India assured four more medals as archers, wrestlers advance

Nagoya, Oct 3 (UNI) India assured itself of four more medals at the Asian Games here on Saturday as archers Dhiraj Bommadevara and Neeraj Chauhan advanced to the men's recurve individual semifinals, while wrestlers Aman Sehrawat and Antim Panghal stormed into their respective finals.

Dhiraj defeated Uzbekistan's Amirkhon Sadikov 6-2 in the quarterfinal before losing 3-7 to South Korea's Lee Woo Seok in the semifinal. He will now fight for the bronze medal. Neeraj secured his place in the semifinals with a convincing 7-1 quarterfinal victory over Bhutan's Lam Dorji. He will face Japan's Junya Nakanishi in the semifinal. In wrestling, Aman produced a remarkable comeback in the men's freestyle 57kg semifinal, recovering from 2-6 down to defeat Tajikistan's Aiaal Beloloubskii 14-8 and book his place in the final.

Antim was equally impressive in the women's 53kg freestyle semifinal, defeating China's Zhang Jin 6-1 to secure her place in the gold-medal bout. The four assured medals added to a golden morning for India, which had already celebrated historic victories through Kumkum Mohod and Pranavi Urs.

Kumkum defeated South Korea's Oh Yejin 6-5 in a shoot-off to win India's first-ever women's individual recurve gold at the Asian Games, while Pranavi became the country's first women's individual golf gold medallist.

The Indian women's golf team of Pranavi, Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar also secured a historic silver. With Dhiraj, Neeraj, Aman and Antim assured of medals, India is set for another significant boost to its medal tally as the Asian Games enter the closing stages.

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