Hangzhou: India are poised to celebrate a historic century of medals at the Asian Games after wrestlers bagged three medals, the sport of sepaktakraw added a historic bronze and the men’s hockey team reclaimed the gold to take the country’s tally to 95 here Friday.
India are already assured of six medals in different disciplines — kabaddi (2), archery (3), hockey (1), badminton (1) and cricket (1) and once the competition folds in these event, the country will cross the coveted 100-medal mark for the first time ever Saturday.
At least four more wrestlers are in contention on the penultimate day of the competition and it won’t be a surprise if more medals are added to the tally.
India had won 70 medals in the last edition in Indonesia where the country’s athletes won 16 gold, 23 silver and 31 bronze medals to record their best-ever performance.
On the back of a splendid show by the shooters (22) and track and field athletes (29 medals), who contributed 51 medals, India had already surpassed its best-ever show Wednesday.
The Indian contingent won many surprise medals, the biggest being a women’s table tennis team bronze by Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee, who humbled the mighty China in the semifinals.
Parul Chaudhary’s sensational dash in the last 30 metres of the women’s 5000m event will also be remembered for a long time as the Meerut runner snatched a gold by edging Japan’s Ririka Hironaka in a close finish.
Javelin thrower Kishore Kumar Jena’s astonishing 86.77m throw that gave him lead over superstar Neeraj Chopra for a brief period in the men’s javelin event was another unforgettable moment.
Later Chopra won the gold, while Jena finished behind him to settle for a silver medal.
Canoers Arjun Singh and Sunil Singh Salam’s historic bronze in the men’s double 1000m along with Ram Baboo and Manju Rani’s third place finish in the mixed 35km race walk were perfect examples that if athletes refuse to bow down to the hardships life throws, excelling in sports is possible.
PTI