Asian Games 2014: As it Happenned...

Welcome to our live coverage of the 17th Asian Games in Incheon.

So that's it from here. Hope you enjoyed today's coverage. Tune in again tomorrow to catch the fifth day's action. Goodnight and Good luck.

Meanwhile earlier, there was controversy after it emerged that a footballer from Tajikistan had become the first athlete at the Incheon Games to fail a doping test.

The Badminton individual events start tomorrow.

20:19 IST: Badminton: Lee Hyun-Il wins it for Korea. They have the badminton men's team gold after an epic encounter against China.

Meanwhile, Wushu: India appeal Narender Grewal’s semi-final loss.

19:53 IST: Badminton: Korea has taken a one game lead against China in the decider in the Gold medal match vs China.

19:33 IST: Badminton: China's Gao Huan trails South Korea's Lee Hyunil 4-7.

China's Gao Huan will take on South Korea's Lee Hyunil in the deciding tie for the badminton men's gold medal team event. What a tie we have in the cards here.

What a comeback by the Chinese shuttlers. Now the deciding match will be underway with the tie tied 2-2.

19:21 IST: Badminton: Yun/Haifeng of China beat Sarang/Gijung of South Korea 21-16 to win the third game. They win the set 2-1. Now the tie is tied at 2-2.

19:15 IST: Badminton: Yun/Haifeng of China lead the third game 15-11 against Sarang/Gijung of South Korea.

Abhinav Bindra meanwhile showcases his two medals. Champion!

19:03 IST: Badminton: Yun/Haifeng of China trail in the third game 3-5 against Sarang/Gijung of South Korea.

18:58 IST: Badminton: Yun/Haifeng of China win the second game 21-18 against Sarang/Gijung of South Korea. It stands 1-1 here. South Korea still lead 2-1 overall.

18:56 IST: Badminton: Yun/Haifeng of China lead the second game 19-17 against Sarang/Gijung of South Korea.

18:46 IST: Badminton: Yun/Haifeng of China lead the second game 11-10 against Sarang/Gijung of South Korea.

Hockey: Meanwhile, after thrashing Oman 7-0 earlier, India will face Pakistan in a titanic clash on Thursday in the competition's marquee match that could determine the pool leader. Both teams have won their first two games in the 10-nation tournament.

18:43 IST: Badminton: Yun/Haifeng of China lead the second game 8-7 against Sarang/Gijung of South Korea.

The second game is underway here.

16:35 IST: Badminton: Sarang/Gijung of South Korea beat Yun/Haifeng of China 21-19 to take the first game. South Korea are a game away to win the men's badminton team gold medal.

18:13 IST: Yun/Haifeng of China will play Sarang/Gijung of South Korea where the latter will be hoping to level the tie.

18:10 IST: Badminton: Lin Dan wins the return singles 2-0 and puts China on the board. The tie now stands at 2-1 to South Korea. Lin Dan won the tie 21-18, 21-15.

17:58 IST: Badminton: China's Lin Dan leads the second game 13-8. The Chinese legend looks lethal here. Brilliant from him!

17:50 IST: Badminton: Lin Dan leads the second game 5-3.

17:46 IST: Badminton: Lin Dan wins the first game 21-18 as he takes the lead in the most crucial match of the tie.

17:34 IST: Badminton: Lin Dan is the only man to retain Olympic singles' gold, 5 time World Champion.

17:32 IST: Swimming - China's Olympic champion Sun Yang powered to gold in the men's 400 metres freestyle to make up for his disappointment in the 200. Japan's Kosuke Hagino won silver, South Korea's Park Tae-Hwan gets bronze.

17:26 IST: Weightlifting: India's Katulu Ravi Kumar finishes 10th in Men's 77kg.

17:23 IST: Badminton: Lin Dan, Chinese badminton legend to try & drag his team back into the tie, up next vs Lee Dongkeun, S Korea.

17:20 IST: South Korea take a 2-0 lead over China, winning the doubles match.

17:16 IST: Squash - Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu beats Alsarraj Mohammad Khalil Ahmad 11-8, 11-7, 8-11, 11-5 in men's team Group B match. India 2 Jordan 1.

16:42 IST: Squash: Jordan have leveled the Group B team encounter against India 1-1. Mahesh Mangaonkar beaten in 4 games.

15:41 IST: Squash: Mahesh Mangaonkar stays alive in his match against Khaleel Ahmad (Jordan). India trail match 1-2 and lead tie 1-0.

