India added two silver medals to its tally on day five of the second Asian Indoor Games with Sandeep Sejwal finishing second in the 100M breaststroke and the chess team managing a podium finish in the Classical Mixed event here on Tuesday.
Sandeep timed one minute 01.99 seconds to finish behind Wang Wei Weng of Chinese Taipei (1:01.78), who won the gold.
Indian chess team had a rollercoaster day that saw them beating Qatar 3-1 before being held by Vietnam to a 2-2 draw.
K Sasikiran, Surya Shekhar Ganguly and D Harika won their matches against Qatari opponents but Koneru Humpy suffered a shock defeat. Against Vietnam, Sasikiran and Humpy split points while Ganguly lost. Harika scored the lone win for India in this round.
The Indian chess team totalled nine points, to finish behind China (11) and ahead of Vietnam (8).
In Kabaddi, India remained in hunt for the top honour as they thrashed Sri Lanka 40-11 with Jasvir Singh, Naveen Kumar and Rakesh Kumar in sizzling form.
In Muay, Indian Balakrishna Shetty beat Al Faudari Ali (Kuwait) in the 67-71 kg weight category to enter the semifinal.
Indian cueists were also in song as the team, comprising Yasin Merchant, Alok Kumar and Manan Chandra blanked Sri Lanka 3-0 to enter the quarterfinal. They will have to beat Thailand to reach the semifinals.
In men’s nine ball pool, Dharminder Singh too entered the quarterfinal with an 11-8 win over Khalid of Kuwait. India, so far, have won five medals that include three gold.
Hamza in final
Chatholi Hamza, India's top miler, qualified for the finals of the 1,500 metres, adds IANS.
The 26-year-old Hamza, who won a bronze medal at the World Military Games in Hyderabad, finished third in his semifinals and went through to the finals. He clocked 4:00.47, finishing behind Omar Al Rasheedi (Qatar), who clocked 4:00.00 and Mohammadi Mirzaei (Iran) at 4:00.31. The fastest time of the day came from Kamal Abubaker Ali of Qatar, who timed 3:57.59 in the first heat. Nine athletes will compete in the final to be held on Wednesday.
Hamza has improved his performance to new levels in 2007. His personal best in the 800M is 1:48.29 set in May 2007 and in the 1500M, his best is 3:40.19, set in June 2007. In Hyderabad, Hamza won bronze in 1500M in a time of 3:42.84.
Poovamma bows out
Hari Shankar Roy qualified for the high jump finals, while MR Poovamma failed to make it in the 400M. Poovamma timed 56.79 seconds, ending up third in her heat. India’s Sini Jose (57.01 seconds) also crashed out before the final.
In cue sports, Anuja Chandra and Chitra Magimairaj crashed out of the women’s 8-ball and 9-ball pool respectively at the quarterfinal stage.
Results:
Cue sports: 8-ball pool (women): Quarters: Jaisuekal Santhinee (Tha) bt Anuja Chandra (Ind) 7-3. Pre-quarters: Anuja bt Neviyanti Puspita (INA) 7-3.
9-ball pool (women): Quarters: Chai Jeet Huey (Sin) bt Chitra Magimairaj (Ind) 7-6.
Snooker: Men: Singles: Pre-quarters: E Boon Keith (Sin) bt Alok Kumar (Ind) 4-2. Round of 32: Alok Kumar bt Khurram Agha (Pak) 4-1; Shehab Mustafa (UAE) bt Yasin Merchant (Ind) 4-2.
Carombole: Men: Quarters: Doung Anh Vu (Vei) bt Sumit Talwar (Ind); Machida Tadashi (Kor) bt Dharminder Lilly.
