Asian Games Day 5: Manu Bhaker fights back in shooting after slow start, Indian swimmers and paddlers in action

UPDATE - follow-up to Asian Games Day 5 Live Updates: Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh off to slow start shooting; Mirabai Chanu eyes elusive medal: Star Indian shooter Manu Bhaker bounced back strongly into the top eight during the 10m air pistol qualification round after opening with a modest score of 95. Teammates Suruchi Singh and Esha Singh struggled in the early stages, sitting outside the top 30 with scores of 94 and 93 in their respective rounds, though Suruchi later recovered some ground with a 97-point series and Esha added a 95-point round. In the pool, Soniya Devi Phairembam and Parvathy Geetha took sixth place in the Women's Kayak Double 500m heats with a time of 2 minutes and 2.538 seconds, securing a spot in the next round. Megha Pradeep secured fifth position in the Women's Canoe Single 200m heats by clocking 49.675 seconds to move into the semi-finals. The Men's Kayak Four 500m squad featuring Oinam Arun Singh, Harshwardhan Singh Shaktawat, Varinder Singh, and Naocha Singh Laitonjam advanced to Final A after finishing third in their heats with 1:29.447. Meanwhile, Aneesh Sunil and Vedaant Madhavan placed fourth and sixth in their Men's 200m Freestyle heats with timings of 1:22.65 and 1:23.67. Benedicton Beniston took fourth place in his Men's 100m Butterfly heat with a time of 53.08 seconds, missing out on the final, while Sajan Prakash did not start the race. In table tennis, Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade dropped their opening game 9-11 against the Maldivian pair of Mohamed Ismail and Fathimath Ali in the mixed doubles second round. Over in sepak takraw, the Indian team defeated the Philippines 2-0 in their preliminary group B match.