15:39 IST: Gymnastics: Dipa Karmakar goes to 3rd after 3 rotations in the Women's All-Round final.

Wushu: Another bronze medal added to India's kitty as Sanathoi Devi lost in the semi-final of the Women's Sanda 52 kg.

Weightlifting: India suffered a huge blow at the Asian Games Tuesday when their best weightlifting medal hope Sathish Kumar Sivalingham was forced to pull out of the men`s 77kg class through illness. The Commonwealth Games champion has been suffering with sore throat and a fever for three days, according to coach Paramjit Singh.

14:52 IST: Hockey: Wasteful India stroll to a 7-0 win over Oman. 

"He cannot drink or eat as his throat is so sore. He has a high fever and is shivering," Paramjit told AFP. The men`s 77kg takes place on Tuesday and Sivalingham had been expected to be in contention for at least a bronze medal.

15:14 IST: I would also like to thank everyone for their support. All of you have been amazing & I feel worse for not delivering the Gold for you all!!

14:14 IST: In weightlifting, Lin Tzu Chi of Chinese Taipei won gold with new world record for both clean and jerk as well as total weight lifted.

14:11 IST: India lead 2-0 against Oman at half-time in the Men's hockey match.

14:08 IST: In Equestrian, Shruti Vohra finished eighth in the Women's Dressage Individual Intermediate event.

14:04 IST: The Indian men`s basketball team lost their opening preliminary round Group E encounter to Philippines 76-85 in the 17th Asian Games at the Hwaseong Sports Complex Gymnasium Tuesday. The Indian team put up a brave fight in the end after being outplayed in the first two quarters. The Philippines sped to a 24-16 lead after the first quarter and managed to open extend it to 50-37 by the end of the second.

India rallied in the third and scored 19 points to their opponents` 20. India refused to give up and outscored the Philippines by five points in the final quarter. In the end, the points difference was too much for India to bridge and the Philippines held on to win by a margin of nine points. Captain Amritpal Singh scored 16 points and was the pick of the Indians. Amjyot Singh followed him with 15 points but it was not enough to secure victory.

14:00 IST: India in second position with 2047 points in Compound Women's Team Ranking Round.

Shooting: Silver medalist Cao Yifei, left, of China, and Gold medalist Yang Haoran, center, of China call Bronze medalist Abhinav Bindra, right, of India back to the podium for a photo session during the victory ceremony for the Men's 10m Air Rifle individual competition​

Archery: Deepika Kumari in 10th position in the Women's Recurve Individual Qualifying Round.

Swimming: Anshul Kothari failed to qualify for the finals after a sixth place finish in the Heats of Men's 50m Freeestyle with timings of 23.94.

Sajan Prakash Prakash (below) swims in his men's 400m freestyle heat

Squash: Saurav Ghosal stunned in Men's singles final

A gold was there for the taking but Saurav Ghosal let it slip, squandering a two-game advantage to narrowly miss out on becoming the first Indian squash player to win the yellow metal at the Asian Games.

Ghosal was leading after the first two games of the gold-medal match but his opponent, Kuwait's Abdullah Almezayen, staged a dramatic fightback winning the next three games to clinch the top prize.

Almezayen won the title clash 10-12 2-11 14-12 11-8 11-9 at the Yeorumul Squash Courts. Ghosal had missed out on a gold-medal point with the scoreline reading 12-11 in the third game, which eventually proved to be the decisive game.

Ghosal took 21 minutes to take the first game before consolidating his position by clinching the second in merely six minutes of play. The Kuwaiti then made a grand fightback as he took 19, 12 and 17 minutes respectively to win the next three games.

After the match ended in agony for him, the Indian threw his racquet in frustration before storming into the changing room.
This is the world number 16 Ghosal's best showing in the Asian Games.

Prior to this, the 28-year-old Ghosal had three Asian Games medals to his name -- singles bronze in 2006 Doha Games and two more, including one in doubles, in the 2010 edition in Guangzhou.

Coming into this match, Ghosal had tweeted, "Playing Abdullah Mezayen of Kuwait in my finals tomorrow! Full focus to play a solid game, make one last push and win!"

The 28-year-old Kolkattan made an effort but that last push was one that never saw the light of the day.

11:28 IST: Abdullah Almezayen beats Saurav Ghosal 3-2 (12-10 11-2, 12-14, 8-1, 9-11) in the squash final.

