The women’s hockey team’s perseverance earned it a long-awaited gold as well as Olympic qualification, while boxers, archers and wrestler Sujeet Kalkal also exceeded expectations as India surged into the Asian Games top-five with a brilliant six-gold haul on the penultimate day of competitions in Aichi-Nagoya on Friday.
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India are now at the sole fifth position with 76 medals, including 16 gold, 25 silver and 35 bronze. The country has more medals than fourth-placed Uzbekistan (65) but lags in the gold count by four.
But India seems to be heading for a strong finish if the Friday show is any indication.
It was the end of a 44-year wait in women’s hockey when India defeated defending
champions China 1-0 in the final to secure the gold as well as a direct qualification to the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
Lalmremsiami’s 10th minute strike was enough to close the day as brilliantly as it started when the women’s recurve archery team clinched its maiden Asiad gold by shocking 10-time Olympic champions South Korea in the final.
The recurve trio of Ankita Bhakat, Kirti Sharma and 17-year-old Kumkum Mohod produced a composed performance under challenging conditions to stun the Koreans 5-3.
In between, Indian boxers were quite literally the ‘Lords of the Ring’ as Lovlina Borgohain (75kg), celebrating her 29th birthday, Parveen Hooda (65kg) and Ankush Panghal (80kg) outwitted higher-rated opponents to ensure three gold medals.
It was the best gold haul in Asiad boxing by India and can easily be considered the among the best performances of all time by the country’s boxing contingent.
Sujeet’s detremination on the wrestling mat was exemplary as he took the men’s 65kg category gold, defeating an Olympic champion en route to the title and erasing a massive 2-9 deficit in the final.
Adding to the joy were the silver medals claimed by mixed and men’s recurve archery teams and bronze medals from sailor Nethra Kumanan in women’s dinghy and the men’s quadrant team in sepaktakraw.
The late surge in the Games has bolstered India’s overall campaign that had looked patchy due to the under-performance in disciplines such as shooting and badminton. The latter was particularly disappointing for failing to deliver beyond a men’s team bronze this time.
Besides the gold, Priya Ghanghas (60kg), Kapil Pokhariya (90kg) and Narender Berwal (+90kg) won bronze medals.
The country’s best overall haul came at the Guangzhou 2010 edition, where the contingent won nine medals — two gold, three silver and four bronze.
(With inputs from PTI)
