Asian Games 2023 Highlights September 25: Day 2 brings six medals for India, including two Gold Medals

Asian Games 2023 Highlights, September 25: India secured their first two Gold medals today, shattering the World Record in the Men's 10m Air Rifle Team event and beating Sri Lanka in the cricket final. They followed it up with a couple of Bronze medals in Rowing too! Aishwary Tomar won a Bronze Medal in the 10m Air Rifle Men's Final, and the Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Team won Bronze. Follow Sportskeeda for Asian Games 2023 live Score updates on September 25.

....aaaand with that, we're done for the day!

Quite the day for India in Hangzhou today. 2 golds, four bronze, and they’re well placed to start really climbing up that medal-tally ladder. Shooting the heroes, though - Gold in the Men’s 10m Air Rifle Team, bronze for Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar in the individual version and another bronze in the Men’s 25m Pistol Team.

The Indian Women’s team marked the return of skipper Harmanpreet Kaur by clinching gold in Hangzhou after a low-scoring final against Sri Lanka. Young Titas Sadhu the standout performer there with figures of 3-6 in her four overs.

And last but not least, the bronze medals for the Indian Rowing teams in the Men’s Fours and Men’s Quadruple Sculls events round up our medal count for the day. It’s been a day that has brought the country some joy and also hope for the coming days. Iss baar sau paar? Only time will tell.

That’s it from us though. We’ve had the pleasure of bringing you all the action from Day 2 of the Asian Games, and we’re absolutely grateful for it. Hopefully, tomorrow the Indian contingent bring home enough medals for us to not be able to summarise all of it in a message like we did today, but we will take what we get. For now, goodbye and we hope to see you tomorrow!

BOXING

Nishant Dev vs Dipesh Lama

Lama came out flying in the final round, as you'd expect from someone chasing the bout. And while Lama seemed to be calling the shots in the third round, Dev too knew this would mean he would get his openings as well. As a result, Dev did land a few strong punches. The win seemed inevitable since the end of the last round, and that win has now been confirmed for Nishant Dev. He wins 5:0 by unanimous decision from the judges. He moves on to the Round of 16 in the Men's 71kg category.

WUSHU

Baliyan Vikrant 1-2 Marbun Samuel

The Indonesian wins in three rounds! Heartbreak for Baliyan as he bows out.

BOXING

Nishant Dev vs Dipesh Lama

Dev starts the second round positively, having already taken the lead in the first. Once again, Dev saw an opening and jumped right in to land a few telling punches early in the second minute. Lama was forced into a standing eight count towards the end of that round in spite of an improved defence in the second half. Dev well and truly in the driving seat after that round.

BOXING

Nishant Dev vs Dipesh Lama

It's been a good start from Nishant Dev to this preliminary round. Took the attack to Lama right from the start. He's taken advantage of the opportunities presented by Lama to land a few punches. A good back-and-forth in the final minute of the round brings Lama back into it. The judges, however, all rule the round in Nishant Dev's favour.

BOXING

Men's 71kg preliminary round: Nishant Dev vs Dipesh Lama

Up next, we have India's final boxing bout of the day. Nishant Dev takes on Nepal's Dipesh Lama in the next few minutes. And as always, we'll have all the updates for you right here. Stay tuned!

WUSHU

Welcome to the final match of the day for the Indian contingent. Earlier in the day, Naorem RD(women's 60kg) and Surya Bhanu Partap Singh(men's 60 kg) qualified to the semifinals. Now, Baliyan Vikrant is set to face Indonesia's Marbun Samuel in the 65 kg quarterfinal match.

SWIMMING

Korea takes Gold! They complete the race with nearly 50m still left to swim for India and Hong Kong! India finish seventh!

SWIMMING

Korea, China and Japan continue being the leaders in the race. Tanish Mathew swimming the final leg for India!

SWIMMING

Korea and China leading comfortably. Kushagra Rawat swimming the third leg for India but he continues to battle it out with the Lane 8 swimmers for the seventh place.

