08.52 pm: That brings an end to India’s day. The Bridge competition is still on but that is expected to go on for a while. All in all, a good day for India.

GOLD: Saurabh Chaudhary, just 16 years old, won India their first shooting gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games by coming out on top in the men’s 10m air pistol.

Here’s our interview with the man of the hour.

SILVER: Sanjeev Rajput won silver in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions.

A short profile of the 37-year-old who is slowly coming back to his best.

BRONZE: Abhishek Verma, Divya Kakran, Sepak Takraw team event.

Verma took up shooting as a hobby and now he’s an Asian Games medallist.

The overall medal count for India is now up to 10.

08:42 pm: Wushu

Pardeep took the first point but then Puja Riyaya fought back well to take two points on the trot and win the match. He becomes the only Wushu athlete competing today to not advance to the medal rounds. The other four are assured of medals.

08:20 pm: Wushu

Make that four in four! This is great stuff from India’s Wushu contingent. Narender Grewal (who won the bronze in 2014 as well) has reached the semi-final too.

08:17 pm: It’s over. The Indian women’s hockey team have – without exaggeration - pummelled Kazhakstan 21-0 in the pool B match.

07:56 pm: The 4th quarter is underway and with 10 mins to go, the women’s team are well on their way to outscoring the men’s team from last night. (17-0, that finished)

For detailed updates, do follow the blog HERE.

07:47 pm: Meanwhile in hockey, the women in blue are on track to go past the men’s 17-0 win. In Q3, they are leading 13-0.

For detailed updates, please follow Praveen Sudevan’s blog HERE.

07:45 pm: Wushu

MEDAL ASSURED: And that’s a hat-trick from Wushu! Surya Singh (60kg men’s sanda) becomes the third Indian to reach the semifinal.

7.20 pm: Shooting

“I didn’t think of who I was shooting with, whether they were Olympic or world champions.”

Zenia D’Cunha speaks to 16-year-old Saurabh Chaudhary.

6.59 pm: Wushu

Another medal assured for India. Santosh Kumar beat Paokrathik Phithak of Thailand 1-2 to make it to the semi-finals.

6.39 pm: Wrestling

For 20-year-old Divya Kakran, her bronze at the Asian Games might just kickstart something special.

6.19 pm: Hockey

India’s match with Kazakhstan has begun. For detailed updates, please follow Praveen Sudevan’s blog HERE.

6.19 pm: Wushu

Medal assured for Naorem Devi. She beat Pakistan’s Mubashra 0-2 to move into the semi-final.

6.15 pm: A few more events to go for India. In hockey, the women’s team will take on Kazakhstan in 15 minutes times. There is some exciting Wushu action coming up too – five Indians taking part and a win could assure them of a bronze.

5.53 pm: Artistic Gymnastics

The women’s team championship final will be on August 22 at 16:30 IST.

5.53 pm: Artistic Gymnastics

Dipa Karmakar, however, failed to qualify for the vault final. It is her favourite event. If one went by her score, she was the 8th best but only two gymnasts from one team can make the final. India’s Pranati Nayak and Aruna Budda Reddy will hope to bring in some medals.

But Karmakar has managed to make it to the final of the beam.

5.53 pm: Artistic Gymnastics

India has qualified for the team championship final. They finished 7th best – the top 8 teams qualify for the final.

5.18 pm: Wrestling

Divya Kakran seals a bronze in the 68kg Freestyle category with an overwhelming performance against Chinese Taipei’s Chen Wenling. She racked up 10 points in the first period itself to win by technical superiority.

5.10 pm: Gymnastics

Dipa Karmakar and Co are in action right now. However, Dipa has finished behind Pranati Nayak and Aruna Budda Reddy in the vault apparatus and won’t qualify for the final in her pet event.

5.05 pm: Tennis

Good start by the top seeds in men’s doubles as India’s Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan beat Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul and Nuttanon Kadchapanan 6-3, 6-1 to reach the quarters.

However, it wasn’t as easy for India’s mixed doubles pairs. Bopanna and Ankita Raina beat a Korean pair 6-3, 2-6, 11-9, while Divij Sharan and Karman Kaur Thandi lost to Kazakhstan 4-6, 6-3, 5-10.

