Asian Games 2018, Day 1: Bajrang Punia wins India's first gold medal, Sushil faces shock defeat

Hello and welcome to the highlights of the first day of action of Asian Games 2018 from Jakarta and Palembang.

Here's the complete schedule of Day 1. 

Bajrang Punia was the star of the first day for India at the Games. The 24-year-old clinched the yellow metal in the men's 65kg freestyle wrestling. 

Earlier in the day, Apurvi Chandela and Ravi Kumar won a bronze in the 10m Air Rifle Team Event. 

There were some dominant performances from the Indian men and women's kabaddi teams, the defending champions. 

Indian hockey women's team made a solid start to their campaign as they crushed hosts Indonesia 8-0 with Gurjit Kaur getting a hat-trick. 

Swimmers Sajan Prakash and Srihari Nataraj impressed as well with the former finishing fifth in the 200m butterfly final and the latter, a 17-year-old, finishing seventh in the 100m backstroke final. 

However, the biggest disappointment of the day came when Sushil Kumar lost the first bout of his 74kg category event. The two-time Olympic champion may well finish his celebrated career without winning a gold or a silver at the continental level. 

Just one wrestling medal today. Pawan Kumar, who had the opportunity to make it two today, fails by losing the men's 86kg freestyle bronze medal match to Mongolia's Orgodol Uitumen. 

Bajrang Punia is certainly the toast of the nation now. Here's PM Modi wishing the young wrestler, who has achieved glory on the opening day of the Games. 

"Congratulations @BajrangPunia for the memorable victory in the 65 kg freestyle wrestling. This win is even more special because it is India's first Gold in the @asiangames2018. Best wishes for your future endeavours. #AsianGames2018," Modi wrote on Twitter. 

Bajrang Punia does it for India, he makes sure there is a gold medal to show for on Day 1 of the Games.

The 24-year-old was dominant throughout the competition but was tested in the final of the men's 65kg freestyle event by Japan's Daichi Takatani.

Punia raced to a 6-0 lead but Takatani fought back and the bout had a thrilling finish as the Indian wrestler held on to a three-point lead.

What an effort from the young wrestler! He had won the Commonwealth Games gold medal earlier this year and has delivered on the big stage in Jakarta. 

This is Punia's second Asian Games medal as well as he had won a silver in the 61kg category in Incheon. 

It's time for the big bout of the day. India's Bajrang takes on Japan's Daichi Takatani in the men's 65kg freestyle final. 

In just a minute and 15 seconds, Bajrang has taken a 6-0 lead. 

India women have been mighty dominant against hosts Indonesia in a Pool B match. At half-time, Rani Rampal's women are leading 6-0.

Bajrang Punia will be shortly in action in the men's 65kg freestyle gold medal match. The Asian Games 2014 silver medalist will be hoping to change the colour of his medal. He will face Takatani Daichi of Japan in the final. 

Meanwhile, Pawan Kumar will take on Orgodol Uitumen of Mongolia in the men's 86kg freestyle bronze medal match. 

Pawan Kumar manages to stay in contention for a medal in the men's freestyle 86kg category. He crushes Fahriansyah of Indonesia 11-0 via technical superiority in the repechage round 2. 

India's Sajan Prakash had finished third among the eight finalists in the heats but he manages only a fifth-place finish in the final of men's 200m butterfly. 

WIth a timing of 1:57.75s, the 24-year-old has finished 3.22s slower than the gold medalist. 

Seto Daiya and Horomura Nao finish 1-2 on the podium while Li Zhuhao clinches bronze.

Srihari Nataraj finished at the seventh spot in the eight-man final of men's 100m backstroke. The Bengaluru teen, who broke the national record in the heats, managed a timing of 56.19s. 

China's Xu Jiayu clinched the gold with a timing of 52.34s, Irie Ryosuke of Japan won the silver after finishing the race in 52.53s. Lee Juho of South Korea won the bronze with 54.52s. 

Pawan Kumar is back in medal contention. He gets an opportunity to play the repechage round of 86kg freestyle event.

He will take on local hope Fahriansyah in a while from now. 

Bajrang Punia is on fire at Asian Games 2018. The 24-year-old Commonwealth Games champion is a win away from becoming the Asian champion.

Bajrang, who won the silver medal at Incheon four years ago, demolished Batchuluun Batmagnai of Mongolia 10-0 in the semi-final. 

Now he is the only Indian wrestler in gold medal contention today. The medal bouts of wrestling will start at 6 pm IST today. 

Sushil Kumar is now out of contention for the repechage round as Batirov Adam, who defeated the Indian wrestler in the qualification round, has lost his quarter-final of the men's 74kg freestyle event. 

