Asian Games 2023: India draw to a close with historic 107 medals, 12 on final day

India’s tally surpassed a historic and monumental 100 medals at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou on Saturday. The men and women’s chess teams bagged silver medals in quick succession to take the country’s tally to a staggering 107 medals. Earlier, the milestone figure of 100 medals was reached when the women’s kabaddi team clinched a gold medal. Asian Games: Medal Tally | Medal Winners On the last day of sporting competition for India, archers Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Ojas Deotale (gold), Abhishek Verma (silver) and Aditi Gopichand (bronze) gave a push in the early morning action. Not long after, the women’s kabaddi team beat Chinese Taipei for the gold medal. The tally was increased further by Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in men’s doubles badminton (gold), men’s cricket team (gold), men’s kabaddi team (gold), women’s hockey (bronze), wrestler Deepak Punia (silver) and men’s and women’s chess teams (silver). The tally of 107 medals - 28 golds, 38 silvers and 41 bronzes - is India’s biggest haul at any Asian Games with the previous best coming in 2018 when the country won 70 medals in Indonesia. The 28 gold medals is also India’s most at any Asian Games.

India men’s doubles badminton pairing of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat South Korea’s Korea’s Choi Solgyu-Kim Wonho 21-18, 21-16 to clinch the gold medal. Making the moment even more special was the fact that it is India’s first gold medal in men’s doubles at an Asian Games. It was also India’s first medal in men’s doubles in 41 years since Leroy D’sa and Pradeep Gandhe won a bronze at 1982 Asian Games. With it, India packed their best-ever performance in badminton with three medals - a men’s doubles gold, a men’s team silver and an individual men’s singles bronze (for HS Prannoy). In 1982, India had won more medals, five, but they were all bronzes. To make things sweeter for the Indian duo, they will raise to World No 1 when the BWF Rankings are updated on Tuesday. Satwik and Chirag, who had become the first Indians to win the Asian championships in 58 years in March, extended their sensational run to achieve their crowning glory. The gold medal on Saturday will fight right in with their 2022 Commonwealth Games gold, 2022 Thomas Cup title and the 2022 World Championships bronze medals. On the podium, the duo, who played a crucial role in India’s historic Thomas Cup win last year, saluted to the flag as the national anthem played in the arena. [caption id=“attachment_13214202” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Jyothi Surekha Vennam won her third medal in archery at the Asian Games on 7 October. Reuters[/caption] In the women’s individual compound archery final, Jyothi Surekha Vennam beat Chaewon So of South Korea 149-145 while Aditi Gopichand triumphed 146-140 over Indonesia’s Ratih Zilizati Fadhly. Meanwhile, in an all-India men’s individual compound final, Ojas Deotale edged Abhishek Verma 149-147. With that, India finished off their archery campaign at the Asian Games with nine medals. India’s previous medals in archery had come in mixed team compound, women’s team compound, men’s team compound, women’s recurve team and men’s recurve team.

Jyothi Surekha Vennam, who has had a stupendous year, continued to hit the mark on Saturday. She led by one point at the end of second set (59-58) despite trailing by one point following the first set. After the third set, that lead grew to two points (89-87) and three points (119-116) after the fourth. Not giving an inch, Vennam extended her lead in the fifth and final set to win by four points. In a game of small margins, Vennam struck a nine on her first arrow before posting 14 consecutive 10s. “I feel short of words and lots of emotions are going through. I need some time to give this a thinking,” Jyothi said after clinching India’s first-ever individual gold medal in archery. In the bronze medal match, Aditi Gopichand kept Fadhly at a distance as the Indonesian archer struggled from the word go. A two point lead after the first set increased to five and six respectively after second and third sets. She kept that momentum and advantage until the final arrow for her first individual Asian Games medal. The 17-year-old Indian, who bagged the World Championship title in Berlin two months ago, was not at her best and dropped four points but that did not matter much as she won 146-140. Aditi, who returned with a gold and a bronze in her maiden Asian Games appearance, attributed the success to her coach Pravin Sawant. “I want to dedicate this medal to my coach because initially he wasn’t coming for the Hangzhou Asian Games, but he came here after much difficulty,” the 17-year-old said. “It feels very good. I was a little nervous because it was a fight for the bronze medal. If I played well, I would get the medal, and if I didn’t then I wouldn’t. I just gave my best and had faith in my coach and myself.” [caption id=“attachment_13214212” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Abhishek Verma (L) and Ojas Deotale (R) after their men’s individual compound archery final at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. Image: Screenshot/SonyLiv[/caption] In the historic men’s individual compound final, Deotale and Verma, who were part of the gold medal winning team, remained level after the first set at 30-30. But a 9 and an 8 in the second and third sets was all that Deotale needed to build a lead and didn’t let go. Except for a 9 in the fourth set, Deotale went flawless. “This was my first Asian Games and I have won gold medals in all three events. What more do I need? I feel like I am living in a dream,” Deotale said. “It’s everyone’s hard work, not just ours, our government also supports us a lot. My family, coaches (Sergion Pagni and Pravin Sawant) also helped a lot.” “I had told myself that this is going to be a friendly match between us. But there is still some pressure, no matter how many times we say it’s a friendly match because there is a little pressure. “It is a gold medal after all, but we knew that whatever happens, it will be for India,” Deotale said. Deotale and Vennam conclude the Asian Games campaign with three medals each as part of the multiple medal winners in Hangzhou for India. Aishwary Pratap Singh and Esha Singh top that milestone tally with four medals in shooting. India men’s kabaddi team seal title in controversial final, women also clinch gold