4.42 pm: Men’s 50m freestyle final

Virdhawal Khade misses the bronze by 0.01 seconds! So close! His timing of 22.47 seconds was 0.04 seconds slower than what he recorded in the heats – 22.43 seconds.

4.38 pm: The men’s 50m freestyle swimming final is about to begin, with Virdhawal Khade in the mix! Stay tuned...

4.35 pm: Men’s kabaddi

India recover from their defeat to Korea to beat Thailand 49-30 in their final group match.

4.30 pm: Archery

At the end of both the women’s and men’s recurve ranking rounds, India are placed eighth in the recurve mixed team rankings, with a total of 1309. Korea scored a world record – 1364.

4.15 pm: Men’s Archery

The men’s recurve individual and team ranking round has ended. Here are the positions of the Indians:

Atanu Das – 14th (Score: 660)

Viswash: – 17th (Score: 658)

Jagdish Choudhary – 39th (Score: 638)

Sukhchain Singh – 46th (Score: 631)

Team: 8th (Score: 1956)

4.10 pm: Tennis

Rohan Bopanna and Ankita Raina have won the first set 6-3 against Korea’s Kim/Lee in the mixed doubles round of 32.

4.05 pm: Canoeing

India’s Champa Mourya qualifies for the semi-finals despite finishing ninth in the heats. The top 10 out of 11 competitors made it to the semis.

3.37 pm: Fencing

Jyotika Dutta’s impressive run comes to an end in the quarter-finals of the women’s epee individual event, as she loses 3-15 to Hong Kong’s Kong Man Wai Vivian.

3.20 pm: Lebanon beat Chinese Taipei to the gold in the mixed team trap! They win it by one point, scoring 43, while Taipei get 42. This is Lebanon’s first gold medal at these Asian Games.

3.10 pm: Bridge

The Indian men’s team is in third position behind Chinese Taipei and Pakistan after the first of three qualification rounds.

2.58 pm: Men’s Team Regu – Sepaktakraw

India lose to the highly-fancied Thailand side 0-2 in the semi-final but they have created history nonetheless. This is the first ever bronze medal for India in the sport at Asiad.

What is sepaktakraw, you ask? We’ve gotcha covered:

The objective of the game is to hit the ball over the net and onto the floor of the opponent’s court to score a point. Players are allowed to use their legs, head and torso to contact the ball, but any contact with their arms or hands is an infringement of the rules. A game of Sepaktakraw is played between two teams, known as Regu. Each Regu has three players on court and two substitutes. More here.

2.57 pm: Mixed trap shooting final

Lakshay Sheoran hits all five targets in the fifth series but it’s too little too late for India as they become the first team to be eliminated in the final. India’s total of 16/19 is three short of Kuwait and Korea’s 19.

2.52 pm: Mixed trap shooting

Shreyasi Singh misses two shots in her second series to take India’s total to 11/20. Chinese Taipei lead with 18/20, Lebanon are second with 17, while China, Korea and Kuwait are tied third with 15. India are all but out of contention for a medal.

2.48 pm: Mixed trap shooting

Lakshay misses two targets in his second series, as India continue to sit at the bottom of the table with 8 out of 15. Chinese Taipei miss their first shot of the final but still remain on top with 14/15. Lebanon move up to second with 13/15. China and Kuwait are tied third with 12.

2.44 pm: Women’s Freestyle 68 kg

Divya Kakran is directly through to the bronze-medal round via repechage because of the lack of wrestlers in her category. She will face Chen Wenling of Chinese Taipei for the bronze.

2.42 pm: Mixed trap shooting

Shreyasi Singh misses four out of her first five shots and that’s a huge blow to India’s chances of a medal. India currently sit at the bottom of the pile with 5 out of 10. Chinese Taipei leads with a perfect score. China has 9 and Lebanon with 8 make up the top three.

2.38 pm: Men’s 67 kg Greco-Roman Wrestling

Manish takes to the mat in his repechage bout, but his shoulder is clearly injured as medical staff tend to him. Eventually, medical advice prevails despite the wrestler wanting to continue and the bout is called off. He misses his shot at the bronze.