Sushil would have got an opportunity to be in repechage rounds had Adam reached the final of the event. 

It's curtains for the two-time Olympic medalist. 

Mausam Khatri loses Men's Freestyle 97kg quarter-final to Ibragimov Magomed of Uzbekistan.

Second Indian after Sandeep Tomar to lose in the last-eight round today.

India made light work of Maldives 3-0 to make the quarter-final of men's team event. India will be taking on hosts Indonesia in the last-eight round. 

Pawan Kumar came up with a dominant performance against Heng Vuthy of Cambodia to reach the quarter-final of men's 86kg freestyle wrestling. 

He won the bout 8-0 by Fall. 

India's Bajrang Punia storms into the semi-final of men's 65kg semi-final after crushing Fayziev Abdulqosim of Tajikistan via technical superiority (12-2).

It was a superlative performance from the silver medalist of Asian Games 2014. He is a win away from assuring himself a silver medal. 

India's Sandeep Tomar went down in a hard-fought quarter-final bout of men's 57kg freestyle wrestling against Atrinagharchi Reza of Iran 15-9. 

Sandeep was trailing 6-0 but managed to make a strong comeback to go into the break on level terms. 

However, the Iranian surged ahead in the second half, winning 9 points, which in the end proved too much for Sandeep. 

The Indian wrestler is not out of medal contention yet as he has an opportunity to make the repechage rounds if Reza qualifies for the final. 

India's Divij Sharan and Karman Kaur Thandi beat Alberto Jr Lim and Marian Jade of Philippines 6-4, 6-4 to reach mixed doubles Round of 16. 

Sandeep Tomar vs Atrinagharchi Reza (Afghanistan) - Men's Freestyle 57kg quarter-final

Bajrang Punia vs Fayziev Abdulqosim (Tajikistan) - Men's Freestyle 65kg quarter-final

Sushil Kumar still has a chance to win a bronze medal in the men's 74kg freestyle wrestling event.

Adam Batirov, who had piped Sushil in the qualification round, is through to the quarter-final after demolishing his Afghani opponent Abdul Gafar 15-5. 

If Batirov gets to the final of the event, then Sushil will get a chance to compete in the repechage round. 

Hours after the Indian women's team crushed Japan, their male counterparts have handed a 50-21 thrashing to Bangladesh in their Group A opener. 

Bajrang Punia beats Uzbekistan's Khasanov Sirojiddin 13-3 via technical superiority to reach the quarter-final. He is the second Indian wrestler today after Sandeep Tomar to make the last-eight round. 

Bajrang Punia was down 3-0 in his Men's 65kg Freestyle Round of 16 match against Uzbekistan's Khasanov Sirojiddin.

However, just before the half-time break, the Indian wrestler made a strong comeback winning six points on the trot.

The 2014 Asian Games silver medallist (61kg category) needs to maintain the intensity to book a quarter-final berth.

Defending champions India are dominating Bangladesh in the Group A match. They are leading 34-15.

Earlier in the day, Indian women's kabaddi team, who are also the holders, crushed Japan 43-12. 

Veteran Sushil Kumar may have faced a shock defeat but Sandeep Tomar dominates his 1/8 Finals match against Rustem Nazarov of Turkmenistan.

With 6-4 scorelines in both the halves, the 27-year-old from Uttar Pradesh storms into the quarter-final. 

It's an anti-climax in Jakarta. Two-time Olympic champion Sushil Kumar loses first qualification bout of men's 74kg freestyle event. 

The veteran wrestler was outclassed by Batirov Adam of Bahrain 5-3. The latter displayed exceptional defensive skills even as the Indian wrestler went into the break at 2-1. 

Sushil will now have to rely on repechage rounds. 

It's a bronze for India's Apurvi Chandela and Ravi Kumar in the Mixed Team 10m Air Rifle event. The duo open the account for the country at the Asian Games. 

Chandela and Kumar were impressive, holding on to their second spot till the end of stage one. 

However, in the elimination, a couple of sub-10 shots worked against their favour even as China survived elimination scare to leapfrog India and finish with a silver medal.

Chinese Taipei's Yingshin Lin and Shaochuan Lu were a cut above the rest, winning the gold with a Games record of 494.1.

India's Apurvi Chandela and Ravi Kumar have been impressive. They are at the second spot at the end of Stage 1. 

Elimination round begins as Chinese Taipei in gold medal position and Korea in bronze medal position. 

India's Apurvi Chandela and Ravi Kumar are in action in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team event final. 

