Beating both of them, the way she (Sindhu) did, I think it has been fantastic. We are hopeful for another successful event at the Asian Games in the coming 10 days," he said yesterday.
Talking about her performance at the World Championship, Sindhu said: "I am really very happy for the silver. It's been a good week. As you all know the draw was comparatively tough. From the first round, there were good tough matches. It's good that from my side, I gave my 100 per cent.
"Definitely, I will have to try more harder and harder until I get that gold. I hope, one day, I will get that."
Sindhu finished second after losing to Olympic champion Carolina Marin in the title clash. It was her second defeat in the summit clash as she had lost an epic final against Okuhara at Glasgow last year.
Asked about the performances of other players in the World Championship, Goichand said: "I think we had four quarter-finalists at the world championships more than it has ever been. But, I think there were areas which could have improved definitely. (Kidambi) Srikanth and (HS) Prannoy could have done better," he said.
"The conditions were a little tricky at the World Championship as some days were slow and some days were fast and it was a learning experience for the players.
"We had the Commonwealth this year, we did well. We had the World Championships relatively good. Hopefully, at the Asian Games, if we do well, this year will be a successful year for Indian badminton," he said.
New Delhi: The Commonwealth Games gold has given him the confidence and Indian star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra is now aiming to grab another yellow metal at the upcoming Asian Games, which he admitted will be tougher than the Gold Coast CWG.
Neeraj became the first Indian javelin thrower to win a gold at the CWG at Gold Coast last month with a throw of 86.47m, but he said that effort will not be enough for a gold in the Jakarta Asian Games in August.
"Winning a gold in CWG with a very good effort early in the season is a big confidence-booster going ahead in the year. Not only the gold but the performance has made me assured that I can do better. Winning an Asian Games gold is my next target," the 20-year-old athlete told PTI.
"I worked hard to win the CWG gold and I will have to work even harder for the Asian Games. The Asian Games will be tougher (than the CWG) and I have to do better than my personal best (of 86.48m) if I have to win a gold in Jakarta," he added.
At Gold Coast, going into the final round, Neeraj was the clear favourite to win the gold as Kenyan former world champion and Rio Olympics silver medallist Julius Yego crashed out at the qualification stage, while Trinidad's Keshorn Walcott, the 2012 London Olympics champion and Rio Games bronze medallist, had already opted out of the CWG.
"In Jakarta, there will be Taipei's Asian record holder Cheng Chao-tsun (who has a personal best of 91.26m) and then Ahmed Bader of Qatar, who can throw above 85m. So, it will a tough competition in the Asian Games and it will not be easy," said Neeraj, who is targetting 90m before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Taipei's Cheng Chao-tsun has been Neeraj's close rival in Asia in the last couple of years. Last year, the Taipei thrower had beaten Neeraj in an Asian Grand Prix event, while the Indian got the better of him in the Asian Championships in the eastern Indian city of Bhubaneswar
But Chao-tsun is the only Asian to break the 90m barrier in the men's javelin throw as he hurled the spear to a distance of 91.26m on his way to win the World Underside gold medal in Taipei City in August last.
Qatar's Ahmed Bader is an up and coming talent and won a silver behind Neeraj in the 2017 Asian Championships in Bhubaneshwar. He has a personal best of 85.23m.
"I will be preparing well for the Asian Games. I am going to start with the Diamond League in Doha on May 4 where the competition will be of Olympics and World Championships level with three-four competitors, who can hurl above 90m or near about consistently taking part," said Neeraj who will be in Finland for six weeks before the Asian Games as part of the Athletics Federation of India's training-cum-exposure tour.
All the top Indian athletes will be sent in different countries, mostly in Europe, before the Asian Games depending on their disciplines like jumps, throws, sprints and long distance race and all the top coaches will accompany them.
In the season-opening Doha leg of the prestigious Diamond League series, Neeraj will be competing against the likes of reigning Olympic champion Thomas Rohler of Germany, world champion Johannes Vetter, also of Germany, and world silver-medallist and 2018 Diamond League champion Jakub Vadlejch of Czech Republic.
Rohler and Vettel have been competing for some time in a sort of a match of who can throw above 90m more often while Vadlejch has been consistent at 88m or 89m-plus.
