Asian Games Live, September 28: IND vs AFG cricket tie under rain threat, Manu Bhaker eyes shooting medal

What a way to begin India's squash team campaign! Shameeza Riaz was involved in a marathon opening contest against China's Yin Ziyuan but eventually went down 3- 2 after a dramatic decider.

Riaz had looked firmly in control early on, but Yin fought her way back into the contest.

The decider was every bit as tense as expected. The scores stayed locked at 9-9, 10-10, 11-11 and 12-12 before Yin finally edged ahead to seal a 14- 12 win.

Esha Singh has completed the rapid stage of the women's 25m pistol qualification, putting together scores of 98, 96 and 96 across her three series.

That gives Esha a rapid-stage total of 290, exactly matching the 290 she registered in the precision round. Her combined score therefore stands at 580.

With roughly half the competitors still to take their shots, Esha was sitting fifth on the leaderboard based on the scores available at the time. She will now have to wait and see where that mark eventually leaves her once the remaining shooters complete their rounds.

Manu Bhaker found herself in a difficult position after the first two rapid-fire series of the women's 25m pistol event. She managed scores of 97 and 96, leaving her with 480 points out of a possible 500. She needed a perfect response in the third series and she did that by delivering a 99.

She is currently in the 8th spot, but with other shooters set to enter the fray, things aren't looking great for the Indian star. It will be a long wait for the Indian ace with 44 shooters taking aim 11 at a time. So fingers crossed if you're Manu at this moment.

The news coming from the Korogi Sports park isn't good at the moment. The Pakistan vs Hong Kong, China match has been abandoned without the toss even taking place due to heavy rain.

The rain had continued relentlessly since morning, leaving the outfield saturated after the overnight showers. With conditions showing no signs of improving, the officials had concluded that there was no realistic chance of getting the match underway.

Even a shortened five-over contest had been ruled out, with the outfield simply too sodden to allow any play. This allowed Pakistan to qualify for the semis by virtue of having a higher ICC T20I ranking.

The rain has continued to fall steadily, meaning that the India vs Afghanistan match is also under serious threat of being a washout. If the game does get abandoned, then India will progress to the semis due to their higher ICC ranking.

We will keep you updated with all the latest news from the cricket front but the picture doesn't look great at the moment.

Manu Bhaker gets another chance to make her mark at the Asian Games when she takes aim in the women's 25m pistol event. The defending Asian Games champion will be joined by Esha Singh and Rahi Sarnobat in the rapid qualification round, which begins at 6:10 AM IST. If they make it through, the individual final is scheduled for 10:45 AM.

For Bhaker, this is an opportunity to put the disappointment of the 10m air pistol behind her. She entered that final after qualifying third but could not convert it into a medal, eventually finishing fifth. India's women's team also narrowly missed the podium, ending fourth after being level on points with Vietnam.

The 25m pistol campaign has not started perfectly either. Bhaker struggled during the precision stage, ending the round in 16th place with 287 points. That leaves India third in the team standings heading into the rapid stage.

The rapid round will therefore be crucial for India's medal hopes, with Bhaker needing a strong showing to help the team stay in contention while also keeping her own bid for another Asian Games title alive.

So, the action began early in the morning for India and it was the archery contingent that led the way with some spectacular performances. Sahil Rajesh Jadhav defeated Jamiyangombo Purevdorj of Mongolia in the men's compound 1/16 elimination round by a margin of 149-137, just one shy of levelling the Asian Games record.

Thirumuru Ganesh Maniratnam defeated Sostar Andaru Rinaldi of Indonesia in the same round in an intense battle with a scoreline of 144-142 to progress in the competition.

It is now an all Indian tie in the 1/8 eliminations with both men squaring off against each other.

Surfing

3:58 AM – Men's Shortboard Round 3: Sivaraj Babu

6:46 AM – Men's Shortboard Round 3: Kishore Kumar

9:26 AM – Men's Shortboard quarter-finals, subject to qualification

Archery

4:45 AM – Men's Compound 1/16: Sahil Rajesh Jadhav vs Jamiyangombo Purevdorj, Mongolia

4:45 AM – Men's Compound 1/16: Thirumuru Ganesh Maniratnam vs Sostar Andaru Rinaldi, Indonesia

5:25 AM – Men's Compound 1/8, subject to qualification

9:45 AM – Women's Compound 1/16: Jyothi Surekha Vennam vs Zhexenbinova Adel, Kazakhstan

9:45 AM – Women's Compound 1/16: Taniparthi Chikitha

10:25 AM – Women's Compound 1/8, subject to qualification

Shooting

6:10 AM – Women's 25m Pistol Team Final: Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh, Rahi Sarnobat

6:10 AM – Women's 25m Pistol Rapid Qualification: Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh, Rahi Sarnobat

