In the OK Dinghy, Gautam Dutta was fourth in a fleet of five after finishing third in both the races today for 14 penalty points.

R Mahesh finished seventh in both races and was seventh overall in Laser Class; in Optimist boys, 14-year-old Shaikh Saif was eighth. In girls', Amruta Chapekar was placed last while in the Super Moth class, 17-year-old Arjun Pradipak failed to do well for the second day running and was lying last after four races.

In the canoeing and kayaking competition, Vaga Ram and Pijush Kanti Baroi brought up the rear in the C-1 1000 and K-1 1000 men's finals. Vaga Ram finished sixth and last with five minutes 19.17 seconds. Kanti Baroi was also on the outer lane as the slowerqualifier and finished last in the six-man final clocking four minutes 22.11 seconds in the k-1 1000 men's event.

Dingko, Gurcharan shine

Dingko Singh, who has not been cleared by the government for the Games, won his 54 kg preliminary boxing bout against China's Wei Hongtao on points.Gurcharan Singh stopped Jordan's Alhindawi Basel. All three Indian boxers seen in action so far have won their first bouts.

National champion Dingko scored points with body punches to the Chinese to keep ahead on points before receiving a 12-6 verdict. Dingko will take on Vireak Svay (Cambodia) in the quarter-final. Gurcharan Singh, the 22-year-old Army pugilist, forced the referee to stop the bout after the second round. Gurcharan will now take on Bisal Masri of Lebanon in the quarter-final bout on the 11th.

Solanki misses out

Indian judokas completed a barren outing with Yashpal Solanki falling at the verge of bronze in the men's half-middle weight category. Aarti Kohli lost her first bout to crash outof contention in the women's half-middle class (57-63 kg).

Solanki overwhelmed his Kuwaiti opponent Khaled Alenezi with a wa-azari in four minutes, 21 seconds but lost to Kazakh Rusland Seikhanov in quarter-final with an ippon (knock-out) in one min 12 seconds of the five-minute bout.

However, in the repechange bout, he scored a knock-out (ippon) win over Surasak Reianthong of Thailand, throwing his opponent down in 2.15 minutes to qualify for the bout to determine the third to fifth places.

A win would have landed India their first bronze medal at the Games, but Solanki was outclassed by Kazem Sarikhani of Iran with an ippon verdict in just two minutes and 44 seconds.

Yasin, Alok progress

Indian pair Yasin Merchant and Alok Kumar made it to the pre-quarterfinals while Ashok Shandilya and Devendra Joshi bowed out in the very first round of the snooker doubles.

Merchant and Alok Kumar had to overcome stiff resistance from Chinese pair Wei Guo and Da Hailin to emerge 5-4 winners. AshokShandilya and Devendra Joshi lost to Leng-Tang Chew and Kien-Foo Yong of Malaysia 4-5 to lose out in the first round.

In the eight-ball pool singles, both Indian entries Manan Chandra and Dharmendra Lilly were eliminated in the first round. Chandra went down to Gandy Valie of Philippinnes 4-9 while Lilly lost 5-9 to Thailand's Phirom Ritthiprasong.

Consolation win

Indian spikers pulled off a straight-set win over Kazakhstan in volleyball's Group B league.

The Indian men beat Kazakhs 15-11 15-7 15-9 to notch up their first win in the five-team group.

India have to take on Pakistan in their remaining group match.

Relay team finishes fifth

The Indian swimming relay team finished fifth in the second heats in the 4x100 metre freestyle relay for women. China, which finished first in the heats, clocked 3:55.31 while the Indian quartet of Abhinaya Shetty, Shikha Tandon, Richa Misra and Nisha Millet clocked 4:08.94.

Their timing was the third poorest in the two heats in which ninecountries participated. Sebastian Xavier, who swam the fourth heats in the men's 100 metre freestyle, finished sixth with 55.40 seconds.

In the women's 100 metres backstroke, Abhinaya Shetty was listed to compete, but did not take the plunge.

Women drubbed

India women football team suffered its second defeat when Chinese Taipei mauled it 13-1 in a Group B encounter. The Indians have conceded 20 goals in two outings, having lost 7-0 to Korea on Monday. They take on powerful China in their last league encounter on the 11th.

The only goal India got was through T Thongram who converted one of the four clear chances India got.

Mekhla, Sohni lose

Indian challenge in the squash (women) ended with Sohni Kumari and Mekhala Subedar crashing out. Mekhala lost to Masami Kofuji (Japan) 3-9, 9-1, 9-1, 7-9, 8-10 while Chy Lin Kuan (Malaysia) crushed Sohni 9-4, 9-0, 9-0.