Asian Games 2018: Neeraj Chopra Wins Gold In Javelin Throw; 3 Silver Medals In Track And Field

Farmer’s son Neeraj Chopra harvested another record-smashing gold in javelin throw as India’s track-and-field athletes delivered a clutch of medals, while badminton ace PV Sindhu advanced to a historic final on a brilliant day for India at the 18th Asian Games. Neeraj’s gold and three other athletics silver medals, along with Saina Nehwal’s badminton singles bronze, propelled India’s overall medal count to 41 (8 gold, 13 silver, and 20 bronze). Considered the biggest star in Indian athletics right now, junior world champion Neeraj delieverd on the massive expectations in style, throwing the spear to a brand new personal best of 88.06m and leaving the field behind by quite a distance. Joining him in the record books was PV Sindhu, who became the first shuttler to make the Asian Games badminton singles final.   She defeated Akane Yamaguchi 21-17 15-21 21-10 for her second win over the Japanese at the Asian Games, having beaten her in the team championship as well. Sindhu will now fight it out with Tai Tzu-Ying to claim India’s first ever individual gold in badminton. Tai ended Saina’s run in the semifinals, which fetched the seasoned Indian her maiden Asiad bronze.  “I have a strategy in place for her. It should be a good match,” said world No.3 Sindhu, who has not beaten Tai in their last five meetings.  There was plenty of silver to celebrate as well, all of it coming from the athletics arena. Sudha Singh (women’s 300m steeplechase), Neena Varakil (women’s long jump) and Dharun Ayyasamy (men’s 400m hurdles) came second in their respective events.  Ayyasamy clocked 48.96 seconds to shatter his own national record and finish behind Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba who won the gold with a Games record time of 47.66.  “My father passed away when I was eight years old. My mother has made a lot of sacrifices for me. I owe her this. She is still earning just Rs 14,000 per month as a teacher,” said the 21-year-old from Tirupur in Tamil Nadu, who is hoping to get a job now.  Varakil’s best jump of 6.51m came in the fourth attempIn cycling, both the men’s and women’s sprint and pursuit teams failed to qualify for the final rounds. In the team sprint events, the two teams finished seventh in the qualification round out of eight participants.  India did not have a single winner in the karate competition. In volleyball, the Indian women’s team ended its campaign after losing 0-3 to China in