Asked if he will be training under former world record holder and national team javelin head coach Uwe Hohn, he said, "Yes, I will be with him. There is no plan to train under another coach as of now."
Before the Commonwealth Games, Neeraj had a three-month training stint in Offenburg, Germany under reputed coach Werner Daniels before returning to the national camp at NIS Patiala to be under Hohn, another German.
The AFI has decided to host the National Inter-State Senior National Championships which will serve as selection trial for the Asian Games in Guwahati from June 26-29.
"I have already qualified for the Asian Games (by getting the better of qualifying standard of 81m). So, let us see (whether I take part or not)."
If he does not take part in the meet, he will have to appear for a confirmatory trial on August 15 to see whether his performance level is at the requisite level.
After his exploits in Gold Coast, the international media described him as an Indian from a poor family but with Bollywood looks. Asked about his take on this description, Neeraj said, "It is up to them to write like that. I don't take it seriously and it does not affect me. At this stage in my career, I am thinking just about my sport.
Despite taking to the mat for the first time since the 2012 London Olympics and climbing up weight divisions after international governing body FILA rejigged the weight classes for its competitions including those of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, both Sushil and Yogeshwar proved their worth in the limited tournaments they took part in this year.
Yogeshwar, in fact, ended India's 28-year wait for gold in wrestling at the Asian Games by bagging the yellow metal in Incheon, South Korea, in September.
Their eyes now firmly trained on Rio Olympics, the star grapplers carefully picked their tournaments, contesting in not more than three competitions in 2014.
But in those limited opportunities, the freestyle wrestlers came out with flying colours.
After opting out of the Dave Schultz Memorial International tournament at Colorado Springs, USA, in February, followed by Freestyle Wrestling World Cup in March, the two finally participated in the Senior International competition in Sassari city, Italy, on May 30-31.
Putting to rest all apprehensions about how they would fare in their respective new weight categories and after a long break, the celebrated Indian wrestling duo sparkled on debut.
Having shifted from 60kg category, London Olympics bronze-medallist Yogeshwar won the gold in the 65kg division, while two-time Olympic medal winner Sushil bagged the silver in 74kg class.
Sushil, who had won a bronze in the 2008 Beijing Olympics before bettering his performance with a silver medal at the London Games four years later, had always contested in 66kg freestyle category. But the 31-year-old grappler, who had to add nine kilogrammes to adjust in his new weight bracket, made the jump look like a cake-walk.
After claiming a silver at the Senior International tournament, Sushil asserted his class in the Commonwealth Games at Glasgow, Scotland, winning all his four bouts en route to a gold medal, rather comfortably.
India's foreign coach B I Fernandez was also handed a two-year ban for standing by Sarita during her protest.
The AIBA's ruling was conveyed to Boxing India (BI), who announced the decision at a press conference here.
Sarita had refused to wear her bronze at the podium ceremony after her semifinal loss to South Korea's Ji Na Park at Incheon in October, triggering a huge controversy.
BI said Sarita is barred from taking part in national and international events from October 1, 2014 to October, 2015 besides being fined 1000 Swiss francs.
Considering the duration of the ban, the 29-year-old Manipuri boxer can hope to compete in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
India's long-time foreign coach Fernandez has been punished with a longer ban along with a fine of 2000 Swiss francs. His ban too came into effect on October 1.
Sports minister Sarbananda Sonowal and cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar were among many who had shown strong support for Sarita.
BI president Sandeep Jajodia accepted AIBA's decision.
"There was apprehension that Sarita would be banned for life but BI continuously worked to get relief for Sarita, trying to impress on AIBA that Sarita is disciplined," said Jajodia.
"The one off incident in Incheon was an emotional outburst. But we have to appreciate that international body works under some rules. We enclosed all apologies in our reply...also requested Government of India to support. They obliged," said Jajodia.
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Kashyap failed to pass the Asiad test as he lost to World No.1 Lee Chong Wei 0-2 in the pre-quarterfinals at the Gyeyang Gymnasium, while Saina fizzled out after winning the first game against China's Yihan Wang 21-18 9-21 7-21 in her quarterfinal encounter.
India's K Srikanth also lost out in the men's singles pre-quarterfinals after losing a hard-fought battle against Wanho Son of South Korea 2-1 in an hour and seven minutes.
