After Biggest Medal Haul At Asian Games, Here's A Recap Of How Indian Athletes Performed

India had their best-ever medal haul in the Asian Games here, but the tally could have been bigger, but for the failures of some of the favourites to deliver on the big stage.

India’s gold tally of 15 here was their joint best along with the 1951 Delhi Games, but the overall haul of 69 medals was the highest-ever, surpassing the 65 they had won in Guangzhou in 2010. They collected more silver medals (24) than at any other previous Games while their bronze tally of 30 was slightly behind the Games in Incheon (36) and Guangzhou (34).

India had sent 541 athletes in 28 disciplines for the 2014 Asiad and returned with 57 medals. In comparison, India had a contingent of 570 athletes across 36 sports which garnered 69 medals, an improvement of sorts over the last Games. However, India finished at 8th in the final tally, the same position where they finished in four years back in Incheon. Their best finish in the Asiad was 2nd in 1951 in Delhi and 3rd in 1962 in Jakarta. They haven’t finished in top-5 since coming fifth in the 1986 Seoul Games.

Track and field athletes shone the brightest in Indonesia, but India disappointed in sports like men’s hockey and kabaddi where they were firm favourites. Then there were others sports like archery, shooting and wrestling where the return was below par while athletes in sports like bridge, equestrian, kurash, wushu and table tennis excelled, breaking new grounds.

As the almost incident-free Games finished with a spectacular closing ceremony on Sunday, TOI gives a lowdown on India’s performance:

The Hits

Athletics:

India have won more medals in athletics at the Asiad than in any other disciplines and this Asiad was no different. Since the beginning of the Games in 1951, India have won 282 medals including 74 gold in athletics. The next best is wrestling with only 56 medals including 9 gold. Thus, it was not a surprise that athletics once again was the sport which accounted for most medals – 19 with 7 gold.

PTI

Neeraj Chopra (javelin), Manjit Singh (800m), Jinson Johnson (1500m), Tajinderpal Singh Toor (shot put), Arpinder Singh (triple jump, Swapna Barman (heptathlon) and the women’s 4x400m quartet of Hima Das, MR Povamma, Sarita Gayakwad and VK Vismaya won the top-place finishes. The competition is some events was not world class but that should not take anything away from the athletes as the likes of Toor and Chopra scaled new height with their efforts. Among the nongold winners, Dutee Chand’s twin silvers in 100m and 200m helped her bury the hyperandrogenism ghost while Hima Das’ 400m silver made the teenager the athlete to watch out for in coming days.

Women's Hockey:

They did everything right, but until the final. They beat South Korea and China and gave a tough fight to Japan in the final. But that was not enough for them to win the gold for the first time since the 1982 Asian Games. Their performance, however, raised hopes that they are shaping up well for big tournaments like the World Cup and Olympics.

PTI

Wrestling:

India improved their gold tally in the sport, that too without any help from two-time Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar. Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat claimed gold, even as Sushil crashed out in the first round itself. India had won five medals in wrestling four years back but that tally included just one gold – from Yogeshwar Dutt.

PTI

Shooting:

Despite reports of acrimony between coaches and players as well as “attitude problems of some of the young shooters, India did relatively well to bag nine medals from the ranges. Saurabh Chaudhary and Rahi Sarnobat were the winners of the two gold. Teenagers like Chaudhary and Vihan Shardul showed that they have it in them to lead India’s charge in the future. There was some disappointment as two highly-rated youngsters --Manu Bhaker and Anish Bhanwala -- failed to finish on podium despite having the potential to do well.

AP

Bridge:

Pranab Bardhan is 60 and Shibnath Sarkar is 56. Both combined to win India their 15th and final gold in this Asiad. Bridge was played for the first time in the Games and the Indians, consisting mostly of players above 50, ensured that they are up for the challenge at the continental level with 3 medals.

PTI

Table Tennis:

It’s for the first time in the history of the Games that India have managed to finish on the podium, and not once but twice. In a sport, where the competition at the continental event is almost as high as the World Championships, the indefatigable Achanth Sharath Kamal led the way to bronze medals in men’s team and mixed team events.

AP

Wushu:

Before the Indonesian Games, India had won just three medals in three editions of the Games till Incheon four years ago. This time they bagged four – all bronze — through Santosh Kumar, Surya Bhanu Pratap Singh, Narender Grewal, Roshibina Devi, giving a boost to the sport’s prospects back home.

PTI

Kurash:

This was for the first time that the Uzbek sport was introduced in the Games and the Indians, led by the gritty Pincky Balhara, did well to win two medals including a silver. There were murmurs regarding the decision to send the team for the Asiad but the athletes justified their selection.

PTI

Sepak takraw:

The 12-member men’s regu team gave the sport some identity back home with a bronze.

Reuters

The Misses

Archery:

India settled for two silver, but the total was much less that what they must have hoped to achieve here. Their top archers — Atanu Das and Deepika Kumari —failed to deliver even as the compound archers came to the rescue to ensure India did not return empty-handed by winning the medals.

PTI

Rowing:

India had hopes of getting more than one gold, which the rowers won in Indonesia, under maverick Romanian coach Nicolae Gioga. But they could not as the senior rowers failed to perform under pressure. Men’s quadruple gold was the lone solace for them.

Tennis:

India’s campaign was marred by controversies even before it had started as Leander Paes pulled out of the event at the last moment after failing to get a ‘specialist’ doubles partner. Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan claimed the doubles gold while India also claimed two bronze. But the tally could have been higher as India had the potential to win more.

AFP

Boxing:

The 10-member team could get only two medals including a gold, thanks to the last-day heroics of Haryana boy Amit Panghal, who beat Olympic champion Hasanboy Dusmatov of Uzbekistan to win the gold in 49kg. As many as eight boxers failed to advance to the medal rounds. India had won five medals in boxing in Incheon including a gold from MC Mary Kom. Four years before that, they had 9 including two gold.

PTI

Squash:

India’s tally from squash was five medals – one silver and four bronze. India had the chance to turn the silver into gold after the women’s team stunned World no.1 Malaysia in the semifinals. But the team surrendered tamely in the final against Hong Kong.

Badminton:

Despite boasting of having some top players in their ranks, India could not win a gold in any of the events in badminton – with PV Sindhu coming closest to winning the yellow metal. Country’s top male shuttler Kidambi Srikanth crashed out in the first round itself in men’s singles.

PTI

Kabaddi:

The kabaddi teams’ performance was the biggest low for India as, for the first time in the history of the Games, India could not win a gold in either men’s or women’s events, thanks to the Iranian team which ousted the men in the semifinals and beat the women in the final.

Men's Hockey:

Another low for India as their men’s hockey team was considered strong favourites to win the Asiad gold. The team scored goals aplenty in early part of the competition, but failed to deliver at the crunch as they lost against Malaysia in the semifinals. It was a heartbreaking setback.

AFP