There weren't many people who took the motto "Iss baar 100 paar" for the 2023 Asian Games seriously when it was introduced by the Indian Olympic Association and the Sports Ministry. The previous best was 70 in Jakarta five years prior, after all.
Even seasoned analysts of Indian sports leaned on the side of caution, providing a cautious estimate of somewhere in the mid 80s, due to logic, cynicism, and India's medal history. The goal of 100 medals seemed a little improbable even halfway through the two-week competition. The women's kabaddi team had the honor on Friday of winning the 100th medal for India in addition to winning back the gold they had lost in 2018. It was maybe natural that kabaddi commemorated the event since they are the ones who claim to be the creators of the sport.
India took 72 years and 18 editions to get to this point. The nation moved up four positions from Jakarta, when India had 16 gold, 23 silver, and 31 bronze, to finish the competition in Hangzhou late on Sunday night with 107 medals, including 28 gold, 38 silver, and 41 bronze.
It is no small feat for India given that the majority of its medals came in the traditional events despite having the largest-ever contingent of 655. While perspective is a good thing, there were an incredible 60 disciplines here, including newcomers like breaking, sport climbing, and e-sports that pushed the number of medals much higher than ever before.
First things first..
— India_AllSports (@India_AllSports) October 8, 2023
India finish at 4th spot at Hangzhou Asian Games with their BEST EVER Medal haul: 107 medals: 28 ? | 38 ? | 41 ?
Final Medal Tally ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/xltOTsffNr
With 29 medals (six gold) in track and field, 22 (seven gold) in shooting, and 9 (including five golds) in archery, India won more than half of its medals in just three disciplines. Nearly equal numbers of men and women won medals, with 52 coming from men and 46 from women, with the remaining medals coming from mixed events.
Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, a rifle shooter, and Esha Singh, a pistol expert, were two of the 30 competitors to earn multiple medals with four apiece. Throughout the two weeks of competition, India didn't have a single day without a medal.
The medal winners this time were sepak takraw (women's regu bronze), wushu (silver), roller skating (men's and women's 3000m relay bronze each), and bridge (men's team silver). Sports like cricket, kabaddi, hockey, badminton, or shooting are well-known and among the more popular sports in India.
Additionally, there were several spectacular performances and medals in sports that were previously thought to be off limits for Indians, such as Sutirtha and Ayhika Mukherjee's surprising table tennis quarterfinal victory over the Chinese pair of Meng Chen and Yidi Wang, the reigning world champions;
Anush Agarwalla, Hriday Chheda, Sudipti Hajela, and Divyakriti Singh's team, which won the first-ever dressage team gold in equestrian, Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy's incredible gold-winning run in badminton doubles, and Eabad Ali's bronze in windsurfing, which was India's first-ever international medal in the competition.
Anahat Singh won a bronze medal in squash at the age of 15 while Sanjana Bathula won one in roller skating. Aditi Swami, a world champion at the age of 17, added a compound women's team gold and an individual bronze. Palak, who is also 17 years old, set a new Games Record in 10m air pistol. Esha Singh, who is only 18 years old, won four medals.
It was an edition that may have marked the final appearance of two athletic superstars who tried their all to avoid going home empty-handed - Rohan Bopanna (tennis) and Saurav Ghosal (squash). It was also about a new generation of athletes who want more and fear nothing, taking on the world as equals, like Abhay Singh's final match against Pakistan to win men's squash team gold, and HS Prannoy coming back from the dead to reach the semifinals for the first men's singles medal since Syed Modi in 1982.
| Sport | Event | Gold Medalist | Silver Medalist | Bronze Medalist |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archery | Compound Men's Individual | Ojas Deotale | Abhishek Verma | |
| Archery | Compound Women's Individual | Jyothi Surekha Vennam | Aditi Swami | |
| Archery | Compound Men's Team | Gold | ||
| Archery | Compound Women's Team | Gold | ||
| Archery | Compound Mixed Team | Gold | ||
| Archery | Recurve Men's Team | Silver | ||
| Archery | Recurve Women's Team | Bronze | ||
| Athletics | Men's 3000m Steeplechase | Avinash Sable | ||
| Athletics | Men's 4 x 400m Relay | Gold | ||
| Athletics | Men's Javelin Throw | Neeraj Chopra | ||
| Athletics | Men's Shot Put | Tajinderpal Singh Toor | ||
| Athletics | Women's 5000m | Parul Chaudhary | ||
