Asian Games 2018: Day 11 round-up as Manika Batra, Sharath Kamal create history

Batra and Kamal in action
India has finally started making their move to finish in the top five, in the medal tally

India has finally started making their move to finish in the top five, in the medal tally. After Day Ten, India had Fifty medals and was ranked eighth on the table.

The Indian contingent will be hoping to quickly make their move towards the top. Day Eleven helped a little to that effect.

We start off with what was a historical moment for India on Day Eleven.

The Indian team has already secured a medal in Table Tennis. Today, they added another one, as Manika Batra and Sharath Kamal claimed the Bronze medal in Mixed Doubles.

In doing so, Batra became the first India female paddler to win a Table Tennis medal. It also marked the first time India won two TT medals in the same competition (Asian Games).

Batra and Kamal could have won more than that, had they not lost to their Chinese opponents, Wang and Sun.

Nevertheless, the duo provided fans with plenty to cheer about and gave hope for the 2010 Olympics, as it will be the first time that the biggest sporting event in the world features Mixed Table Tennis.

Elsewhere, the medal flurry continued in Athletics, as the Indian athletes won three more medals. Out of these three, two were Gold.

Dutee Chand started things off nicely with a Silver medal in Women's 200m. The 22-year-old has now won the Silver medal in both Women's 100m and 200m. It has turned out to be a great competition for Dutee, who returned to the track after a long time.

The shock of the day was provided by our very own, Arpinder Singh. The filed athlete won a medal in a discipline with which, India hasn't had a good history- Triple Jump. Moreover, the medal Arpinder won was Gold!

The third medal of the day in Athletics came through 'Braveheart' Swapna Barman. Barman was competing in Women's Heptathlon for the past two days. Furthermore, she had suffered a terrible injury to her face right at the start of the competition. Nevertheless, the Heptathlete got up and fought her way to the Gold. Compatriot Purnima Hembram finished fourth in the same event.

Moving on, as many people know that Day Eleven coincided with two big days for India. Firstly, it was the National Sports Day.

And Secondly, it was Major Dhyan Chand's birthday. Therefore, it is only fitting, that on the birthday of India's greatest hockey player, the Women's Hockey team reached their first ever Asiad final.

The Women in Blue defeated China by a solitary goal, thanks to Gurjit Kaur's penalty corner, to confirm their place in the final.

Staying with confirmed yet undecided medals, there were two in Boxing.

While the performances of the Indian Boxing team have been very disappointing in this year's Asian Games, there were two who confirmed a podium finish for themselves.

First, Amit Phangal beat North Korea's Kim Jang Ryong in the Men's 49 Kg category to book his place in the Semifinal and confirm for himself, at least a Bronze medal.

Later on, he was joined in that position by Vikas Krishan, who defeated China's Tanglatihan to reach the Semis.

That was all the medals/ potential medals India grabbed on Day Eleven. Now we move on to the sports which might have gone under the radar.

The Indian Women's Volleyball team, who were already out of the competition, played their classification match against Hong Kong.

The match was a 'Semifinal' for the 9-12 positions. This time they did manage to beat the opposition, and that too in straight sets!

Sticking with team sports, we head over to Handball next. The Indian Men's Handball team defeated hosts Indonesia 37-23 in another group match.

There was another team event in the game of Squash, as the Women's team defeated China in a Pool match. The Women won in straight matches, as well.

Elsewhere, another Gold medal opportunity awaited India in Pencak Silat. However, the duo of Simran and Sonia ended up in the Sixth place instead.

There was to be more disappointment in Track Cycling, as Esow Alben, Ranjit Singh, Manjeet Singh, and Monorama Devi, all failed to reach the final.

Moving on, expectations were suddenly high from Kurash, with two martial artists winning a medal each for India yesterday. However, no such feat would be achieved today. Manish Tokas, Kunal, and Binisha Biju all exited the competition in the Round of 32. There was slight hope from Megha Tokas. However, she lost her match in the Quarterfinal.

Better news came from Canoe/ Kayak Sprint, however, as both the Men's K2 1000m and K4 500m teams made it to the Final.

Furthermore, Bridge continued on Day Eleven of the Games, with two more rounds coming our way. There was good news here as well, as several pairings advanced to the Semifinal.

We end the round-up with Sailing.

In Men's 49er, the Indian pairing of Ashok Thakkar and Ganapathy Kelapanda ranked fourth after Fourteen rounds. One more to go in this one.

The Women's 49er duo of Varsha Gautham and Sweta Shervegar ranked second after Fourteen rounds with one last round to go.

In Laser Radial, Nethra Kumanan ranked fifth, while in Open Laser 4.7, Harshita Tomar and Govind Bairangi ranked third and fourth respectively. One round left in each.

That was all from Day Eleven. Join us tomorrow for an action-packed Day Twelve.

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