11:23: IST: Can Almezayen do the unthinkable? He now leads 10-7 in the fifth game

11:20 IST: Ghosal now has a one-point advantage to lead 7-6

11:18 IST: Ghosal has a slender 6-4 lead in the decider

11:15 IST: 3-3 in game five

11:13 IST: Game 5...here we go!

11:07 IST: Almezayen mounts an incredible comeback to level it at 2-2. We now go in to the fifth game to decide the gold medal winner. Spare a thought for Ghosal who was 2-0 up at one point.

11:07 IST: Ghosal trails 6-9 in game four.

11:00 IST: Game four is is being closely fought. Almezayen has the upper hand now after Ghosal dominated the first two games.

10:54 IST: Ghosal loses thrid game 12-14. 

10:50 IST: 11-11 in game three now. WOW!

10:48 IST: Almezayen now takes back the lead 10-8 in game three.

10:44 IST: Ghosal fights back to level it at 8-8 in game three.

10:41 IST: Ghosal now trails 6-8 in game three.

10:38 IST: Saurav Ghosal trails the third game 3-5.

10:36 IST: Saurav Ghosal leads the third game 3-1.

10:31 IST: Saurav Ghosal wins the second game 11-2. He is just one game away from winning India's first gold medal in squash at the Asiad.

10:30 IST: Ghosal is dominating the second game and he now is up 9-2.

10:25 IST: Ghosal has raced to a 5-0 lead in the second game.

10:25 IST: Saurav Ghosal won the first game 12-10. He is now two games away from a historic gold.

10:10 IST: After a slight delay, the Men's squash final has just started. Asian No.1 Saurav Ghosal takes on Abdullah Almezayen for the gold medal.

Abhinav Bindra bags bronze 10m Air Rifle

Teenager Yang Haoran led China`s sweep of the men`s 10m air rifle event at the Asian Games on Tuesday as India`s Abhinav Bindra ended his full-time shooting career with two bronze medals.

Yang, the 18-year-old world champion, confirmed his status as a shooting sensation by winning the showpiece event with 209.6 points after leading China to the team gold.

Team-mate Cao Yifei picked up the silver with 208.9, conceding the lead to Yang in the last two shots of a well-contested eight-man final.

Bindra, India`s only individual Olympic gold medallist in any sport, finished with 187.1 points in his final competition as a professional shooter.

Yang, Cao and Liu Tianyou narrowly missed creating a new world record in the team event by 0.1 points as they left the rest of the field behind with a dominant show.

The Chinese trio, who hold the record of 1886.5 points set at the world championships in Spain this month where Yang was individual champion, finished with a combined tally of 1886.4.

South Korea finished second with 1867.6 points through Kim Sang-do, Kim Hyeonjun and Han Jin-Seop.

Bindra led team-mates Ravi Kumar and Sanjeev Rajput to a bronze medal for India with 1863.0 points.

The 31-year-old won the event at the 2008 Beijing Games to give India its first -- and so far only -- individual gold medal following eight field hockey titles. 

India's only individual Olympic gold medallist ended his professional shooting career with two bronze medals in the 10m Air Rifle team and individual events. Bindra is now also the only Indian to win a World Championship gold, Olympic gold, Asian Championships gold, Commonwealth Games gold and an Asian Games medal.

Medal Tally | Asian Games Full Coverage

Sanjeev Rajput, who was part of the bronze medal winning 10m Air Rifle team, congratulated Bindra on his individual bronze on Twitter.

Abhinav confirmed yesterday his decision to call time on his professional shooting career and that Day 4 would be his last day as an India shooter. He tweeted the following:

Earlier in the day, the 31-year-old propelled the Men's 10m Air Rifle team to a bronze medal.

Tributes pour in for Bindra.

09:46 IST: Saurav Ghosal's gold medal match against Abdullah Almezayen that was initially scheduled for 9:30 IST, has now been delayed. Meanwhile, Malaysia`s world number one Nicol David fought back from a game down to overcome compatriot Low Wee Wern and take the Asian Games women`s squash gold. David eventually outclassed her young opponent 9-11, 11-6, 11-5, 12-10, but had to work to defend her Asian Games title after losing the first game. David, 31, now has three Asian Games singles golds to add to her seven World Open titles. Low, facing her idol in a major final for the first time, was far from overawed and put in a spirited performance with some flashes of brilliance. David`s experience shone through as she fought back from game ball down in the fourth set to claim the gold. 

08:24 IST: Abhinav Bindra in action now in the 10m Air Rifle final:

08:18 IST: Indian men's team bag bronze in 10m air rifle

India won the bronze medal in the 10 metre air rifle men's team event of the 17th Asian Games at the Ongnyeon International Shooting Range here Tuesday.