SWIMMING

And they are underway! A slow first lap for India and they are in the bottom three currently. The second Indian swimmer jumps is the last to jump into the pool for the second leg for the race.

SWIMMING

The Men's 4x200m Freestyle Relay is coming up shortly! India will start in Lane 7 and the swimmers participating will be Aryan Nehra, Aneesh Gowda, Kushagra Rawat and Tanish Mathew! Stay tuned!

SWIMMING

China's Haiyang Qin breaks the Asian Record at the Men's 100m Breaststroke Final! He will take the Gold medal while the Silver goes to China as well. The Bronze medal is taken by the Korean Dongyeol Choi. Likith Selvaraj finishes seventh.

SWIMMING

Likith Selvaraj is in action as he prepared for the Men's 100m Breaststroke Finals! It will be interesting to see whether he can bring home a medal for India!

WUSHU

Surya Bhanu Partap Singh 2-1 Khaydarov Islombek

Surya Bhanu Pratap Singh wins it for India in three rounds! Surya won the first round but the second was awarded to the Uzbek Wushu player. However, Surya held his nerve in the third round to seal a place in the Semi-Final for himself!

BOXING

Deepak Kumar vs Bin Ariffin Muhammad Abdul Qaiyum

Abdul Qaiyum, recognising the task at hand, came flying out of his corner from the word go in the third round. But Deepak did well to hold his own against the younger Abdul Qaiyum. At the end of the day, Deepak did enough to keep Abdul Qaiyum at a distance through the second half of the round. It is Deepak who finally wins the bout by a unanimous 5-0 margin.

WUSHU

Welcome to the live coverage of men's 60kg 1/8 final. Surya Bhanu Partap Singh from India is taking on Khaydarov Islombek of Uzbekistan.

BOXING

Deepak Kumar vs Bin Ariffin Muhammad Abdul Qaiyum

Abdul Qaiyum has looked more aggressive in the second round compared to the first. And while both boxers did well to sneak in a couple of late punches just as the round was about to end, Deepak's successful combinations earlier in the round sees 4 judges award the round to Deepak again. As of now, Deepak is ahead in the books of four of the five judges.

BOXING

Deepak Kumar vs Bin Ariffin Muhammad Abdul Qaiyum

In a round where Abdul Qaiyum was happy to maintain a defensive stance in the early exchanges, both boxers did get some clean contact in. Deepak, who was the braver of the two, did well to evade a couple of strong punches from his Malaysian opponent. The judges rule the round 10-9 unanimously in Deepak's favour.

BOXING

Men's 51kg: Deepak Kumar vs Bin Ariffin Muhammad Abdul Qaiyum

For India's second boxing bout of the day, we have Deepak Kumar taking on Malaysia's Bin Ariffin Muhammad Abdul Qaiyum in the Men's 51kg preliminary round. The winner moves on to the Round of 16 and keeps their medal hopes alive, of course. We'll have all the updates from you coming right up!

WUSHU

Naorem RD WPD - __ Karshyga

Naorem wins the clash due to the WPD rule, which means Winner by point gap and progresses to the semis!

SWIMMING

It is the Chinese athletes who take two out of the three medals on offer, with Japanese Irie taking the bronze medal. Srihari Nataraj finishes sixth! No medal for India from this event then.

WUSHU

Welcome to the live coverage of the quarterfinal match between India's Naorem Roshibina Devi and Kazakhstan's Karshyga. Naorem will look to put on a competitive performance to seal a semifinal spot in her quest to obtain a place on the podium and best her 2018 bronze medal run in Jakarta.

SWIMMING

It's time for the Men's 50m Backstroke Final! Srihari Nataraj has qualified for the medal event and he will be looking to give India their first medal in Swimming at Asian Games 2023. He will be competing in Lane 7.

BOXING

Arundhati Choudhary vs Yang Liu

The crowd support for Yang only grew louder as the rounds went on, and Yang, on her part did all she could do reciprocate the support. She takes round three as well, and advances to the next round by unanimous decision from the judges. A 5-0 win on points for the Chinese!

