Asian Games 2023 Highlights: India start Day 1 on a high; rowers, shooters win medals

Star Indian paddler Manika Batra lost both her matches, including the deciding fifth singles, as the Indian women's table tennis team was eliminated from the Asian Games following their 2-3 defeat against Thailand in the pre-quarterfinals. World No. 39 Batra first lost the opening match to 104th ranked Thai player Orawan Paranang 0-3 with the Thai player dominating the proceeding for a 11-7, 11-1, 13-11 win in just 25 minutes. But 26-year-old Ayhika Mukherjee brought India on an even keel, winning the second game 3-1, defeating a much higher-ranked Suthasini Sawettabut 18-16, 11-7, 13-15, 11-9. Sutirtha Mukherjee then defeated Tamolwan Khetkhuan 3-2 (11-1, 9-11, 3-11, 11-7, 11-7) to give India a 2-1 lead before Paranang overcame a gritty Ayhika 3-2 (10-12, 11-4, 5-11, 11-4, 11-3) to keep her team's team's hopes alive. In the decider, Suthasini made up for her earlier defeat by beating Batra 3-1 (10-12, 11-8, 11-7, 11-6) to take her team into the quarterfinals. Thailand will play North Korea on Sunday for a place in the semifinals.

Putting up a dominating show, talented Indian boxer Preeti Pawar outpunched Jordan's Silina Alhasanat to advance to the women's 54kg quarterfinals. The 19-year-old Preeti, who made the pre-quarterfinals of the World Championships earlier this year, dominated her Jordanian opponent, winning the bout by RSC (referee stops contest). Playing a strategic bout, Preeti started the contest on a defensive mode before unleashing her attacking game. After a sedate start, the Indian went on the offensive and landed perfect jabs and hooks to win the opening two rounds easily. After showing promise initially, Silina faded away and looked at sea as the referee gave her two standing counts in the second and third rounds before stopping the contest. Later in the day, two-time world champion and Birmingham Commonwealth Games gold medallist Nikhat Zareen will take the ring against Thi Tam Nguyen of Vietnam in round of 32 in the women's 50kg competition.

India's young shooter Ramita won a bronze medal while teammate Mahuli Ghosh finished fourth in the women's 10m Air Rifle competition. The 19-year-old Ramita finished with a score of 230.1 to finish third behind two Chinese shooters to claim India's second medal on the opening day of shooting competitions at the Fuyang Yunhi Shooting Range just outside Hangzhou City. Ramita had qualified for the final in the second position Sunday but a poor score midway through the final hampered her progress and she had to be satisfied with a bronze medal. The score of 9.9 pulled her back and though the youngster from Haryana tried to recover with consistent shots in the range of 10.7 in her last five attempts, it was still not enough in the end to help her overtake the Chinese opponent.Fellow Indian Mehuli Ghosh finished fourth with a score of 208.3. Mehuli has already secured the Olympic quota of Paris 2024 by winning a bronze medal in the Baku World Cup. On Sunday she could not produce her best and had to settle for fourth place.

Lalit Upadhyay, Varun Kumar and Mandeep Singh slammed a hat-trick each as India started their men's hockey campaign at the Asian Games with a 16-0 rout of lowly-ranked Uzbekistan. Ranked third in the world, India began the match as clear favourites against the world No. 66 Uzbeks and expectedly dominated the proceedings from start to finish in the Pool A match.Lalit (7th, 24th, 37th, 53rd) and Varun (12th, 36th, 50th, 52nd) fired in four goals each, while Mandeep (18th, 27th, 28th minutes) found the net thrice. Abhishek (17th), Amit Rohidas (38th), Sukhjeet (42nd), Shamsher Singh (43rd) and Sanjay (57th) were the other goal scorers as India toyed with the Uzbek defence all through the match. India skipper Harmanpreet Singh did not play the match as he was rested after donning the responsibility of being the joint flag-bearer along with Olympic medallist boxer Lovlina Borgohain during the opening ceremony of the Asian Games on Saturday. India will play Singapore in their next pool match on Tuesday.

On a pleasant morning with the conditions just perfect for rowing at the Fuyang Water Sports Centre, Arjun Lal Jat and Arvind Singh opened the country's account with a silver medal in the men's lightweight doubles sculls event. The Indian duo clocked 6:28.18s to finish behind China's Junjie Fan and Man Sun, who won gold with 6:23.16s. The Uzbekistan pair of Shakhzod Nurmatov and Sobirjon Safaroliyev bagged the bronze clocking 6:33.42s. The silver was just the preview of the things to come as the gruelling men's coxed eight event saw a keen tussle between China and India before the latter finished second with a time of 5:43.01s, which was 2.84s behind the host team, which clocked 5:40.17. The Indian men's coxed-eight team comprised Neeraj, Nareskh Kalwaniya, Neetish Kumar, Charanjeet Singh, Jaswinder Singh, Bheem Singh, Puneet Kumar and Ashish. Indonesia, who clocked a time of 5:45.51s were third. The achievement is all the more creditable given that rowers from powerhouse Uzbekistan and Japan finished fourth and fifth respectively. In the coxless pair event, India Babulal Yadav and Lekh Ram had to settle for a bronze with a time of 6:50.41 sec, behind gold medallists Hong Kong, China (6:44.20 sec) and Uzbekistan 6:48.11. Arvind said they were aiming for gold but an injury setback two months back had hampered his training. India have sent a huge contingent of 33 rowers at the continental games.

India win third medal in Rowing. SILVER in Men's Eight event

India's Babu Yadav and Lekh Ram won Bronze medal in Men's Pair event

Tanish Mathew George and Anand Anil Kumar fail to qualify for Final of Men's 100m Freestyle. Tanish finishes 5th in his Heat (50.61s) and Anand AS finishes 5th in his Heat (50.94s).