The sixth-seeded Saina started on an aggressive note but Yihan used clever angled strokes to make the Hyderabadi girl move around the court and then finished points with her deceptive drops as she took 11-8 lead at the break.
Saina kept herself within touching distance as she picked four points on the trot from 11-15 to not only claw back but wrest the lead 16-15.
The duo was then engaged in an energy-sapping rally which Saina won with a brilliant net play and carried on the momentum to win a closely contested opening game.
The Indian, however, could not maintain the aggression, even as Yihan surged ahead 8-5.
Both the shuttlers found it hard to judge the shuttle due to the drift in the court. At 5-10, Saina earned another point but she hit wide to allow Yihan to go into the interval at 11-5.
A couple of sharp smashes by Yihan swelled her lead and Saina's unforced errors gave the Chinese a cushion of 17-8 points. Saina completely failed to control the shuttle and soon trailed 8-20. Another rally and an easy point saw Yihan roar back into the contest.
The third game looked like a mere formality as Yihan dictated terms to pocket the match and end Saina's misery, even as coach Vimal Kumar looked on with disappointment.
Earlier, in the men's singles match on Friday, top Malaysian shuttler Chong Wei dispatched the unseeded Kashyap 21-12 21-11 in straight games of 17 minutes each.
The Indian women's team aggregated 279 to finish on the podium behind China and hosts South Korea at the Gyeonggido Shooting Range.
Chowdhary shot 96 after rounds of 24 25 24 23, Shreyasi had a total of 94 after rounds of 24 22 22 26 while Varsha managed 89 with rounds of 23 21 24 21.
In the double trap individual competition, Chowdhary was placed 8th, Shreyasi 10th and Varsha finished 12th.
China's Zhang Yafei 108, Bai Yiting 107 and Zhu Mei 100 clinched the gold medal with a total of 315, while Koreans Kim Mijin 110, Son Hyekyoung 105 and Lee Bona 99 won the silver with a total of 314.
Gurpreet shot well but not well enough to finish on the podium, managing the fourth place in men's 25m standard pistol competition.
In the 50m Rifle Prone men's team finals, India finished fourth behind behind Kazakhstan, South Korea and China, narrowly missing out on a medal after aggregating a total score of 1852.8 with the help of 97x.
In the individual event, Joydeep Karmakar finished 10th in qualification, Gagan Narang was placed 14th while Hariom Singh was way behind at 29th.
In 25m standard pistol men's team event, India finished fifth behind Vietnam, Singapore, South Korea and formidable China with a total score of 1684 that included 34x.
In the 25m standard pistol individual event, Gurpreet Singh was the best-placed India at fifth position, Mahaveer Singh was next at 17th while Samaresh Jung could manage only a 24th-place finish.
Pallikal settled for a bronze medal -- the first by an Indian woman squash player -- after losing to world number one Nicol David in the semifinals. India were also assured of at least a silver in the men's singles event after Ghosal stormed into the final -- the first from the country to achieve such a feat.
The shooting range continued to be a happy hunting ground for the Indian contingent with the women's pistol trio of Rahi Sarnobat, Anisa Sayyed and Heena Sidhu claiming a bronze in the 25m team event at the Ongnyeon International Range.
While the women's pistol team, Pallikal and Ghosal stole the limelight with their performances, it was a rather disappointing day for India otherwise with the men's football team and the tennis teams crashing out of the event.
With two medals coming their way, India were now placed 13th in the overall tally with one gold and five bronze.
Regional powerhouse China lead the pack with 41 medals (17-12-12), followed by hosts South Korea 35 (13-11-11) and Japan 28 (7-9-12).
History was scripted at the squash court with Pallikal's bronze even though she settled for the medal after a rather brute 4-11 4-11 5-11 thrashing at the hands of David.
Later, Ghosal entered the final, beating 2006 champion Ong Beng Hee. Top seed and World No.16 Ghosal lived up to his billing, outplaying 35th-ranked Beng Hee of Malaysia 11-9 11-4 11-5 in 45 minutes on the glass court of Yeorumul Squash Courts.
At the shooting range, the Indian trio of Rahi, Anisa and Heena tallied 1729 points, a whopping 18 adrift of silver medal winners China and two more behind gold medallists and hosts South Korea, to clinch the fourth medal from the pistol and rifle shooting range here.