CHESS

Here's the total number of points each member of the Indian contingent have after Round 4 (out of a total possible of 4 points)

Arjun Kumar Erigaisi - 3
Vidit Gujarathi - 3
Koneru Humpy - 2.5
Harika Dronavalli - 2.5

BOXING

Arundhati Choudhary vs Yang Liu

Choudhary started the round pretty aggressively. But Yang does well to contain her after an initial flurry of punches from the Indian. Yang did well to get a lot of attack in as well in that round. And it shows in the judges' decision. Another round of 10-9s from their end sees the tie 20-18 in the crowd favourite's favour.

CHESS

Round 4 of Individual Chess has been completed and here are the results for the Indians participating in it:

Men's Individual:
Vidit Gujarathi beat Iran's Seyedmohammadamin Tabatabaei
Arjun Kumar Erigaisi tied with China's Yi Wei

Women's Individual:
Koneru Humpy lost to China's Yifan Hou
Harika Dronavalli tied with Uzbekistan's Nilufar Yakubbaeva

BOXING

Arundhati Choudhary vs Yang Liu

Fiery opening round from both boxers with Yang feeding off an energetic Chinese crowd at the gymnasium. She's a clear crowd favorite in this preliminary round fixture. All five judges have ruled the round 10-9 in Yang's favor. We're only one round in, however. Plenty more to go.

BOXING

Women's 66kg preliminary round: Arundhati Choudhary vs Yang Liu

Some boxing action coming right up from the Hangzhou gymnasium. India's Arundhati Choudhary takes on China's Yang Liu in a bid to book a place in the quarter finals. Stick around as we bring you more updates from the same.

We’ve had some good news come our way today from the world of shooting (gold and two bronze medals, oof!). Check out Team India’s shooting results from Day 2 of the Asian Games below:

Indian Shooting Asian Games 2023 Results Day 2: Indian men's 10m air rifle team breaks world record to claim gold, two bronze medals follow

TENNIS

Rohan Bopanna/Rutuja Bhosale beat Akgul Amanmuradova/Maksim Shin
Score: 6-2, 6-4

After a bit of a comeback from the Uzbek duo, India finish the match off in style, winning the next two sets to bring the game to a conclusion. India with as many as 4 aces in the game while their 2nd serve conversion was far better too. They won five break points over the course of the contest and it just goes on to show their dominance. They move onto the next round with an emphatic, confidence-boosting win.

TENNIS

Set 2: Bopanna/Bhosale 4-3 Amanmuradova/Shin
(Set 1: 6-2)

Comeback alert! The Uzbek duo of Akgul and Maksim are fighting back and fighting back hard! They are just one game away from levelling the score! Bopanna and Rutuja need to be careful not to squander this lead away!

TENNIS

Set 2: Bopanna/Bhosale 4-1 Amanmuradova/Shin
(Set 1: 6-2)

This is turning out to be a cakewalk for the Indian duo. They are cruising along to a win here, which isn't very far considering they just need two more games to win. They have the serve once again now.

TENNIS

Set 2: Bopanna/Bhosale 2-1 Amanmuradova/Shin
(Set 1: 6-2)

After both duos winning a game each off their own serves, Bopanna and Bhosale win the Break Point and take home another game to put themselves in the lead with their serve next.

TENNIS

Set 1: Bopanna/Bhosale 6-2 Amanmuradova/Shin

Bopanna and Bhosale take the first set! They initially let the Uzbekistan duo make a small comeback after leading 2-0 but since then, Bopanna and Bhosale have ensured that they don't lose a single game. They won two games by breaking the service and two games off their own service to seal the first set. Can they finish it off in the next set itself?

TENNIS

Set 1: Bopanna/Bhosale 4-2 Amanmuradova/Shin

Two game wins on the trot for Bopanna and Bhosale, including breaking the serve and winning their third game, and following it up with a win over their own serve.

