All of us will agree that the passion for sport is contagious. It takes human emotions on a roller coaster ride.
The whole nation is thrilled as our athletes surpassed the milestone of 100 medals in the Asian Games. India finished its Asian Games 2023 campaign in Hangzhou, China, with a record haul of 107 medals (28 gold, 38 silver, 41 bronze) to finish fourth (on gold-medal count), improving on its 2018 tally of 70 medals at the 2018 Jakarta, by a whopping 37 medals.
Athletics brought India the most success, with 29 medals. Neeraj Chopra and Kishore Kumar Jena’s historic javelin 1-2, Parul Chaudhary and Avinash Sable’s double podiums, Tajinderpal Singh Toor’s shot put title, 4x400m relay teams’ success and Tejaswin Shankar’s national record breaking decathlon silver were the highlight moments in track and field, stated Olympics.com.
It further explained how Indian shooters finished with an unprecedented 22 medals, including seven golds, at Hangzhou. Sift Kaur Samra and the men’s 10m air rifle time, headlined by Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, broke world records en route to their Asian Games 2023 success. The website also recorded that the Indian cricket and kabaddi teams also won gold medals at the Asian Games.
While it was a success on debut for both cricket teams, the kabaddi teams reclaimed their throne after the 2018 Jakarta disappointment. Taking stock of the various events in which India won medals, the olympics.com website pointed out that India clinched gold and secured a Paris 2024 Olympics quota in men’s hockey.
The women’s hockey team, however, took home bronze. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won India’s maiden badminton title at the continental meet. The men’s team, meanwhile, took silver and HS Prannoy, with a spirited display despite an injury, bagged the bronze medal, the website posted.
At the squash courts, Dipika Pallikal and Harinder Pal Sandhu won the first-ever mixed doubles gold on offer in Asian Games history. The men’s team also won the title, while the women’s team settled for bronze. Saurav Ghosal added a fifth consecutive individual medal, a silver, to his Asian Games tally. According to the website, Anahat Singh and Abhay Singh also secured a mixed doubles bronze.
India’s compound archers also clean swept the titles while recurve teams also bagged two medals. The nation also won its first equestrian gold in 41 years. The website highlighted Rohan Bopanna and Rutuja Bhosale won the mixed doubles tennis title.
Lovlina Borgohain won the silver medal and a Paris 2024 Olympic quota on her Asian Games debut. India, meanwhile, also secured three more boxing quotas for Paris via Nikhat Zareen (50kg), Preeti Pawar (54kg), and Parveen Hooda (57kg), the website recorded. Aditi Ashok became the first Indian women’s golfer to win an Asian Games medal, fetching silver. Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee came into the limelight after beating reigning world champions Chen Meng and Yidi Wang on the way to winning the bronze medal at Hangzhou, the olympics.com website stated. The Indian women’s regu also won their first-ever bronze medal at the continental meet. Both Indian chess teams also won silver medals, the website added. India also won medals in rowing, sailing, wushu, roller skating, canoe and bridge, wrapping up an eventful Asian Games 2023 for India, according to the olympics.com website.