The Indian men’s kabaddi team reclaimed their Asian Games title albeit in controversial circumstances after their final against Iran was suspended by an hour over debatable interpretation of rules. By the end of it, India won 33-29. The women’s team also had a nervous finish to bag the gold medal, beating CHinese Taipei 26-25 in what was the country’s 100th medal of the Asian Games. Explained: Why was India vs Iran in men’s kabaddi temporarily suspended? At 28-28 with a minute and five seconds left on the clock, controversy erupted when Indian skipper Pawan Sehrawat went in for a do-or-die raid. Sehrawat went into the lobby (out of bound) without a touch. However, Amirhossein Bastami and three other Iranian defenders rushed towards the Indian in an attempt to push him out, leading to confusion and mayhem. It was unclear whether Sehrawat had been successfully tackled or not and there was also confusion as to which rule was to be applied – the old one or the new one. According to the new rule, Sehrawat was out but the old rule deemed Sehrawat and all the Iranians who followed him also out, which would give India four points and Iran one. With the officials see-sawing between ruling in favour of India and Iran, both sets of players sat on the court in protest when the decision went against them in unprecedented scenes. After a lot of deliberation, discussion and arguing by both sides, and the match being suspended, the officials awarded India four points and one point to Iran. The gold medal is retribution for the seven consecutive gold medal winning India men’s kabaddi team who had lost to Iran the semi-finals in 2018. India women’s kabaddi team won the gold medal at an Asian Games for the third time. India had triumphed in 2010 and 2014 but settled for silver in 2018, losing to Iran in the final. This time the India faced Chinese Taipei, an emerging kabaddi nation, in what turned out to be an edge-of-the-seat showdown. After drawing 34-34 in the group stage, it was once again a close encounter. By half time, India were ahead at 14-9 but Chinese Taipei staged a remarkable comeback in the second half. However, it wasn’t to be in the end as a crucial raid by Pushpa with 53 seconds left on the clock made the difference. “We worked really hard after losing the gold in the 2018 Asian Games. We waited for five year but our hard work paid off,” said captain Ritu Negi who was also a part of the silver-winning team at the 2018 Asian Games. “Our players were a bit nervous towards the end but they kept themselves under control and ultimately pulled off the win,” coach Edachery Bhaskaran said. “Chinese Taipei are now a very strong side. They have trained in India in the past and will keep on improving. We also have to work harder and maintain our hold.” Men’s cricket team wins gold

Indian men’s cricket team clinched the gold medal on its Asian Games debut after their final against Afghanistan was called off due to rain, and the Ruturaj Gaikwad-led side was adjudged winners by virtue of being seeded higher. Put in to bat, Afghanistan were 112 for 5 in 18.2 overs when persistent rain halted the proceedings at the Zhejiang University of Technology Cricket Field, and the match never restarted from that point. Earlier, the women’s cricket team had also won a gold medal to make it a two-in-two for the teams in cricket at the Asian Games. Deepak Punia wins silver, wrestlers return with six medals Hasan Yazdani expectedly proved too good for Deepak Punia, who settled for a silver after losing by technical superiority to the Iranian legend in the men’s 86kg category as India’s wrestling campaign concluded with six medals but without a gold. It was the second time that Deepak found himself up against his childhood idol Yazdani, the two-time Olympic medallist and eight-time World Championship medallist. The 24-year-old Deepak, known as ‘Ketli Pehalwan’, was perhaps overwhelmed as he could not find a single scoring move against Yazdani, who had more or less settled the final by taking a commanding 8-0 lead in the first period. Yazdani finished the bout early in the second period to defend his title. On the day, Yash Tunir (74kg), Vicky (97kg) and Sumit Malik (125kg) crashed out of the Games without reaching the medal round. Overall, India won six medals and the embarrassing defeat of Bajrang Punia was the biggest disappointment. Sunil Kumar (87kg), Antim Panghal (53kg), Sonam Malik (62kg), Aman Sehrawat (57kg) and Kiran Bishnoi (76kg) were the other medal winners for India. India men, women chess teams win silver The Indian men’s and women’s chess teams won silver medals. Women’s chess team comprising of GM Harika Dronavalli, IM Vaishali Rameshbabu, IM Vantika Agrawal, and WGM Savitha Shri Baskar all won their games to beat South Korea 4-0 in the final round to finish with 15 match points. The Indian men - Arjun Erigaisi, D Gukesh, Vidit Gujrathi, and Harikrishna Pentala - finished their campaign with a 3.5-0.5 win against the Philippines. They also won their matches against their Filipino counterparts while R Praggnanandhaa drew his game to finish second behind gold winners Iran. India women’s hockey team wins bronze India women’s hockey team, wounded after a disappointment defeat to China in the semi-finals, salvaged pride with a bronze medal finish after beating Japan 2-1. The Indian women thus avenged their 0-1 defeat against Japan in the last edition of the Games in Jakarta in 2018. Savita Punia-led side clinched their seventh Asian Games medal and fourth bronze. Deepika gave India the lead in the fifth minute from a penalty stroke before Japan equalised through Yuri Nagai from a penalty corner in the 30th minute. Sushila Chanu, a rare goal scorer, handed India the winning goal in the 50th minute from a set piece. (with inputs from PTI)