2.36 pm: Mixed trap shooting final

India are tied second with three other teams after the first five shots, in which Lakshay Sheoran scored four out of five. Shreyasi will now take the next five shots.

2.30 pm: Here’s Lakshay and Shreyasi ahead of the final:

2.28 pm: The mixed trap shooting final is about to begin. Shreyasi Singh and Lakshay Sheoran make up the Indian team. Can India win another shooting medal today?

2.22 pm: Men’s 67 kg Greco-Roman Wrestling

Manish’s quarter-final opponent Aimat qualifies for the final. This means that Manish will have a shot at bronze through the repechage but it remains to be seen whether he is fit enough to take to the mat.

2.18 pm: Women’s Handball

India lose to North Korea 19-49 in their group match. India currently are at the bottom of their group after four defeats in as many matches.

2.10 pm: Women’s 76 kg freestyle Wrestling

Aiperi Medet loses in the semi-finals, which means there will be no repechage opportunity for India’s Kiran Bishnoi in this category.

2 pm: Taekwondo

Kashish Malik loses to South Korea’s Lee Ahreum 8-17 in the quarter-finals of the women’s -57 kg category, while Akshay Kumar is defeated by Ukbekistan’s Shokin Dmitriy 1-15 in the men’s +80 kg quarters.

1.45 pm: Wrestling

Manish concedes his bout while trailing 0-4 against Kazakhstan’s Almat Kebispayev in the 67 kg quarters. He appears to have hurt his arm and has to withdraw after he lands awkwardly following a takedown.

1.39 pm: Fencing

Jyotika Dutta continues her impressive run in the women’s epee individual event. She’s through to the quarter-final with a 15-8 win over Thailand. She has now won 5 of her 6 bouts today.

1.34 pm: Mixed doubles tennis

Good start by the top seeds in men’s doubles as India’s Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan beat Thailand’s Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul and Nuttanon Kadchapanan 6-3, 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, Sumit Nagal and Ramkumar Ramanathan beat Chen Ti and Peng Hsienyin from Chinese Taipei 7-6(5), 7-6(2) to book their quarter-final berth.

1.23 pm: Women’s 76 kg freestyle Wrestling

Kiran Bishnoi’s gold-medal race is over as she loses to Kyrgyzstan’s Medet Kyzy Aiperi 2-4 in the quarter-finals. She will now head into the repechage round hoping for a shot at bronze.

1.17 pm: Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma have just received their medals.

1 pm: Women’s 68 kg freestyle Wrestling

Divya Kakran can’t overcome her slow start as her opponent Sharkhuu showcases superior defence to keep the 20-year-old at bay. Kakran loses by technical superiority and will now await repechage.

12.54 pm: Men’s 50m rifle 3 positions final

China’s Hui Zicheng comes out of nowhere to bag the gold! He seemed to be nowhere near the reckoning when the standing position began but wins the gold with a total score of 453.3! Sanjeev Rajput gets the silver with 452.7. Indian shooters are having a really good Games!

12.50 pm: Men’s 50m rifle 3 positions final

Sanjeev Rajput will be going for gold after Yang Haoran and Matsumoto are eliminated!

12.49 pm: Men’s 50m rifle 3 positions final

Another poor shot from Sanjeev Rajput, an 8.4, takes him down to third behind the two Chinese! It’s all happening!

12.47 pm: Men’s 50m rifle 3 positions final

Sanjeev Rajput has a slender 0.3-point lead over two Chinese shooters as the eliminations begin. Can he hold on?

12.42 pm: Men’s 50m rifle 3 positions final

Sanjeev Rajput starts off the standing position with a poor 8.5. After the first five shots in standing, his lead over Yang is more than halved, from 3 points to 1.1.

12.38 pm: Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling

Gyanender puts in a dominating display in his 60kg round of 16 bout against Thailand’s Wiratul Piyabut 10-2 to progress to the quarter-finals.

In the 67 kg category, Manish tries the “Dhobi pachad” move on his Japanese opponent to take a 3-0 lead in the opening period. He then takes a 7-1 lead before Tsuchika tries to make a comeback. The Indian (with a heavily strapped right shoulder) hangs on to win 7-3 and progress to QF.

