Yogeshwar Provides Golden Touch, India In Top-10

Earlier, Khushbir Kaur provided the early spark by becoming the first Indian woman to win a medal in race walking in the Asian Games as she clinched silver in 20km event.

The 21-year-old from Amritsar clocked 1:33:07 to finish behind Lu Xiuzhi of China, who won the gold in 1:31:06, at the Marathon Course here.

The Indian, who holds the national record of 1:31:40, was consistently third till the 18km mark before going up a position in the final two kilometres, thanks largely to the slowing down of second-placed Chinese Nie Jingjing, who eventually finished fourth.

This is the biggest triumph of Khushbir’s nascent career after the bronze medal she won at this year’s Asian Walking Championships bronze in Japan. She was the first Indian woman to achieve such a feat.

In tennis, Yuki clinched India’s lone singles’ medal settling for a bronze in the men’s event after unforced errors cost him the semifinal clash against Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka. A profligate Yuki lost the match 6-3 2-6 1-6 in one hour and 46 minutes.

The Indian pair of Sania Mirza and Prarthana Thombare also settled for a bronze after losing their women’s doubles semifinal to Chinese Taipei’s Chin Wei Chan and Su Wei Hsiehin.

The fifth seeded Indian combo put up a brave fight before going down 6-7 (1-7) 6-2 10-4 to the Chinese Taipei duo, seeded second, at the Yeorumul Tennis Courts here.

Divij Sharan and Yuki Bhambri also bagged bronze after losing the men’s doubles semifinals to Yongkyu Lim and Hyeon Chung 6-7 (8) 7-6 (6) 9-11.

However, it was an all-win outing for the country’s women boxers. Olympic bronze-medallist M C Mary Kom led the charge as Indian women assured themselves of medals in each of the three weight categories.

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