Bopanna and Sharan land men's doubles gold

Palembang, August 24 (PTI): Top seeds Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan won their maiden men's doubles gold at the Asian Games, dominating the final clash with a thoroughly clinical performance here on Friday.   Bopanna and Sharan defeated Aleksander Bublik and Denis Yevseyev of Kazakhstan 6-3 6-4 in 52 minutes.   Less than 20 minutes into the match, the Indians were 4-1 ahead, breaking Bublik and Yevseyev at the very first opportunity they got.   In no time, the top seeds were serving for the set with a 5-3 lead and Bopanna's serve wrapped it up in style for them.   The Kazakhs had their moments but were undone by erratic play, a brilliant cross-court backhand winner one moment and a powerless return buried in the nets the very next minute.   In contrast, Bopanna and Sharan's easy camaraderie shone through in the match and they displayed near-perfect on-court coordination.   Bopanna was particularly formidable from the baseline, displaying a good range of strokes to pull off some tough winners, helped by strenght.

Asiad 2018: Shooter Heena takes bronze

  Palembang (Indonesia), August 24 (IANS) Experienced shooter Heena Sidhu took bronze in the women's 10m Air Pistol event at the 18th Asian Games here on Friday.   Heena scored 219.2 in the final. Wang Qian of China won gold with 240.3 while South Korea's Kim Minjung (237.6) got silver.   Manu Bhaker, the other Indian to reach the final, finished at a disappointing fifth position with a score of 176.2.   Manu was, however, in promising form during the qualification round earlier in the day. She scored 574 to qualify for the final at the third spot.   Heena struggled during qualification and could only manage the seventh spot after scoring 571.   Wang had topped the qualification round with 580 points while Kim (575) was second.