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Narrowly missing a medal

HEART BREAKS

The Times of India Sep 24 2014

Saurav Ghosal narrowly missed out on winning the gold medal in squash for India (Asiad 2014). TOI takes a look at other occasions where Indian athletes faltered on the doorstep of glory

WOMEN'S 800M, 1986 SEOUL ASIAD

SHINY ABRAHAM'S lane change

Shiny Abraham had just completed her 800m race, way ahead of her competitors. But she was aghast when the race officials announced that she had disqualified. Her fault: She had changed her lane a bit too early in the race. Shiny's mistake had cost India a gold.

She, however, managed to win a silver in another event 400m behind PT Usha. In all, India finished with nine medals in athletics events in Seoul including four gold.

WOMEN'S ARCHERY GUANGZHOU 2010

INDIVIDUAL BRONZE MEDAL PLAYOFF,

DEEPIKA KUMARI'S 2-6 loss against Kwon-un Sil of Korea India have won very few medals in archery and none in the women's individual category so far. Deepika Kumari came tantalisingly close to bag one when she made it to the play-off in the individual event in Guangzhou. She cruised through the first few rounds before losing to eventual winner Yun Ok-hee of Korea. She missed a medal narrowly as she lost to Kwon-un Sil in the bronze medal playoff. There was some consolation for her though, as she teamed up with Dola Banerjee and Rimil Buriuly to claim the bronze in the women's team event.

WOMEN'S TENNIS, 2006 DOHA ASIAD

SINGLES FINAL

SANIA MIRZA 4-6, 6-1, 1-6 loss against Zheng Jie of China She was in top form, having won her group stage matches and the quarterfinal in straight sets. In the semifinal, she beat the then Asian No.1 and top seed Li Na 6-2, 6-2 to book a final berth against Zheng Jie, also of China. Sania started tentatively to lose the first set, but bounced back to draw parity with a 6-1 win in the second. But the scorching heat took its toll as the Indian struggled in the third to lose the match and a chance to win a historic gold for the country. She had her moments to rejoice, however, when hours later she returned to the court with Leander Paes to win the mixed doubles gold medal.

MEN'S 10M AIR PISTOL, INCHEON 2014

TEAM EVENT

INDIA LOSE silver to China by a whisker India and China were level on points after the final in the men's 10m Air Pistol event. Rai (585 points), Samaresh Jung (580) and Prakash Nanjappa (578) took India's score to 1743 points, the same as China. The silver was decided by the number of Xs (bullseye) in which China tallied one more 65 to India's 64.

MEN'S HOCKEY FINAL, 2002 BUSAN GAMES

INDIA'S 3-4 loss against Korea India had it easy in the group stage, winning their first two matches comfortably. The semi-final against Pakistan was a close one, but India held their nerve to advance. However, in the final, nothing seemed to go right for India in they conceded three goals. But things started to change as they pumped in three goals in five minutes. Even though the scores were level at that time, India clearly had the upper hand. But just as they were getting closer to a historic win, Korea scored in the 68th minute to pour water on Indian hopes.

2016

Asian Indoor Athletics Championships

The Times of India, Feb 21 2016  Long jumper Mayook ha Johny fetched India a gold medal while sprinter Dutee Chand settled for a bronze af ter shattering national re cord in 60m dash in the Asian Indoor Athletics Champions hips. Mayookha controlled the long jump competition from the very outset and finished on top of the podium with a le ap of 6.35m, an effort that pro pelled her to India's first Asi an indoor title in the event Bui Thi Thu Thao of Vietnam took the silver with a 6.30m jump while Olga Rypakova o Kazakhstan finished third with an effort of 6.22m.

“Winning in Doha made me really happy , especially since I'm not used to competing indoors.

However, I expected something better than 6.35m. But I'm not complaining at all. The Asian title is quite an achievement,“ said Mayookha after winning the gold.

Another Indian, M A Prajusha finished fifth with a jump of 6.15m.

Dutee, meanwhile, won a bronze in women's 60m dash with a time of 7.37 secs in the final.

Earlier, she had set a na tional record while winning her heats in 7.28 secs. Viktoriya Zyabkina of Kazakhstan overcame a sluggish start to win the final race in a Championship record of 7.27 secs, well clear of China's Yuan Qi qi (7.33 secs). Sugandha Kumari brought the third medal for India as she won a bronze in women's 1500m with a time of 4:29.06.

In women's shot put, Manpreet Kaur (Jr) finished sixth with her best throw of 15.21m.

In men's high jump, Tejaswin Shankar failed to clear the opening height.

In women's pentathlon, Swapna Burman was at second spot after three events with 3285 points. She finished second in the first event of 60m hurdles, clocking 8.85 secs. She then finished third in shot put with a best throw of 11.38m before clearing 5.74m in long jump.