12 pm IST onwards

• Wrestling - Men's Freestyle Qualification
• 57kg - Sandeep Tomar
• 65kg - Bajrang Punia
• 74kg - Sushil Kumar
• 86kg - Pawan Kumar
• 97 kg - Mausam Khatri

12 pm IST 

• 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team Event Final 
• Apurvi Chandela and Ravi Kumar

1 pm IST

• Badminton: Men's team event
• India vs Maldives

5 pm IST

• Swimming finals
• Srihari Nataraj: Men's 100m Backstroke, Sajan Prakash: Men's 200m Butterfly

5: 30 pm IST

• Men's Kabaddi: India vs Sri Lanka Preliminary Match

6 pm IST

• Wrestling medal matches

7 pm IST

• Hockey: Women's Preliminary Match
• India vs Indonesia

Indian pairing of Manu Bhaker and Abhishek Verma finish sixth in the Mixed Team 10m Air Pistol event. Only the top five progress to the final.  A big disappointment this, considering 16-year-old Bhaker's recent form. 

India have been outplayed by Chinese Taipei 84-61 in the first Group A match of women's 5x5 basketball at Asian Games. 

Jeena Skaria (13), Sangeeta Kaur (11) and Sidhu Raspreet (12) starred for India, who had made a good start to the match by going 17-18 in the first quarter.

They didn't let Chinese Taipei run away with the lead at the half-time as well.

However, riding on Chen Yenyu and Peng Szuchin's forms, the Chinese Taipei extended their lead in the third quarter, scoring 31 points, 14 more than the Indian team.

India fought hard, scoring 16 points in the final quarter but the poor showing in the previous quarter proved decisive.

Manu Bhaker, one of India's brightest hopes for a gold medal, has teamed up with Abhishek Verma for th mixed team event.

The duo is currently ranked 13th midway through the second round of qualification with 262 points.

Om Prakash and Sawarn Singh have qualified for men's doubles sculls after finishing second (combined) in the heats.

Only Kim Hwigwan and Kim Jongjin of South Korea had a better timing (7:06.29s) than the Indian pair, who managed 7:10.26s.

Meanwhile, India's rowing star Dattu Bhokanal finished second in his heat in the men's singles sculls with a timing of 8:09.21s. He will be featuring in the repechage round now.

India need to step up if they are to win their preliminary round match against Chinese Taipei. They are trailing 64-45 at the end of the third quarter.  

Sajan Prakash qualifies for men's 200m butterfly final. The 24-year-old, with a timing of 1:58.12s, finished second in Heat 3 to qualify for the eight-man final.

Prakash stands third among eight finalists behind the Japanese duo of Seto Daiya and Horomura Nao.

Earlier in the day, Srihari Nataraj qualified for the Men's 100m backstroke final.

His timing of 55.86s was the last best among the eight men qualified for the final.

Mani Arvind failed to qualify for the final as he finished 16th with a timing of 58.09s.

 The finals of swimming events will start from 5pm IST today. 

India's Anjul Namdeo finishes an impressive fifth in the the final. While he registered a total of 9.66, China's Sun Peiyuan took the gold with a total of 9.75.

Indoesia's Marvelo Edgar Xavier took the silver with 9.72 while Chinese Taipei's Tsai Tsemin took the bronze with 9.70.

Apurvi Chandela (415.3) and Ravi Kumar (420) shoot a total of 835.3 in the qualifying round and finish second.

They are behind Korean pairing of Eunhea Jung and Hyeonjun Kim as the duo shot a combined total of 836.7.

Chinese Taipei, China and Mangolia have also qualified for the final, which will be held at 12 pm IST today.

India's Manavjit Singh finishes the first round of qualification with a perfect 25. He is tied on points at the top spot with Lebanon's Moussa Alain.

Meanwhile, Lakshay with 22 points, is on the 19th spot.

Four more rounds of 25 shots each to go.

Great start to the morning. India have made a solid start in the women's kabaddi team, beating Japan 43-12 in their first Group A encounter.

India were dominant from the start and had inflicted their first all out in the first-half, which ended in favour of them at 19-8. Japan were unable to match India's firepower as they withered off after a decent start.

Women's Trap: Semma Tomar impresssive in first qualification round

Earlier in the day, India's Seema Tomar ended the first round of Trap Women qualification round at the first place, tied on 24 points with Lebanon's Bassil Ray and Japan's Yuki Nakayama.

Meanwhile, Shreyasi Singh finished the first round with a total of 22 points and is ranked 13th.

The athletes still have four rounds of 25 shots each in the qualification round. The top six from the qualification round will make the final.