Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, September 22: India won its first gold medal of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games after the women’s cricket team defeated Sri Lanka by 147 runs in the final on Tuesday. The victory also saw India retain the women’s cricket title.
Batting first, India posted 216/3, its highest total in women’s cricket at the Asian Games. Smriti Mandhana scored 79 off 45 balls, while Shafali Verma contributed 48 off 29 balls. Richa Ghosh remained unbeaten on 49 off 22 balls.
Sri Lanka were bowled out for 69 as India completed a 147-run victory. The result took India’s medal tally to seven, including one gold.
The Indian men’s badminton team also secured a medal after defeating hosts Japan 3-0 in the quarterfinals to enter the semifinals. Lakshya Sen defeated Kodai Naraoka 11-21, 21-5, 21-19 after recovering from a deficit in the deciding game.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty then defeated Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi 21-18, 24-22, before Ayush Shetty beat Koki Watanabe 21-10, 21-19 to complete the victory.
India’s women’s badminton team, however, exited the competition after losing 1-3 to Japan in the quarterfinals. PV Sindhu lost to Akane Yamaguchi, while Unnati Hooda was defeated by Tomoka Miyazaki. Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand won their doubles match against Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto. Tanvi Sharma then lost to Nozomi Okuhara.
In wushu, Roshibina Devi Naorem entered the women’s Sanda 60kg semifinals after defeating Chu Man Sin of Macao, China, in the quarterfinals. The result assured Roshibina of at least a bronze medal and a third consecutive Asian Games medal.
The Indian men’s hockey team recorded its second win in Pool A, defeating Sri Lanka 16-1. Jugraj Singh scored four goals, while Abhishek Singh and Dilpreet Singh scored three each.
In boxing, Sakshi Chaudhary defeated Paris Olympic bronze medallist Aira Villegas in the women’s 51kg category to enter the pre-quarterfinals. Jadumani Singh also advanced to the last 16 in the men’s 55kg category after defeating Nepal’s Chandra Bahadur Thapa 5-0.
India’s women’s table tennis team entered the quarterfinals after defeating Thailand 3-2. The men’s team was eliminated in the round of 16 after losing 0-3 to South Korea.
Gymnast Pranati Nayak qualified for the women’s individual vault final after finishing seventh among 19 competitors in the qualification round. She recorded a combined score of 12.916 and will compete in the final scheduled for September 24.