Indian men clinch hockey gold, women bag 4 x 400m relay gold; India jump to ninth place

The Indian men’s hockey team regained the gold medal after a gap of 16 years while the women’s 4x400m relay team also picked up gold as India added four medals to jump to the ninth position in the overall standings in the 17th Asian Games in Incheon on Thursday. The men’s hockey players hogged the spotlight with the thrilling victory over arch-rivals Pakistan to ensure a berth in the 2016 Rio Olympics. [caption id=“attachment_1740629” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  L/R): Gold medallists India’s Poovamma Machettira, Lukka Tintu, Mandeep Kaur and Priyanka Pawar celebrate their victory in the final of the women’s 4x400m relay athletics event. AFP[/caption] The women 4x400m relay team, comprising Priyanka Panwar, Tintu Luka, Mandeep Kaur and M.R. Poovamma, then added to the euphoria by clinching the gold medal with the Asian Games record timing. Boxers Satish Kumar (+91kg) and Vikas Krishnan (75kg) contributed to the medal collection as they settled for bronze medals on a relatively good day for the Indians. With the addition of four medals, India, overnight at 11th position, jumped to the ninth spot with a total haul of 54 – 9 gold, 9 silver and 36 bronze. Powerhouse China maintained their supremacy with a tally of 321 medals followed by South Korea (211) and Japan (184). India also kept themselves on course for the gold medals in men’s and women’s kabaddi after making it to the finals. India’s performance graph deteriorated from the last edition in Guangzhou, where they won nine medals including two gold medals, three silver and four bronze medals. This time it was gold from the legendary M.C. Mary Kom and four bronze medals won by L Sarita Devi, Pooja Rani, Vikas and Satish. It turned out to be a mixed day for Indian volleyball teams as the men’s team defeated Thailand 3-1 in the 5th-8th place classification match after the women suffered a 0-3 reverse to Hong Kong to finish 8th in the competition today. In table tennis also, Indian players had a bad outing with the likes of Soumyajit Ghosh and Manika Batra bowing out of the Games after suffering defeats in the men and women’s singles round of 16 matches, respectively. 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. Saurav lost in the men’s 63kg quarterfinal to Afghanistan’s Abasi Ahmad Roman’s 4-5. In the round of 16, Saurav had beaten Sujan Joshi 8-5 at Ganghwa Dolmens Gymnasium. PTI