It was also the third bronze for the country from this venue. The only metal of any other colour, notably gold, has come through the efforts of army man Jitu Rai in the 50m pistol event.
The Odisha government today announced a cash award of Rs 1.5 crore for the national record holder Dutee who clinched the silver medal in the 100 meter event at the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia on Sunday clocking 11.32 seconds.
The reward was announced by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in recognition of Dutee's ‘grit, determination and hard work’. Odisha Olympic Association (OOA) had also announced a cash reward of Rs 50,000 for Dutee.
"It is a matter of pride that an athlete from Odisha has brought laurels for the country in the Asian Games after 20 years. In 1998 Asian Games, Odia Athlete Rachita Panda Mistry had won a bronze medal for India," the Chief Minster's Office (CMO) said in a statement.
It is pertinent to mention here that, the fastest men and women in the country are from Odisha and the State government, recognising the huge potential among the talented youth, is giving more emphasis on athletics, the statement added.
Odisha has planned a high performance Athletics Academy which will be the first of its kind in the State. The proposed Athletics Academy is expected to be launched shortly, the release further stated.
Earlier, tweeples had also hailed the achievements of Dutee Chand for her 100m sprint which ensured a medal for the country at the ongoing Asian Games.
From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and former Parliamentarian Baijayant Panda, everybody took to the social media platform to congratulate Dutee Chand.
Not only politicians but several sportspersons also hailed Dutee Chand for her achievement.
Congratulations to Muhammed Anas and Dutee Chand for their silver in athletics. Watching Hima, Anas and Dutee perform makes us realise it's not about shoes but about the soul. Goosebumps to watch them run for the nation ??
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) August 26, 2018
Many congratulations to Hima Das, Muhammed Anas and Dutee Chand for their exemplary performances and Silver medal win in their respective athletics events. We are all very proud of you #AsianGames2018 pic.twitter.com/zHBZ6g4GRN
— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) August 26, 2018
Congratulations Dutee Chand for the Silver medal , clocking (100m) in 11.32s . Very proud of you#AsianGames pic.twitter.com/lZ7fXmXMty
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) August 26, 2018
?22-year-old Dutee Chand Wins Silver?In Women’s 100 m.
?Missed Gold By Just 0.02 Seconds
?First Medal For India In Event In 20 Years
?Her 1st Asian Games Participation
?Recorded 11.32sCongrats! Indian Sprinters Are Slaying At #AsianGames2018 ???#DuteeChand #AsianGames pic.twitter.com/fwn3YiPss8
— Sir Ravindra Jadeja (@SirJadejaaaa) August 26, 2018
Ever since the draw had been announced, all eyes were on Panghal's bout with Dusmatov, a two-time gold medallist at the Asian Championships and a world silver medallist. The Rohtak boxer was making his continental competitive debut in the 52kg this time. But the result remained the same.
In the fourth career meeting between the two, the Strandja Cup gold medallist made it two in a row over Dusmatov with a deadly 4-1 blow to lay his hands on his second medal from this competition after a bronze in 2017. It was Dusmatov who had halted Panghal's run two years ago.
"All the strategies that I made with coaches came to good use today. I am very happy and this motivates me further to take the gold. I'll keep making the right strategies for my next bouts as well and will return home with nothing less than a gold," said an elated Panghal after the win.
Kavinder Singh Bisht (56kg) was the star of the show for India in the morning session on the first day of quarter-final action. Carrying his scintillating form from the GeeBeeBoxing tournament in Finland where he landed a gold, the Uttarakhand pugilist dug deep to see off 2017 world champion Kairat Yeraliyev of Kazakhstan 3-2 in a hard-fought match.
The big win over the two-time Asian Championships bronze medallist secured Bisht his maiden medal from this high-profile continental event.
The fast-rising Sonia Chahal, 21, of Haryana showed a lot of maturity and calmness in her 3-2 win over Korea's Jo Son Hwa. This was Chahal's second consecutive victory over Jo after getting the better of her in the World Championships semi-finals last year.
After a silver medal from the World Championships at home in 2018, the Haryana girl is now aiming for a gold at this tournament.
Makran Cup gold medallist and national champion Deepak (49kg) did not even have to enter the ring as he was given a walkover by Afghanistan's Ramish Rahmani due to injury. The semi-final berth has insured Deepak his first Asian Championships medal.
