Asiad: Indian archer Tarundeep Rai creates history

Tarundeep Rai created history after he became the first Indian archer to win a silver in the men's individual archery event, in Guangzhou on Wednesday.

In a closely fought contest, the Indian archer lost to the Woojin Kim of South Korea 28-28, 27-28, 29-28, 27-28, 27-29.

Rai gave a vital lead to his opponent in the last set as he shot an eight pointer in his first attempt. And even though the Indian made amends in the next two attempts by scoring nine points each but those did not prove enough to halt the Korean.

And at the end, Rai had to be content with a silver.

Rai, who maintained high momentum though out the day, started his campaign by getting the better of Kien Trong Dao of Vietnam 5-1, before outplaying Sian Chu Cheng of Malaysia 6-2.

He then followed it up by beating Jinhyek Oh of Korea 26-27, 30-26, 28-28, 29-27, 28-27 in the quarter-finals.

In the last four stage, Rai carried on his good form as he managed to defeat Taipei's Chia Chun Sung 29-29, 26-30, 30-27, 28-26, 29-28 to enter the final.

Meanwhile, the other Indian in the fray, Rahul Banerjee ended his campaign on a disappointing note as he could not even make it to the quarter-finals after he surrendered without posing much challenge to Taipei's Chun Chia Sung.

The gold medallist of last month's Commonwealth Games lost 27-28, 24-25, 24-26.