Finance
Hangzhou: With the men’s doubles pair of Satsiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty smashing their way to a historic first-ever gold medal in badminton and two medals each in archery and kabaddi, India finished the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou with a record-breaking haul of 107 medals.
India finished the Asian Games with a bang, claiming 12 medals on the final day, bringing its total to 107 — 28 gold, 38 silver, and 41 bronze medals — a staggering total for those who recall the country leaving with only one gold medal from Kabaddi when China hosted their first Asian Games in 1990.
This is India’s best-ever performance in the Asian Games, with a total medal count of 107, well beating the previous record haul of 70 medals.
It was the result of years of sweat and toil by a team of 963 people, including athletes, coaches, support personnel, and administrators.
While Rankireddy and Shetty celebrated by throwing their racquets, armbands, and — in Shetty’s case — his sweat-soaked shirt — they danced with gay abandon after defeating an experienced South Korean pair in straight sets to win their first gold, the men’s kabaddi team resorted to an unprecedented on-court protest over an official error, halting play for an hour.
After a review, the officials ruled in favor of the Indians, prompting the Iranian teams to stage an on-court sit-in protest. Subsequently, the issue settled, granting the Indians the points and leaving the Iranians dissatisfied with the loss of points. India reclaimed the gold medal after finishing fourth in the 2018 edition in Indonesia.
In a sense, India displayed both the good and terrible sides of sports, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of sincere sports fans.
But the good was more visible on Saturday, when India finished fourth in the medals tally with an unprecedented total of 107 – 28 gold, 38 silver, and 41 bronze — a far cry from China’s gigantic total of 382 medals— 200 gold, 111 silver and 71 bronze. Japan finished second with 186 medals — 51 gold, 66 silver and 69 bronze — while the Republic of Korea took third place with 190 medals of which 42 were gold, 59 silver and 89 bronze.
Jyothi Surekha Vennam, competing in her third Asian Games, and Ojas Pravin Deotable, competing in his first, won gold medals in women’s and men’s individual events, respectively, in a discipline that is not on the Olympic Games schedule.
The women’s kabaddi squad also regained their honor after being dethroned in the previous tournament in Indonesia in 2018. The 26-25 victory over first-time finalists Chinese Taipei, on the other hand, was too close for comfort for supporters of the sports that India offered to the world.
The men’s cricket team earned India’s sixth gold medal – the most gold medals won in a single day — thanks to a stupid rule that proclaimed the victor based on a ludicrous rule that declared the winner based on the World rankings of the National team in a rain-abandoned match.
Wrestler Deepak Punia earned one of the four silver medals, while archer Abhishek Verma secured his second consecutive silver medal after losing to Deotale in the final. The final took place in chilly and rainy conditions.
The Chathurangam wizards won two silver medals in chess, with the men’s team of D Gukesh, R OPraggnanandha E Arjun, Vidit Santosh Gujarathi, and Pentala Harikrishna placing second to Iran and Uzbekistan taking bronze.
The women’s team finished second to hosts China, with Kazakhstan taking bronze.
On Saturday, the women’s hockey team regained some prestige by winning the bronze medal match, defeating defending champions Japan 2-1. What would irritate them the most is that the team did not secure a spot in next year’s Olympics in Paris. China won the chance to compete in the Paris Olympics by defeating the Republic of Korea in the final.
Archer Aditi Gopichand Swami took bronze. At 17, she represents the future, which appears to be bright if the Hangzhou standard is followed.
Source:IANS