2018 World Championships bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), however, succumbed to a 0-5 defeat to reigning world champion Chen Nien-Chin after losing to the Chinese Taipei boxer in the semi-finals of the world event last year.
Seema Poonia (81kg) too departed from the competition following a 0-5 knockout delivered by her mighty opponent, the three-time world champion Xiaoli Yang of China.
Also to bow out was Rohit Tokas (64kg), whose journey was ended by Mongolia's Chinzorig Baatarsukh in a tough 3-2 split decision.
Pooja defeated reigning World Champion Wang Lina in the final to claim top honours in the 81-kg weight category. This was her third medal at this prestigious tournament after a silver in 2012 and a bronze in 2015.
Meanwhile, Simranjit Kaur Baath had to remain content with silver after losing to reigning world champion Dou Dan of China in the finals of the 64-kg category. Last year, Simran had lost to the Chinese in the World Championships in the semi-finals.
In the men's event, 2018 Asian Games champion Amit Panghal clinched gold in the 52-kg category after defeating Korea's Kim Inkyu in a unanimous decision, thereby winning his second gold of the year.
The 23-year-old, who was participating in his maiden international competition since moving up to 52kg from 49kg earlier this year, had come into the tournament on the back of a gold at the Strandja Memorial Tournament in February.
However, national champion Deepak Singh, Kavinder Singh Bisht and Ashish Kumar had to settle for silver medals after losing in the finals.
While Singh lost to Nodirjon Mirzahmedov of Uzbekistan in the 49-kg category, Bisht went down fighting in the final of the 56-kg category against current Asian Games champion Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov of Uzbekistan. Kumar also lost in his maiden final in the 75-kg category.
India finished the Asian Championships with 13 medals in total which included two gold, four silver and seven bronze. While the men won one gold, three silver and three bronze, the women bagged a gold, one silver and four bronze medals.
Shooting in his maiden International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup final, the Indian led the field throughout the men's 10m air pistol final to clinch the top spot with a total score of 242.7.
Russia's Artem Chernousov took silver with a total of 240.4 points in the eight-man final. Korea's Seungwoo Han finished with a bronze after shooting 220.0 in the final.
Verma showcased his class in what was only his first ISSF World Cup final. Indians have sealed five quota places for the Tokyo Olympics so far with young Saurabh Chaudhary clinching one in 10m air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup in New Delhi earlier this year. With this India have clinched both their quotas in this event.
Incidentally, Verma made his World Cup debut in New Delhi, but failed to qualify for the final at home.
In the Chinese capital on Saturday, Verma shot a total of 585 points to qualify for the final at the fourth spot.
He was the only Indian who progressed to the final with Shahzar Rizvi and Arjun Singh Cheema finishing 32nd and 54th respectively.
Verma, who had won a bronze medal in the 10m air pistol event during his India debut at the Asian Games, does not have much international exposure, making the feat even more creditable.
On Friday, Rajasthan's 17-year-old teenager Divyansh Singh Panwar on Friday secured India's fourth Olympic quota place by winning silver in 10m air rifle event.
This is India's fifth 2020 Tokyo Olympic quota after Anjum Moudgil and Apurvi Chandela (10m air rifle women), Saurabh Choudhary (10m Air Pistol men) and Divyansh had secured berths in the earlier World Cups and last year's World Championship.
Saurabh Chaudhary was fielded in the MQS category earlier in the day to boost the chances of another Olympic quota place for India.
Asian Games bronze medallist Heena, in 2013, became the first Indian pistol shooter to win a gold medal in an ISSF World Cup finals when she won the 10m Air Pistol event.
The 29-year-old has also won a silver medal in the women's 10m Air Pistol event, and a gold medal in the women's 25m Air Pistol event. In 2014, she was conferred with the prestigious Arjuna Award.
Ankur, on the other hand, had won a gold medal in Double Trap event at 2018 ISSF World Shooting Championships at Changwon, South Korea. He also won a silver medal at the 2017 World Championships.
In the 2018 Commonwealth Games held in Gold Coast, he won a bronze medal in the Double Trap Shooting (Men) event. Last year, he was conferred with the Arjuna Award.
Earlier, shooters Abhinav Bindra, Anjali Bhagwat, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Vijay Kumar, Gagan Narang, Ronjan Sodhi and Jitu Rai had been conferred with the prestigious Khel Ratna Award.
