Vihan stars on a mixed day
Jakarta: Indian shooting's teenage brigade threw up another surprise in Shardul Vihan's silver in men's double trap event but a Kabaddi gold was lost in a shocker as the country endured its most disappointing day at the 18th Asian Games on Thursday.
With no gold added to the tally today, India slipped to 10th with four gold, four silver and 10 bronze for a total of 18 medals.
The 15-year-old Vihan, with his double trap silver, became the youngest Indian shooter to win a medal at the Games where a 16-year-old Saurabh Chaudhary (10m air pistol) had become the youngest Indian shooter with a gold.
Vihan shot 73 in the final after topping the qualification earlier in the day. The gold went to 34-year-old South Korean Hyunwoo Shin and bronze to 42-year-old from Qatar, Hamad Ali Al Marri.
"Sir (coach Mansher Singh) ne bola, kal sab tere se badi umar ke honge.
Chad ke khelna (all competitors will be a lot older to you, just shoot fearless and they will be wary of you). I just did that," said Shardul Vihan.
Among the positives to count today was Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan's gritty win to enter the men's doubles final, putting India in strong contention for a gold tomorrow.
Bopanna and Sharan were fighting it out against the Japanese pairing of Shimbakuro S and Uesugi Kaito and having lost the first set 4-6, the Indians switched sides before emerging 6-3 10-8 in the next two sets.
In singles, however, Ankita Raina bowed out with a bronze medal after losing in the semifinals. Ankita played her heart out against top seed Shuai Zhang before settling for bronze.
Another tennis medal was assured when world number 161 Prajnesh Gunneswaran outlasted 273rd ranked Kwon Soonwoo of South Korea 6-7 (2 ), 6-4, 7-6 (8) in a marathon quarterfinal lasting almost four hours.
India were also assured of at least a bronze medal in the squash competition as the country's top ranked player Saurav Ghosal set up a quarterfinal clash with compatriot Harinder Pal Sandhu in the men's singles event.
Both Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal Karthik made it to the women's singles quarterfinals with facile wins.