Teen Vihan clinches silver

Indian shooting’s teenage brigade threw up another surprise in Shardul Vihan’s silver at the 18th Asian Games here on Thursday.

The 15-year-old Vihan, with his double trap silver, became the youngest Indian shooter to win a medal at the Games where a 16-year-old Saurabh Chaudhary (10m air pistol) had become the youngest Indian shooter with a gold.

The Meerut-based Vihan shot 73 in the final after topping the qualification earlier in the day. The gold went to 34-year-old South Korean Hyunwoo Shin and bronze to 42-year-old from Qatar, Hamad Ali Al Marri.

Vihan had qualified for the final by topping Men’s Double Trap qualification round with a score of 141. His teammate Ankur Mittal failed to qualify, finishing at the ninth position with a score of 134.

Last year, Vihan, who is coached by former Asian Championship double gold medallist Anwer Sultan, had grabbed four gold medals at Shotgun Nationals Championship last year. Vihan had also finished sixth at the Junior World Championship in Moscow in 2017.

India, however, failed to grab a medal in Women’s Double Trap. Shreyasi Singh finished in the 6th position with 121 points while Varsha Varman finished in the 7th position with 120 points.

Joshna in quarters

India assured themselves at least a bronze medal in the squash competition as the country’s top ranked squash player Saurav Ghosal will play compatriot Harinder Pal Sandhu in the men’s singles quartefinals in Jakarta.

In the women’s singles, both Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal Karthik also made it to the quarterfinals.

The squash’s opening day saw the men playing two rounds while the women after getting a first round bye, had only a match each to play.

Six boxers in last-16

Six Indian boxers, including two-time medallist Vikas Krishan and Sarjubala Devi, got byes into the pre-quarterfinals, while one got a direct entry into the last-eight stage after draws on Thhursday in Jakarta.

World and Asian silver-medallist Sonia Lather (57kg) made the quarters without a fight to be just one win away from fetching a medal at the Games, where M C Mary Kom picked up the lone boxing gold in the last edition.

Gaurav Solanki (52kg) and Manoj Kumar (69kg), who won a bronze in the CWG, are the only ones, who will fight in the round of 32 on Friday.