Besides, the NRAI has also recommended the names of Anjum Moudgil, Shahzar Rizvi and Om Prakash Mitharwal for the Arjuna Award while Jaspal Rana and Ronak Pandit have been recommended for the Dronacharya Award.
Returning to the side after a long injury lay-off, Ramadeep Singh (23rd, 37th minutes) finally got his mojo back with a double strike, while Harmanpreet Singh (7th), Varun Kumar (14th), Hardik Singh (25th), Gursahibjit Singh (43rd) and Vivek Sagar Prasad (47) also registered their name on the scoresheet.
Japan's goals were scored by Kenji Kitazato (2nd) and Kota Watanabe (20th).
India will face South Africa in Saturday's final while Japan will square off against USA in the third-fourth place play-off match.
South Africa had earlier defeated USA 2-1 in the first semifinal.
For the first time in the tournament, the Indian defence was literally tested as world no. 18 Japan gave a good account of themselves in patches.
To the dismay of the home crowd, Japan took the lead in the second minute from a counter attack. Kitazato slammed home past Indian goalkeeper Krishan Bahadur Pathak after receiving a pass from Kenta Tanaka from their first attack.
The stunned Indians got their act together quickly and created a flurry of opportunities. Young Gursahibjit Singh was guilty of wasting a golden chance in the fifth minute from close range after he was beautifully set up by Nilkanta Sharma and Ramadeep.
Two minutes later, India secured back-to-back penalty corners and Harmanpreet equalised from the second chance.
The Indians kept up the pressure and earned three consecutive short corners in the 14th minute and this time Varun beat Japan defence with a powerful grounded flick to hand the hosts a 2-1 lead.
But the Japanese caught the Indian defence off-guard once again in the 20th minute with another fine counter-attack when Watanabe scored after being set up by Kazuma Murata.
Japan's joy was shortlived as India restored their lead three minutes later through Ramadeep, who scored his first goal for the country after returning from a year's injury hiatus.
Ramadeep scored with his trademark deflection from the near post after a Gurinder Singh pass from the right flank.
Minutes later, India made the scoreline 4-2 when Hardik scored with a slap shot from the top of the D.
India secured their sixth short corner soon but Varun's effort was defended by Japanese goalkeeper Yusuke Takano.
Next it was PR Sreejesh's turn to show his skills in front of the post when he denied Shota Yamada with a diving save from Japan's first penalty corner.
After the change of ends, the play was mostly on the Japan half as India kept up the pressure to score three more goals.
First Ramandeep scored his second of the day in the 37th minute with a rebound from a penalty corner and then Gursahibjit and Vivek Sagar Prasad also sounded the board from field efforts to register an emphatic win for India.
The FIH Series Finals provide two spots in the Olympic Qualifiers to be held in October-November this year.
(By Saumojyoti S Choudhury)
On July 10, Dutee clocked 11.32 seconds to clinch the gold at the World University Games in Naples, thus becoming only the second Indian sprinter to win a gold in an international event after Hima Das. Hima finished on top in the 400m at the World Junior Athletics Championships last year.
With the feat, Dutee also became the first Indian ever to win a gold in the 100m event at a global meet.
However, she is still 0.17 seconds behind the qualification mark for the Tokyo Games and in-order to qualify, she will have to better her career best of 11.24 seconds.
"I was very happy with my performance at the World Universiade Games where I won the gold medal. I learnt a lot and it was a wonderful experience for me," Dutee told IANS.
"However, the qualification mark for the Olympics of 11.15 seconds is very difficult. No Indian athlete has ever achieved that. Even, my personal best is 11.24 seconds."
"Despite that, I will try my best to achieve the qualification mark in order to represent India at the Tokyo Olympics," she added.
Speaking about the upcoming World Championships to be held from September 27-October 6, Dutee said she is looking forward to the event.
"My preparations for the upcoming World Championships are going pretty well. I am working 5-6 hours daily along with my coaches and teammates," she said.
The 23-year-old also expressed disappointed after her nomination for Arjuna Award got rejected.
"Arjuna award means a lot to each and every player. I have been performing since 2013. I have won many medals in competitions like Asian Games, World Championships and Asian Championships. I won the medal in World Universiade Games as well," she said.