The Indian team comprising Abhinav Bindra, Ravi Kumar and Sanjeev Rajput, scored 1863.0-136x to finish third behind China and South Korea, who won gold and silver, respectively.

India's schedule on Day 4

 India will look to add on to the six medals they have won so far at the Asian Games in Incheon. India will go in on the fourth day with an eye on good performances. The schedule of India's events of the fourth day are as follows,

CYCLING TRACK: Deborah: Women's sprint qualifying (06:30 IST) 

EQUESTRIAN: Nadia Haridass and Shruti Vora: Women's individual dressage: (09:30 IST) 

GYMNASTICS: Ashish Kumar and P Rakesh Kumar: Men's individual all-round final (11:00 IST) 

HOCKEY: India vs Oman: Men's pool B (13:30 IST) 

ROWING: Swarn Singh: Men's individual repechage (06:50 IST) Amanjeet Kaur, Sanjukta Dung Dung, N Lakshmi Devi and Navneet Kaur: Women's quadruple sculls repechage 1: (07:10 IST) 

SEPAKTAKRAW: Japan vs India: Men's preliminary Group A (05:30 IST) Myanmar vs India: Women's preliminary Group B (11:00 IST) 

SHOOTING: Ravi Kumar, Sanjeev Rajput, Abhinav Bindra: Men's 10m air rifle qualification and team finals (05:30 IST) 

Harpreet Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Pemba Tamang: Men's 25m rapid fire pistol qualification stage 1 (05:30 IST) 

Seema Tomar, Shreyasi Singh, Shagun Chaudhary: Women's trap team finals (05:30 IST) 

Seema Tomar, Shreyasi Singh, Shagun Chaudhary: Women's trap individual qualification (06:00 IST). 

SQUASH: Saurav Ghosal v Abdullah Al Muzayen: Men's final (09:30 IST) 

India vs Jordan: Men's team Group B match (14:30 IST) 

SWIMMING: Anshul Kothari: (Men's 50m freestyle heat 4) Sajan Prakash and Saurabh Sangvekar: Men's 400m freestyle heats 

WEIGHTLIFTING: Satish Kumar Sivalingam and K Ravi Kumar: Men's 77kg Group B (10:30 IST) 

Punam Yadav: Women's 63kg Group A (12:30 IST). 

WUSHU: Yumnam Sanathoi Devi vs Zhang Luan (China): Women's Sanda 52kg Semifinal 

Narender Grewal vs Jean Claude Saclag (Philippines): Men's Sanda 60kg Semifinal.

 

Day 3 round up

Dipika Pallikal and Saurav Ghosal scripted history on the squash court, while shooters also continued to deliver medals as India bagged two more bronze to boost their tally to six on the third day of the 17th Asian Games here.

Pallikal settled for a bronze medal -- the first by an Indian woman squash player -- after losing to world number one Nicol David in the semifinals. India were also assured of at least a silver in the men's singles event after Ghosal stormed into the final -- the first from the country to achieve such a feat.
India were also assured of at least two bronze medals in wushu with Thoudam Sanathoi Devi and Narender Grewal storming into the semifinals in their respective events.

Sanathoi beat Amgalanjargal Sangidorj of Mongolia in a 2-0 'Win By Round' (WBR) verdict in a dominating performance in her Sanda 52kg category quarterfinal contest at Ganghwa Dolmens Gymnasium here.

Grewal also outplayed his Pakistani opponent Abdullah in the men's Sanda 60kg quarterfinal contest in an identical 2-0 'Win By Round' (WBR) verdict.
The shooting range continued to be a happy hunting ground for the Indian contingent with the women's pistol trio of Rahi Sarnobat, Anisa Sayyed and Heena Sidhu claiming a bronze in the 25m team event at the Ongnyeon International Range.

While the women's pistol team, Pallikal and Ghosal stole the limelight with their performances, it was a rather disappointing day for India otherwise with the men's football team and the tennis teams crashing out of the event.

With two medals coming their way, India were now placed 13th in the overall tally with one gold and five bronze. Regional powerhouse China lead the pack with 58 medals (26-14-18), followed by hosts South Korea 45 (14-15-16) and Japan 42 (13-13-16). History was scripted at the squash court with Pallikal's bronze even though she settled for the medal after a rather brute 4-11 4-11 5-11 thrashing at the hands of David.

