Nagoya, Sept. 27 -- India added six medals to its Asian Games tally on Sunday, with four coming from athletics and two from squash, as Ancy Sojan and Sarvesh Kushare won silver in their respective finals and Parul Chaudhary and Harita Bhadra claimed bronze. Anahat Singh and Abhay Singh also finished runners-up in squash, taking India's medal tally to 37 with four gold, 16 silver and 17 bronze at the Games.

Ancy came within two centimetres of gold in the women's long jump. Her fifth-attempt effort of 6.53m put her in the lead, but China's Huang Yingying produced 6.55m on her final attempt to snatch the gold.

India narrowly missed another medal in the event. Shaili Singh's best jump of 6.42m had put her in

contention for bronze, but China's Mengyi Tan moved ahead with 6.46m.

Sarvesh also had to settle for silver after leading the men's high jump for much of the competition. He and Chinese Taipei's Chao Hsuan-Fu both cleared 2.25m, but Chao managed it on his first attempt while Sarvesh needed two. That difference placed the Indian second despite both athletes clearing the same height.

Parul secured her second consecutive Asian Games bronze in the women's 3000m steeplechase, improving on her previous performance with a personal best of 9:08.67. Bahrain's Winfred Yavi won gold, while Kazakhstan's Norah Jeruto Tanui took silver in 9:06.82. Harita completed India's athletics medal haul with bronze in the women's 200m. She clocked 23.20 seconds to finish third, behind Singapore's Shanti Pereira, who won gold in a season-best 22.78, and China's Chen Yujie, who took silver in 22.93.

Harita edged Japan's Ido Abigeirufuka, who finished fourth in 23.21, while India's Unnathi Aiyappa Bolland was sixth in 23.48.

Squash contributed two more silver medals, although India continued to wait for its first individual Asian Games gold in the sport.

Abhay Singh lost 11-9, 11-5, 11-5 to defending champion Ng Eain Yow in the men's singles final. The 24th-ranked Indian stayed close in the opening game, but the Malaysian controlled the pace and length of rallies thereafter, repeatedly forcing Abhay into difficult retrievals. The match lasted 44 minutes.

Abhay acknowledged the Malaysian's experience in major matches and said he would return to the drawing board. He also pointed out that another route to Olympic qualification remains available.

Anahat Singh, 18, was beaten 4-11, 4-11, 7-11 by Malaysia's world No. 5 and defending champion Sivasangari Subramaniam in the women's singles final. The match lasted 27 minutes.

The two squash silvers continued India's wait for an individual Asian Games gold. Saurav Ghosal had also finished with silver at the 2014 and 2023 editions.

India's boxing campaign also produced important developments, with Parveen Hooda, Ankush Panghal and Narender Berwal advancing to the semifinals and assuring the country of three more medals.

Parveen defeated Uzbekistan's world championships silver medallist Navbakhor Khamidova 5-0 in the women's 65kg quarterfinal. It was her first bout of the Games after receiving a walkover in the previous round. She moved up from 57kg to 65kg following a 22-month suspension imposed by the International Testing Agency for a whereabouts failure and said she was gradually rebuilding her confidence.

Ankush, making his Asian Games debut after winning Commonwealth Games gold in Glasgow last month, beat Tajikistan's Nekruz Salimov 5-0 in the men's 80kg quarterfinal.

Narender, a bronze medallist at the previous Asian Games, needed less than two minutes to advance in the +90kg category. He forced referee stoppage against Thailand's Adthapong Saengtep after three standing counts. Sachin Siwach, however, lost 0-5 to Japan's Shunsuke Kitamoto in the men's 60kg quarterfinal.

India's individual badminton campaign ended without a medal. PV Sindhu, playing her third match in less than 24 hours, lost 21-11, 18-21, 10-21 to Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei. Nineteen-year-old Unnati Hooda also bowed out in the quarterfinals, losing 16-21, 21-14, 17-21 to three-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi.

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand and the mixed doubles pair of Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto also lost their quarterfinals. India had won three badminton medals at Hangzhou, but this time the men's team bronze was the country's only medal from the competition.

The women's hockey team, meanwhile, maintained its unbeaten run with a 7-0 win over Singapore. The victory gave India five wins from five matches and top spot in Pool B, setting up a semifinal against Korea.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.