| Athletics | Women's Javelin Throw | Annu Rani | ||
| Athletics | Men's 10000m | Silver | Gulveer Singh | |
| Athletics | Men's 10000m | Bronze | Gulveer Singh | |
| Athletics | Men's 1500m | Silver | Jinson Johnson | |
| Athletics | Men's 1500m | Bronze | Jinson Johnson | |
| Athletics | Men's 5000m | Silver | Avinash Sable | |
| Athletics | Men's 5000m | Bronze | Avinash Sable | |
| Athletics | Men's 800m | Silver | Mohammed Afsal | |
| Athletics | Men's 800m | Bronze | Mohammed Afsal | |
| Athletics | Men's Decathlon | Silver | Tejaswin Shankar | |
| Athletics | Men's Decathlon | Bronze | Tejaswin Shankar | |
| Athletics | Men's Long Jump | Silver | Sreeshankar | |
| Athletics | Men's Long Jump | Bronze | Sreeshankar | |
| Athletics | Women's 100m Hurdles | Silver | Jyothi Yarraji | |
| Athletics | Women's 100m Hurdles | Bronze | Jyothi Yarraji | |
| Athletics | Women's 1500m | Silver | Harmilan Bains | |
| Athletics | Women's 1500m | Bronze | Harmilan Bains | |
| Athletics | Women's 3000m Steeplechase | Silver | Parul Chaudhary | |
| Athletics | Women's 3000m Steeplechase | Bronze | Parul Chaudhary | |
| Athletics | Women's 4x400m relay | Silver | ||
| Athletics | Women's 800m | Silver | Harmilan Bains | |
| Athletics | Women's 800m | Bronze | Harmilan Bains | |
| Athletics | Women's Long Jump | Silver | Ancy Sojan | |
| Athletics | Women's Long Jump | Bronze | Ancy Sojan | |
| Athletics | 4x400m Mixed relay | Silver | ||
| Athletics | Men's 10000m | Bronze | Gulveer Singh | |
| Athletics | Men's 1500m | Bronze | Jinson Johnson | |
| Athletics | Men's Triple Jump | Bronze | Praveen Chithravel | |
| Athletics | Women's 3000m Steeplechase | Bronze | Priti Lamba | |
| Athletics | Women's 400m Hurdles | Bronze | Vithya Ramraj | |
| Athletics | Women's Discus Throw | Bronze | Seema Punia | |
| Athletics | Women's Heptathlon | Bronze | Nandini Agasara | |
| Athletics | Women's Shot Put | Bronze | Kiran Baliyan | |
| Athletics | 35km Race Walk Mixed Team | Bronze | ||
| Badminton | Men's Doubles | Satwiksairaj Rankireddy | Chirag Shetty | |
| Badminton | Men's team | Silver | ||
| Badminton | Men's Singles | Bronze | Prannoy | |
| Boxing | Women's 75kg | Lovlina | ||
| Boxing | Men's +92kg | Narender | ||
| Boxing | Women's 45-50kg | Nikhat Zareen | ||
| Boxing | Women's 45-50kg | Preeti | ||
| Boxing | Women's 54-57kg | Parveen | ||
| Boxing | Women's 54-57kg | Parveen | ||
| Bridge | Men's Team | Silver | ||
| Canoe Sprint | Men's Canoe Double 1000m | Bronze | ||
| Chess | Men's Team | Silver | ||
| Chess | Women's Team | Silver | ||
| Cricket | Men's Team | Gold | ||
| Cricket | Women's Team | Gold | Bronze | |
| Equestrian | Dressage Team | Gold | ||
| Equestrian | Dressage | Bronze | ||
| Equestrian | Dressage | Anush Agarwalla | ||
| Golf | Women's individual | Silver | Aditi Ashok | |
| Hockey | Men's Team | Gold | ||
| Hockey | Women's Team | Bronze | ||
| Kabaddi | Men's Team | Gold | ||
| Kabaddi | Women's Team | Gold | ||
| Roller Skating | Women's Speed Skating 3000m Relay Race | Bronze | ||
| Roller Skating | Men's Speed Skating 3000m Relay Race | Bronze | ||
| Rowing | Lightweight Men's Double Sculls | Silver | ||
| Rowing | Men's Eight | Silver | ||
| Rowing | Men's Four | Bronze | ||
| Rowing | Men's Four | Bronze | ||
| Rowing | Men's Pair | Bronze | ||
| Rowing | Men's Pair | Bronze | ||
| Rowing | Men's Quadruple Sculls | Bronze | ||
| Rowing | Men's Quadruple Sculls | Bronze | ||
| Sailing | Girl’s Dinghy ILCA 4 | Silver | Neha Thakur | |
| Sailing | Men's Dinghy ILCA 7 | Bronze | ||
| Sailing | Men’s Windsurfer RS - X | Bronze | ||
| Sepaktakraw | Women's Regu | Bronze | ||
| Shooting | 10m Air Pistol Team Men | Gold | ||
| Shooting | 10m Air Rifle Team Men | Gold | ||
| Shooting | 50m Rifle 3 Positions Team Men | Gold | ||
| Shooting | 50m Rifle 3 Positions Team Women | Gold | ||
| Shooting | 50m Rifle Prone Team Men | Gold | ||
| Shooting | Double Trap Team Men | Gold | ||
| Shooting | Double Trap Team Women | Gold | ||
| Shooting | Junior 10m Air Pistol Men | Gold | ||
| Shooting | Junior 10m Air Rifle Men | Gold | ||
| Shooting | Junior 10m Air Rifle Women | Gold | ||
| Shooting | Junior 25m Rapid Fire Pistol Men | Gold | ||
| Shooting | Junior 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men | Gold | ||
| Shooting | Junior 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women | Gold | ||
| Shooting | Junior Double Trap Men | Gold | ||
| Shooting | Junior Double Trap Women | Gold |
With 383 medals (201 gold, 111 silver, and 71 bronze), China is the leader in the medal count, but India's continual improvement shows the country's sportsmen are making progress. A century of medals has marked the beginning of a new era for Indian Olympic sport, which is reason enough to celebrate.
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