Later, Ghosal entered the final, beating 2006 champion Ong Beng Hee. Top seed and World No.16 Ghosal lived up to his billing, outplaying 35th-ranked Beng Hee of Malaysia 11-9 11-4 11-5 in 45 minutes on the glass court of Yeorumul Squash Courts.

At the shooting range, the Indian trio of Rahi, Anisa and Heena tallied 1729 points, a whopping 18 adrift of silver medal winners China and two more behind gold medallists and hosts South Korea, to clinch the fourth medal from the pistol and rifle shooting range here.

It was also the third bronze for the country from this venue. The only metal of any other colour, notably gold, has come through the efforts of army man Jitu Rai in the 50m pistol event. But elsewhere there was disappointment for the country when rifle shooter Ayonika Paul made the 10m finals but then got eliminated after the 12th shot to finish seventh with 101.9.

The Indian footballers gave a better account of themselves but that was not enough to a stop a superior Jordan side from winning 2-0 as Sunil Chhetri and Co crashed out of the competition at the group league stage. Jordan struck on either side of the break through striker Laith Albashtawi in the 17th minute and midfielder Yazan Mohammed Yousef in the 66th.

However, the Indian women's hockey team started its campaign on a winning note by drubbing a lowly Thailand 3-0 in a one-sided Pool A match. Poonam Rani (15th minute), Vandana Kataria (39th) and Deepika (53rd) scored the goals for India at the Soenhak Stadium here. There was nothing to cheer about at the tennis court with both the men's and women's teams knocked out of medal contention after losing their respective quarterfinal clashes to Kazakhstan.

Both the teams lost by a similar 1-2 margin to the Kazakhs, seeded top in men's and second in women's competition. For the men, Sanam Singh opened the proceedings and went down 6-7 (5) 6-7 (3) to Aleksandr Nedovyesov in a gruelling match which lasted two hours.

Yuki Bhambri was the next player in and he also endured a draining battle before losing 2-6 7-6 (6) 1-6 to Mikhail Kukushkin in two hours and three minutes.
However, the doubles pairing of Saketh Myneni and Divij Sharan prevented a whitewash by notching up an upset 7-5 7-5 triumph over Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedovyesov.

In the women's tie, Prarthana Thombare lost the opening match to Yuliya Putintseva 3-6 2-6 in one hour and 24 minutes. Ankita Raina fared slightly better but could not upstage Yaroslava Shvedova, going down 5-7 6-7 (3) in two hours and six minutes.

India were saved from being blanked out after the duo of Yuliya Putintseva and Kamila Kerimbayeva retired midway through the doubles match. However, the Indian men's basketball team picked up the pieces quickly after their loss in the second qualifier to outplay Kazakhstan 80-61 and top Group B.

The Indians, who lost a hard fought match against Saudi Aradia 67-73, won their second of the three qualifying matches and moved into the next round. n judo, India ended a dismal campaign after country's last competitor Rajwinder Kaur lost her final repechage round bout against Kyrgyzstan's Nagira Sarbashova. All four Indian judokas -- three female and one male -- will return empty-handed, a significant departure from six medals that India got at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games only a couple of months back.

CWG bronze-medallist Rajwinder was in contention for a third-place finish in the women's +78kg category, but she turned out to be no match for the heavier and stronger build Nagira, who floored the Indian to acquire an 'Ippon' after only two minutes and 11 seconds. The disastrous run of Indian women spikers continued as they were blanked 0-3 by Japan in their second Group A preliminary Round match at the Ansan Sangroksu Gymnasium here.

The team, which was thrashed by hosts South Korea in the opening game, were yet again no match for the Japanese as they crushed the Indian challenge 25-6 25-11 25-12 in a 56-minute tie. The Indian women's rowing team was eliminated from the lightweight quadruple sculls event after finishing last in their repechage round.

The quartet of Varghese Dittymol, Monalisha Chanu, Cahoba devi and Manjula Xess was eliminated after ending up on the bottom of the five-strong heap.
Indian cyclists also continued their disappointing run as Amarjit Singh Nagi and Amrit Singh finished at the 13th and 14th place in Men's Sprint qualifying.
Amarjit and Amrit clocked an average speed of 65.952km and 64.917km per hour respectively but their timings of 10.917 secs and 11.091 secs pushed them far behind the top finishers.

Indian swimmers continued to struggle here with Prathapan Nair failing to qualify for the men's 50m backstroke finals.
Nair clocked 26.85 in the heats to finish a lowly sixth in the seven-strong field.