In Greco-Roman wrestling, grapplers can only do takedowns by attacking their opponents’ upper body, while leg attacks are prohibited.

12.33 pm: Women’s singles Tennis

Karman Kaur Thandi is out of women’s singles after losing to Chinese Taipei’s Liang En-Shuo 6-2, 4-6, 6-7(4) in the round of 16.

12.30 pm: Men’s 50m rifle 3 positions final

Sanjeev Rajput shoots another perfect 10.9 to take a 3-point lead over the next best competitor, China’s Yang Haoran. Yurkov drops down to fourth as we move on to the final position, standing. Despite Sanjeev’s healthy lead, the standing position is the most difficult one so he will be wary.

12.26 pm: Men’s 50m rifle 3 positions final

Sanjeev Rajput maintains his lead as we enter the last five shots in the prone position. Sanjeev currently leads Yurkov by 1.2 points.

12.24 pm: Men’s 50m rifle 3 positions final

Sanjeev Rajput retakes the lead after the first five shots in the prone position.

12.15 pm: Men’s 50m rifle 3 positions final

Sanjeev Rajput was in the lead after the second series of the kneeling position but then had one bad shot of 7.8 in the third as he dropped to second, 0.5 points behind Kazakhstan’s Yuriy Yurkov. We now head to the prone position.

12.08 pm: Men’s 50m rifle 3 positions final

Sanjeev Rajput is in the lead after the first five shots of the kneeling position. His score is 51.3, which included one 10.9.

12.05 pm: Women’s Epee Individual – Fencing

India’s Jas Seerat Singh has lost her round of 32 match against Thailand’s Korawan Thanee 13-15.

12 pm: The men’s 50m rifle 3 positions final is about to begin, with India’s Sanjeev Rajput in the fray.

11.50 am: Mixed trap shooting

Indian More good news for Indian shooters! Lakshay (after his silver yesterday) and Shreyasi Singh have qualified for the final of the mixed trap event. They finished 5th in the qualification.

11.36 am: Women’s tennis

Sixth seed Ankita Raina beats Japan’s Hozumi Eri, seeded ninth, in straight sets to enter the quarter-finals. Ankita won the match 6-1, 6-2.

11.24 am: Women’s archery

The women’s recurve individual and team ranking round has ended. Here are the positions of the Indians:

Deepika Kumari - 17th (Score: 649)

Promila Daimary - 21st (Score: 642)

Ankita Bhakat - 36th (Score: 617)

Laxmirani Majhi - 44th (Score: 608)

South Korea’s Chae-Young Kang leads with a Games record of 681.

India stand seventh in the team rankings with a total of 1908.

11 am: Men’s 50m rifle 3 positions

India has a chance of winning another shooting medal soon, as Sanjeev Rajput is through to the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions final, after finishing seventh in qualification with a total of 1160. China’s Hang Yaoran topped the table with 1174.

Here is how Sanjeev performed across the three positions:

10.55 am: Here’s all you need to know about India’s latest gold medallist, the 16-year-old Saurabh Chaudhary:

The Asian Games was Saurabh Chaudhary’s first big test at the senior level. In the last one year, the teenager from Uttar Pradesh did well at the national level, holding his own among veteran pistol shooters, and has notched up impressive numbers on the international junior circuit.

In December 2017, Chaudhary qualified for the Youth Olympics Games with a gold medal and a junior world record at 10th Asia Youth Olympics Games qualification. He became the third Indian to bag quota places for the 2018 Youth Games at the qualification tournament in Wako City, Japan.

At the KSS Shooting Championship in 2017, the then 15-year-old beat Jitu Rai in the 10m air pistol final, after getting silver medals in the junior and youth event on the same day.

At the 2017 World Junior Championship, he was part of the Indian team that won the bronze, while he finished fourth in the individual team.

In 2018, he bagged the gold in 10m air pistol with a junior world record score at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl in Germany. The 15-year-old shot a superb 243.7 in the final, breaking the world record of 242.5 held by Chinese shooter Wang Zhehao. At the same event, he won the mixed team gold with Devanshi Rana, ahead of compatriots Manu Bhaker and Anmol Jain.