6:30 AM – Men's Trap Qualification: Kynan Chenai, Ahvar Rizvi, Shapath Bharadwaj

6:30 AM – Women's Trap Qualification: Neeru, Manisha Keer, Aashima Ahlawat

10:45 AM – Women's 25m Pistol Individual Final, subject to qualification

Sepak Takraw

6:30 AM – Women's Doubles, Group B: India vs Japan

10:30 AM – Women's Doubles semi-final, subject to qualification

Tennis

6:30 AM – Men's Singles: Sumit Nagal vs Seongchan Hong, South Korea

6:30 AM – Men's Singles: Dhakshineswar Suresh vs Gunawan Trisnawijaya, Indonesia

7:30 AM – Women's Doubles: Ankita Raina/Rutuja Bhosale

9:00 AM – Men's Doubles: Yuki Bhambri/Dhakshineswar Suresh

9:00 AM – Men's Doubles: Anirudh Chandrasekar/N Sriram Balaji

9:00 AM – Mixed Doubles: N Sriram Balaji/Ankita Raina

Volleyball

6:30 AM – Men's Preliminary Round: India vs Hong Kong

Squash

6:30 AM – Women's Team: India vs China

8:30 AM – Men's Team: India vs China

12:00 PM – Women's Team: India vs Japan

2:00 PM – Men's Team: India vs South Korea

Sailing

7:30 AM – Men's Skiff/49er: Prince Noble/Manu Francis

7:30 AM – Men's Dinghy/ILCA 7: Vishnu Saravanan

7:40 AM – Women's Skiff/49er FX: Harshita Tomar/Shital Verma

7:40 AM – Women's Dinghy/ILCA 6: Nethra Kumanan

8:30 AM – Mixed Dinghy/470: Shraddha Verma/Ravindra Kumar

10:40 AM – Girls' Dinghy/ILCA 4: Mahi Verma

10:40 AM – Women's Skiff/49er FX Races 6-9: Harshita Tomar/Shital Verma

Kurash

8:00 AM – Women's -78kg quarter-final: Pinky Balhara

10:40 AM – Women's -78kg semi-final, subject to qualification

11:30 AM – Women's -78kg final, subject to qualification

Cricket

10:00 AM – Men's Quarter-final: India vs Afghanistan

Boxing

10:00 AM – Women's 75kg quarter-final: Lovlina Borgohain

2:15 PM – Women's 60kg quarter-final: Priya

3:45 PM – Men's 90kg quarter-final: Kapil Pokhariya

Athletics

2:35 PM – Women's Discus Throw Final: Seema, Sanya Yadav

3:09 PM – Mixed 4x100m Relay Round 1: India

3:53 PM – Women's 400m Hurdles Final: Vithya Ramraj, Anu Raghavan

4:03 PM – Men's 400m Final: Santosh Kumar

4:17 PM – Men's 3000m Steeplechase Final: Avinash Sable

4:30 PM – Men's Long Jump Final: Sreeshankar Murali, David Solomon Patturaj

4:38 PM – Men's 1500m Final: Yoonus Shah, Gulveer Singh

4:45 PM – Men's Javelin Throw Final: Rohit Yadav, Yashvir Singh

4:50 PM – Women's 800m Round 1: Gowthami Jayaraman

5:00 PM – Women's 800m Round 1: Pooja

5:13 PM – Women's 5000m Final: Parul Chaudhary, Seema

6:01 PM – Men's 4x400m Relay Round 1: India

6:34 PM – Women's 4x100m Relay Final: India

Hockey

3:30 PM – Men's Pool A: India vs Bangladesh

India begin September 28 sitting 12th on the Asian Games medal table, with their tally standing at 37 medals. The haul includes four gold medals, 16 silver and 17 bronze. It was another productive day for the Indian contingent on September 27, with seven medals added across athletics and squash, although the absence of a gold saw India drop two places from 10th to 12th.

Athletics once again provided the bulk of India's medals. Ancy Sojan and Sarvesh Kushare secured silver, while Parul Chaudhary, Tejaswin Shankar and Harita Bhadra picked up bronze. Squash also delivered two silver medals through Anahat Singh and Abhay Singh.

There was more good news in boxing, with Ankush Panghal, Parveen Hooda and Narender Berwal booking their places in the semifinals. All three are now assured of at least a bronze medal, with a place in the final up for grabs.

Elsewhere, Manu Bhaker will be back in action as India look to revive their fortunes in shooting. Bhaker's campaign has so far fallen short of expectations, with the Olympic medallist finishing fifth in the 10m air pistol final. India's women's team also failed to make the podium, adding to a disappointing run across some of the contingent's high profile pistol and rifle events.

The men's cricket team, meanwhile, face a much sterner examination. India scraped past Japan in a rain shortened five over warm up, managing just 32/4 before restricting their opponents to 30/3 for a two run victory. The result offered some valuable match practice, but the stakes rise considerably now as India turn their attention to the quarter final against Afghanistan.

With medals on the line across multiple disciplines and the knockout stage of the cricket competition beginning, September 28 promises another busy day for the Indian contingent.

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