India bag three silvers on Day 1 at Hangzhou

The gold medal eluded them, but India kicked off their Asian Games campaign by bagging three silver and two bronze on Day 1 of the continental showpiece on Sunday. It sets the ball rolling for the 655-member contingent and the country will hope to start making some serious inroads soon.

The shooters, in the women's 10m air rifle event, were expected to challenge for medals and they did exactly that. Ramita Jindal, Mehuli Ghosh, and Ashi Chouksey opened India's account at the Hangzhou Asiad with a silver in the women's team event. The Chinese trio of Han Jiayu, Yuting Huang and Zhilin Wang took the first gold medal of the Games, shooting 1,896.6 points in the final. The Indians shot 1,886, followed by Mongolia (1,876.9).

In the individual final, competing in a quality field that included Chinese world No.1 Han Jiayu, world No.14 Yuting Huang and World Championships bronze medallist Ghosh, the 19-year-old Ramita shot with admirable calm and precision to seal bronze.

"I am very happy. I knew that I would win something here. To win two medals on the opening day of the competition is special," Jindal said after the final.