Asian Games: Golden day for India

Incheon: The men’s hockey team regained the gold medal after a gap of 16 years as India added four medals to jump to the ninth position in the overall standings in the 17th Asian Games on Thursday. The men’s hockey players hogged the spotlight with a thrilling victory over Pakistan in the summit clash at the Seonhak Hockey Stadium to ensure a berth in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The spirited Indians beat defending champions Pakistan 4-2 in a nerve-racking shoot-out to end a 16-year gold medal drought after regulation time had ended in a 1-1 score. The last time India won a gold medal at the Asian Games was in Bangkok in 1998. In the shoot-out, Akashdeep Singh, Rupinderpal Singh, Birendra Lakra and Dhramvir Singh scored, while Manpreet Singh missed.

But all credit to India custodian and vice-captain P.R. Sreejesh, who produced breathtaking saves to deny Pakistan’s Abdul Haseem Khan and Muhammad Umar Butta. Muhammad Waqas and Shafqat Rasool scored for Pakistan.

“To have won the Asian Games gold after 16 years is heartening. Glad that our team has qualified for the 2016 Olympics,” said N. Mukesh Kumar, three-time Olympian and former Indian hockey captain on the Asian Games gold.

He was all praise for the Indian goalkeeper. “Sreejesh to me is the hero of the day. It’s not easy to save two strokes in a penalty shootout,” he said.

However, Mukesh felt “the forward line needs to sharpen a bit and convert the half-chances.”The gold medal winning players of India’s men’s hockey team will receive a cash reward of '2.5 lakh each from Hockey India for their stupendous show at the Asian Games.

India also collected two bronze from the boxing ring through Vikash Krishan and Satish Kumar as they lost their semifinal bouts against respective opponents.

Vikas, a gold medallist in the last edition in Guangzhou, lost to world champion Zhanibek Alimkhanuly of Kazakhstan by split 2-1 verdict in the middleweight (75 kg) category. Satish, on the other hand was no match for 6ft 9 inch Kazakh giant Ivan Dychko, who won with a clear 3-0 verdict in all the rounds.

In a sport India have dominated since its introduction in the Asian Games, they stayed on course for a double gold in kabaddi, entering the finals of both men and women’s events.

The men defeated South Korea 36-25 in their semi-final while the women recorded a comprehensive 41-28 victory over Thailand. The men’s side had earlier beaten Pakistan, Bangladesh and Thailand to top Group A with an all-win record.

It turned out to be a mixed day for Indian volleyball as the men defeated Thailand 3-1 in the 5th-8th place classification match. The women however, suffered a 0-3 reverse to Hong Kong to finish 8th in the competition.

In table tennis, the Indian players had a bad outing with Soumyajit Ghosh and Manika Batra bowing out in the men and women’s singles round of 16 matches. India’s taekwondo players had another bad day in office as none among the men and women in fray could make it to the medal round.