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Asian Games: Indians continue to fail

Harpal Singh Bedi and C N R Vijaykumar in Bangkok

India are assured of a medal in the men's tennis event. They beat Pakistan 3-0 to enter the semi-finals. Ace cueists Yasin Merchant and Alok Kumar made their way into the pre-quarterfinals of the snooker doubles event on the fourth day of the 13th Asian Games today.

But the Indian camp was plunged into gloom when ace shooter Jaspal Rana failed to qualify for the final of the 10 metre air pistol individual event along with five compatriots.

In the equestrian field, the Indians were placed third in the cross country event of the three-day competition.

Vaga Ram and Piyush Baroi could not match Tuesday's performance, failing in the finals of the canoeing and kayaking events.

In swimming, the women relay quartet finished fifth in the second heats of the 4x100 freestyle event.

The Indian men spikers salvaged some pride as they shrugged off early opposition from Kazakhstan to record their first win in the preliminary group league encounter 15-11, 15-7, 15-9. India are already out of contention with defeats against China and Japan.

Medal-less after three days of competition, India were assured of a medal when the men's tennis team brushed aside Pakistan 3-0 to cruise into the semi-finals.

The Indian pair of Yasin Merchant and Alok Kumar edged out the fighting Chinese duo, Pang Wei Guo and Da Hailin 5-4 to make the pre-quarterfinal round of the snooker doubles competition.

However, in the pool 8-ball singles competition the Indian challenge ended as Dharmender Lilly and Manan Chandra crashed out in the first round itself.

In the canoeing and kayaking events, Vaga Ram finished sixth in the canoeing-1 1000 metre final, clocking 6:19.71 .

In the kayaking-1 1000 metre final, Piyush Baroi also finished last, with a poor timing of 4:22.11.

Jaspal Rana failed to qualify for the individual final as five other shooters continued to have a disastrous run. Rana, who has had scores of over 588 in the event, finished ninth with 575 and failed to qualify for the final.

The other shooters, Vivek Singh and Satyendra Kumar, had scores of 568 and 566 respectively. India, with an aggregate of 1709, finished sixth among 13 countries. China claimed the gold with 1742 points. Japan and Korea finishing second and third respectively with 1723 and 1721 points.

Said shooting coach Sunny Thomas, ''It was a bad day for us. Our shooters are capable of a much better performance with both Vivek and Satyendra having shot more than 577 in the past.''

Among the six shooters in sight, Anuja Tere finished 42nd among 43 starters in the women's sports rifle prone event for women. She could not complete the full volley of shots in the last round and had to be content with only 528.

Roopa Unnikrishnan, India's prime medal hope in the event, could finish only eighth with a tally of 581 points. Roopa, who held the South Asian Federation Games record in the event with a score of 586, said she had scored 590 at a championship in the US early this year. A visibily upset Roopa said the 589 scored by Chinese Wang Xian was well within her reach.

Kuheli Gangulee, the third member of the team, shot a poor 576.

Rana said, ''the team should have been among the medal winners and there was no excuse.'' The conditions were ideal, but for a little low temperature in the airconditioned range, he added.

The Indian swimming relay team finished fifth in the second heats in the 4 x 100 metre freestyle relay for women in the swimming event.

The Chinese team which finished first in the heats, clocked 3:55.31 while the Indian quartet of Abhinaya Shetty, Sikha Tandon, Richa Misra and Nisha Millet clocked 4:08.94. The Indian quartet's timing was the third poorest in the two heats in which nine countries participated. Hong Kong and Macau finished with timings well below India.

Sebastian Xavier, who ran the fourth heats in the men's 100 metre freestyle, finished sixth with a timing of 55.40 seconds.

UNI