18th Asian Games: Athletes keep Indian flag afloat with golds from Apinder, Swapna
18th Asian Games: Athletes keep Indian flag afloat with golds from Apinder, Swapna A resurgent India continues to hold tri-colour afloat by adding two more gold medals and a silver to Indian tally in the 18th Asian Games on Wednesday. A gold in triple jump by Punjab's Apinder Singh and another gold in women's heptathlon by Swapna Burman helped India equal 2014 Asian Games gold tally of 11 while Dutee Chand with a silver in 200 m run and mixed doubles TT team of SK Achanta and Manika Batra with a bronze medal took India's aggregate to 54 medals with 11 gold 20 silver and 23 bronze medals. In track and field, Tejinderpal Singh Toor (shot put), Neeraj Chopra (javelin), Manjit Singh (800 m), Apinder Singh (triple jump) and Swapna Burman (heptathlon) have given India gold medals in the Games so far. Indian women's hockey team also made the Asian Games final after a gap of 20 years by defeating China by a solitary second half goal through Gurjit Kaur. The day, however, belonged to athletes especially Apinder Singh, Swapna Burman and Dutee Chand. Though Apinder had assured himself of the gold by clearing 16.77 m in his third attempt, Dutee Chand could not consolidate her semi final triumph over Bahrain's Odiong Edidiong. She was beaten narrowly in the final and had to settle for a silver. Swapna Burman, who was leading the pack after six events, needed a good finish in the last event of heptathlon, 800 m run. She finished fourth and got 808 points while her closest rival Wang Qingling finished fifth and got 799 poits thus making the Indian a clear winner. Swapna Burman aggregated 6026 points while Chine e heptathlete got 5954 points. India's Purnima Hambram finished fourth in the event. Two boxers - Vikas Krishan (75 kg) and Amit Kumar (49 kg) - are also assured of a medal each as they both qualified for the semi-finals after defeating their opponents from China and North Korea, respectively. -PTC NEWS
