INDIA’S Kabaddi players, both men and women, maintained their vice-like grip on the Asian Games gold, while a historic marathon silver by Sawan Barwal was the high point of the country’s erratic track-and-field campaign on Saturday with shooters enduring another mixed outing here. Another mild disappointment was two-time defending champion Tajinderpal Singh Toor’s silver in men’s shot put with a season’s best throw of 20.64m which was nowhere close to his personal best of 21.77m. Prachi bagged the women’s 400m bronze to ensure that a medal trickled in from the track as well. Indians did not finish inside top three in men’s 400m and women’s 1500m events. India’s overall tally increased to 30 with four gold, 12 silver and 14 bronze medals. The day was off to a brilliant start when Barwal ran a stunning race to hand India an unexpected silver, shattering his own national record in the process here.

 

The 28-year-old Armyman from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi clocked 2 hours, 11 minutes and 37 seconds to complete the distance of 42.195km and finish behind Japan’s Ichitaka Yamashita (2:10:49). China’s Peiyou Feng was third with 2:12:13. His path-breaking silver is the first marathon medal for India in the Asian Games after the bronze won by Hosur Kukkappa Seetharan in the 1982 edition in New Delhi. Barwal is also the fourth Indian marathon runner to have ever won a medal in the Asian Games. Chhota Singh and Surat Singh Mathur had won a gold and bronze respectively in the inaugural Asian Games in 1951 in New Delhi. Soon after, India’s kabaddi dominance was reaffirmed despite a tough challenge mounted by Iran in both the men’s and women’s finals.

 

While the Indian men rallied to prevail 40-34, the women clinched it 37-34 after a few anxious moments. It was the ninth overall gold for the men and fourth for women. At the shooting range, the Indian trio of Tilottama Sen, Vidarsa Vinod and Ashi Chouksey won the silver medal in women’s 50m rifle 3 positions team event. The Indian team aggregated 1763 to finish second on the podium. China claimed the gold medal with a games record 1773, while Kazakhstan settled for the bronze with 1754 following a gruelling contest. Tilottama and Visarsa also qualified for the individual finals but could not finish on the podium, ending fourth and fifth respectively. Earlier in the day, the duo of Joshna Chinappa and Velavan Senthilkumar settled for the bronze medal after suffering a heartbreaking 2-1 (11-10, 2-11, 11-10) loss to Hong Kong’s Tang Ming Hong and Lee Ka Yi after an intense three-gamer at the Nagoya Kinjo Futo Arena.