TENNIS

Set 1: Bopanna/Bhosale 2-2 Amanmuradova/Shin

After taking a lead in the game initially, it is all tied up at the moment, with the Uzbeks breaking the game to level the game score. Will be interesting to see how the Indian duo go about their business here!

TENNIS

After his disappointing and, quite frankly, surprising exit from the Men's Doubles category, Rohan Bopanna will turn his attention to Mixed Doubles, where he is paired up with Rutuja Bhosale. They are currently taking on Uzbekistan's Maksim Shin and Akgul Amanmuradova. Stay tuned for updates!

CRICKET

INDIA BEAT SRI LANKA BY 19 RUNS AND CLINCH GOLD!

Apologies for the screaming but Harmanpreet Kaur and team have won the gold medal in women's cricket and I can't keep my excitement down. Comfortable victory in the end for the Indians, and you'd have expected things to go this way since Titas Sadhu dismissed Chamari Athapaththu early on in the innings.

Speaking of Titas Sadhu, the youngster probably was the player of the match today for an incredible spell that sent the Sri Lankan top order packing and put India in the drivers' seat. Contributions from Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues at the top of the batting order ensured the bowlers at least had three digits to bowl at. All's well in the end as India claim their first-ever Asian Games cricket gold.

Check out the full scorecard here.

CHESS

India will compete in the Chess Individual Round 4 as well today. Here are the fixtures for the same:

Men's Individual:
GM Arjun Kumar Erigaisi vs Iran's GM Seyedmohammadamin Tabatabaei
GM Vidit Gujarathi vs Vietnam's GM Le Tuah Minh

Women's Individual:
GM Koneru Humpy vs China's GM Yifan Hou
GM Harika Dronavalli vs Zebkistan's WGM Nilufar Yakubbaeva

CRICKET

Sri Lanka need 25 off 6 balls

Oh well, surely only a formality from here for the Indian to clinch gold? A 7th wicket falls after Richa Ghosh takes a diving catch after having run half the length of the pitch to get to the ball. 3 wickets left, 25 runs to get off the final over. You'd need some miraculous batting from Sugandika Kumari and Inoka Ranaweera.

Catch every single ball of the last over of the Indian women's team's gold quest right here.

CHESS

The Men's Individual Round has concluded as well and the Indian results look much, much better compared to their female counterparts.

GM Arjun Kumar Erigaisi beat GM Ngoc Truong Son Nguyen
GM Vidit Gujarathi beat FM Prin Laohawiraapap

CRICKET

Sri Lanka Women 87/6 in 18 overs

Alright, we're back to saying that India are the absolute favourites in this match again. Two wickets since our last update here, and a further drop in the scoring rate. SL need 30 runs to win off their final two overs, and one would back Harmanpreet Kaur and her team to keep this in control.

Get ball-by-ball updates from the match here.

CHESS

The Women's Individual Chess results are announced and it does not bear the best of looks for Indian athletes:

GM Harika Dronavalli loses to China's Yifan Hou
GM Koneru Humpy ties with China's Jiner Zhu

CRICKET

Sri Lanka Women need 39 runs in 24 balls

Titas Sadhu caps off a fantastic spell with yet another brilliant over. 3-6 in her 4 overs. The sluggish nature of the pitch is coming to India's aid at the moment. The Sri Lankan batters do not have any pace to work with and the problems are showing.

Follow the ball-by-ball commentary for the game LIVE right here.

CRICKET

Sri Lanka Women 68/4 in 14 overs

The Lankan batters have hit the brakes a bit in the past few overs. At this stage, you'd expect India to hold them off till the end. But, as the cliche goes, you can never say never in cricket of course. 49 needed in 36 balls.

CRICKET

Sri Lanka Women 50/4 in 10 overs

Just when I started to think I had placed the commentators' curse on the Indian team earlier, Hasini Perera found Pooja Vastrakar at deep mid-wicket with a slog sweep off Rajeshwari Gayakwad's bowling. You'd think India are back in the driving seat at this point after a brief moment off it. Momentum ka khel hai, boss!

Stay in touch with all the cricketing action from Hangzhou right here.