He went on to clinch the junior men’s air pistol gold in the 28th Meeting of Shooting Hopes International championship in Plzen and then won the mixed silver with Devanshi Rana.

10.48 am: Abhinav Bindra is quite impressed with the young Saurabh and has some words of advice for Indian shooting:

10.45 am: Men’s 10m air pistol final

It’s a gold for the 16-year-old Saurabh Chaudhary as he beats the experienced Japanese Tomoyuki Matsuda in the gold-medal round. Matsuda, who was leading for much of the final, shot a 9.8 in the last round of two shots, which cost him the gold. Meanwhile, Abhishek Verma won the bronze.

10.37 am: Men’s 10m air pistol final

India are confirmed to get two medals as China’s Wu Jiayu gets eliminated, coming fourth. Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma will challenge Tomoyuki Matsuda for the podium places.

10.37 am: Men’s 10m air pistol final

Korea’s Jin Jongoh gets eliminated, which means we are left with four shooters, including both Saurab Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma. This means one medal is confirmed for India.

10.35 am: Men’s 10m air pistol final

Korea’s Lee Daemyung is the third shooter to be eliminated, even as Abhishek Verma rises to second position, above Saurabh Chaudhary.

10.33 am: Men’s 10m air pistol final

Kazakhstan’s Vladimir Issachenko is the second shooter to be eliminated. Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma are in tied 3rd position after 14 shots.

10.31 am: Men’s 10m air pistol final

China’s Wang Mengyi is the first shooter to be eliminated.

10.30 am: Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma have a poor second series, both recording a couple of 9s, but manage to maintain their positions. After stage 1, they are second and fourth respectively.

10.25 am: Men’s 10m air pistol final

Saurabh Chaudhary is in second place after the first five shots, just 0.1 points behind China’s Wu Jiayu. Abhishek Verma is fourth, but only 0.2 points behind the leader.

10.15 am: The men’s 10m air pistol final is about to begin. Out of the eight finalists, two are Indians: Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma. Can they add to India’s medal tally?

10.10 am: Men’s Gunshu – Wushu

Chirag Sharma comes eighth in the gunshu final with a score of 9.39. China’s Wu Zhaohua won the gold with 9.76. Gunshu is a form of the Chinese martial art wushu where the participant uses a staff as the main element of the routine.

10.04 am: Kayak women single

India’s Aarti Pandey fails to reach the semi-finals after finishing 11th in the heats. The top 10 make it to the semis.

9.58 am: Taekwondo

India’s Kashish Malik beats Malaysia’s Roslan Nurul Farah Alisa 28-10 in their women’s -57 kg round of 16 match. Akshay Kumar (no, not the actor) beats Sri Lanka’s Fernando Siyabalapitiyage 13-8 in the men’s +80 kg category.

9.47 pm: Women’s Volleyball

Vietnam have beaten India in straight games in their group match. India are currently at the bottom of Pool B with two defeats in as many matches.

9.45 am: Men’s Lightweight Four – Rowing

The Indian team, comprising Bhopal Singh, Jagvir Singh, Tejas Shinde and Pranay Naukarkar, has qualified for the A-final after coming second in their repechage heat. They improved their heats timing by 10 seconds, clocking 6:51.88.

9.33 am: Women’s pair Rowing

India’s Sanjukta Dung Dung and Harpreet Kaur finish third in the repechage heat, which means they qualify for the B-Final. They are not in medal contention.

9.25 am: Women’s volleyball

India are trailing Vietnam by two sets to one in their second group match. India lost the first two sets 18-25 and 22-25.

9.14 am: Men’s Taijiquan – Wushu

India’s Gyandash Singh comes 12th with a score of 9.59. China’s Chen Zhouli tops the table with 9.75. Taijiquan, a Chinese martial art, is better known as tai chi.

9.03 am: Men’s 50m rifle 3 positions qualification

Sanjeev Rajput is currently in second place after the kneeling and prone positions, with a total score of 785. Only Thailand’s Vongsukdee Thongphaphum has a better score – 786.

