India’s hockey and cricket teams reach Asian Games finals

India’s men’s hockey and cricket teams reached the Asian Games gold-medal matches on a day when the country collected six confirmed medals and secured another in men’s sepaktakraw. The hockey team defeated Pakistan 4-3 in a dramatic semi-final. India built a 3-0 lead before Pakistan levelled the match, but Abhishek scored the decisive goal with 45 seconds remaining.

Harmanpreet Singh scored twice and Sukhjeet Singh also found the net. India’s cricket team reached the final with a 124-run victory over Sri Lanka. The result set up a gold-medal match against Pakistan.

India also earned silver in men’s Greco-Roman 97kg wrestling, where Nitesh Siwach lost 4-0 to Japan’s Yuri Nakazato in the final. Nitesh had beaten Turkmenistan’s Amanberdi Agamammedov and Mongolia’s Gankhuyag Ganbaatar on his way to the gold-medal bout. Sailing produced another silver for India, with Manu Francis and Prince Kurusinkal Noble finishing second in the men’s skiff.

Harshita Tomar and Shital Verma won bronze in the women’s skiff, while Ganesh Mani Ratnam Thirumuru took bronze in men’s individual compound archery. India’s women’s and men’s squash teams also won bronze after semi-final defeats by Hong Kong, China, and Malaysia respectively. The country guaranteed another medal when its men’s sepaktakraw quadrant team advanced to the semi-finals.

There were several unsuccessful medal campaigns. Mansi Ahlawat lost her women’s 62kg wrestling bronze-medal bout, while Inunganbi Takhellambam was defeated in the women’s 70kg judo bronze contest. India’s tennis campaign ended when Sumit Nagal lost his men’s singles quarter-final to China’s Yibing Wu.

India remained in contention in golf, with Pranavi Sharath Urs second after the second round. The supplied report also listed several Indian athletes who exited in rugby, volleyball, shooting, cycling, archery, sport climbing and canoe slalom.