"According to the rule, any athlete who performs well over a period of three years gets an Arjuna award. That's why I had applied. But because of the general elections, my application was delayed and hence it was rejected," she added.
The national champion further urged the government to reconsider her application for the award.
"I feel that the government should think about me and my performance and reconsider their decision. If they give me the Arjuna Award, that will be great else I will apply next year," she said.
Amit was joined in the last-16 by Asian silver-winning duo of Kavinder Singh Bisht (57kg and seeded 5th) and Ashish Kumar (75kg and seeded 7th) alongside two-time India Open medallist Sanjeet (91kg) after draws were unveiled on Sunday here.
Of these, Ashish (seeded 7th) and Sanjeet are making their debut at the big event, while Panghal and Bisht had finished quarterfinalists in the 2017 Hamburg edition.
"We have got a decent draw and it is upto us to make it a good draw," Indian Boxing's High-Performance Director Santiago Nieva told PTI after the draw ceremony.
India will start their campaign on Tuesday with Brijesh Yadav (81kg) taking on Poland's Maleusz Goinski in his opening round bout.
The coveted Olympic berths are no longer at stake, but the Indians will not be short of motivation when they step inside the ring to better a record which states four medals from 20 editions.
Vijender Singh (2009), Vikas Krishan (2011), Shiva Thapa (2015) and Gaurav Bidhuri (2017) make the exclusive club which has experienced what it feels like to be on the podium at amateur boxing's marquee event. All these men ended with bronze medals.
"It is going to be tough. The aim is to improve on what we have done in the past. That's what we work for," Nieva said.
It was meant to be an Olympic qualifier and features the revised eight weight categories (52kg, 57kg, 63kg, 69kg, 74kg, 81kg, 91kg, +91kg) earmarked for Tokyo 2020, instead of the traditional 10 divisions.
However, the event was stripped of Olympic qualifier status after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) lost patience with the long-standing administrative mess in the International Boxing Association (AIBA) and took control of the entire process, which will now start next year. With that status gone, the tournament has lost a bit of sheen.
Nevertheless, it is still likely to feature around 450 boxers from 87 countries in 400 fights spread across 12 days.
India's hopes will be majorly pinned on pint-sized dynamo Panghal. The reticent 23-year-old from Haryana has been on a roll for more than a year.
Besides being Asian champion, he is also an Asian Games gold-medallist. The Army-man came quite close to a world medal in his 2017 debut when he exhausted the then defending champion Hasanboy Dusmatov in the quarterfinals but went down 2-3 in the 49kg category.
Panghal had his revenge in the Asian Games final where he outpunched Dusmatov for the gold and showed himself to be a serious contender for glory at the Worlds.
Then there is Bisht, an Air Force man, whose bloodied face after a brutal quarterfinal in 2017 is a disturbing but unforgettable image.
Like Panghal, Bisht too lost 2-3 in a fight that could have given him a sensational medal. He has improved considerably since then.
At the Asian Championships this year, he accounted for the reigning world champion Kairat Yeraliyev during his silver medal-winning run. And, he now has some unfinished business to take care of in the World Championship.
Veteran Satish Kumar (+91kg) is the only other Indian, apart from these two, who has the experience of competing at the Worlds. The former Asian Games bronze-medallist will try to ensure that ill-health does not ruin his campaign the way it did in 2017. He has American Richard Torrez to contend with in the first round.
The rest of the Indian line-up holds promise too. There is Manish Kaushik (63kg), the silver medallist from last year's Commonwealth Games. The Army-man has been in and out of the team, locked in a tough battle for the spot with Shiva Thapa.
A medal here would help him cement the place. He will start against Kyrgyzstan's Argen Kadyrbek on September 12.
Sanjeet, also a Services boxer, is another dark horse. His fearless approach makes him an interesting boxer to watch out for and he could well outsmart a few here. His first opponent is Scotland's Scott Forest.
Ashish, who won a gold at Thailand Open this year, is also slowly rising into prominence in a category which has been owned by Vijender and Vikas in the past.
The Team:
Amit Panghal (52kg), Kavinder Bisht (57kg), Manish Kaushik (63kg), Duryodhan Singh Negi (69kg), Ashish Kumar (75kg), Brijesh Yadav (81kg), Sanjeet (91kg) and Satish Kumar (+91kg).