8.57 am: Women’s Epee Individual Fencing

Correction: Jyotika Dutta is through to the round of 16 directly, and not the round of 32 as earlier stated, as she topped her preliminary group.

8.50 am: Men’s 10m Air Pistol

India have two finalists – Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma – out of eight who will be competing for medals. Saurabh shot 99, 99, 93, 98, 98, and 99 across six rounds to end up with a brilliant 586 and end up on top of the qualification table. Abhishek scored 580 with 96, 97, 95, 96, 97, and 99 to end up sixth.

8.45 am: Women’s Epee Individual Fencing

India’s Jyotika Dutta and Jas Seerat Singh are both through to the round of 32. Jas Seerat made it despite winning only two matches out of five in her preliminaries group. She scored 14 hits compared to the 22 she received. Jyotika won four out of five matches in her group, scoring 23 hits compared to 14 received.

Epee is one of three weapons used in fencing, along with foil and sabre. The epee has a bigger guard compared to the foil and its blade is also wider, thicker, and heavier. The target area is from head to toe. More details here.

8.30 am: Women’s Epee Individual Fencing

Jas Seerat Singh has won her match 5-4 against Vietnam’s Tran Thi Thuy Trinh in the preliminaries.

8.20 am: Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions qualification

Sanjeev Rajput’s total is 389 (98, 99, 96, 96) after the kneeling position.

Akhil Sheoran has 382 (93, 95, 97, 97).

8.14 am: Women’s Kabaddi

The Indian team has beaten Sri Lanka 38-12 to win their third straight group match. No surprises there.

8.10 am: Women’s +67 kg Taekwondo

India’s Rodali Barua has lost her match against Taipei’s Tinghsia Ma 0-5.

8.05 am: Men’s 10m air pistol qualification

India’s Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma are both in the top 10 with the third round going on.

7.57 am: Men’s 50m Freestyle Swimming

It’s official! Virdhawal Khade qualifies for the final after clocking the third-fastest timing in the heats! The final will be around 4.30 pm IST.

7.57 am: Men’s 50m Freestyle Swimming

Virdhawal Khade has a fantastic swim in his seeded heat, topping it with a timing of 22.43 seconds! This should be good enough to get him into the final.

7.52 am: Men’s 50m rifle 3 positions qualification

India’s Sanjeev Rajput is on top of the table after the first two kneeling rounds, in which he shot 98 and 89.

7.48 am: Men’s Singles Sculls Rowing

India’s Dattu Bhokanal tops his heat with a timing of 7:45.71 and this means he has qualified for the final.

7.45 am: Men’s 50m Freestyle Swimming

India’s Anshul Kothari tops his heat, which had swimmers without a qualification time, with a timing of 23.83 seconds. However, that time is unlikely to be good enough to make the final.

7.35 am: Women’s kabaddi

Within the first five minutes, India have inflicted the first all-out on Sri Lanka and taken a 10-0 lead. The Indians are toying with the Lankans.

7.30 am: The Indian women’s kabaddi team is set to take on Sri Lanka in a group match. Stay tuned...

7.20 am: ICYMI, the no-alcohol policy at the Asian Games Village has not gone down well with some of the coaches and officials travelling with India’s athletes. Some have even tried to smuggle alcohol into the Village but with little success, reported PTI.

7.15 am: Japanese swimmers managed to save their nation’s face, somewhat, on Monday after the expulsion of four basketball players for using the services of sex workers in a Jakarta red-light district.

Teenager Rikako Ikee won the women’s 100m freestyle and the 50m butterfly, while Kanako Watanabe took the women’s 200m breaststroke gold. Japan also beat China in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay, taking their tally to four golds in swimming.


Good morning and welcome to The Field’s live blog for Day 3 of the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang.

After Vinesh Phogat added a second gold to India’s kitty on Monday, the Indian contingent will continue its medal hunt on Tuesday, with the archers joining the wrestlers and shooters in taking centerstage. India’s medal tally so far is five – two gold, two silver and one bronze – which is the eighth best so far.

Vinesh Phogat was obviously the story of Monday, as she became the first Indian woman to win a gold medal at the Asian Games. Here is her story.

If you missed the action on Day 2, you can get a recap of all the updates here.