Asian Games

Indian Contingent – A ruler of the Asian Games 2018………. A REWIND

Posted by Prakhar Drolia on

The Indian Contingent, consisting of 524 athletes, in the Asian Games 2018, was not only a participating nation but were the contingent which gave its best Asian Games performance and finshed 8th on the medals table.

It was one of the finest of the 46 contingents. It got hold of the finest opportunities while slipped on many, they got home the unexpected ones but lost the most expected ones, some created history while some athletes repeated history. They progressed in some new sports while fell back in the sports in which they were the kings and queens.  They shook some, others shook them, but at the end they proved that they were not less than the best, with them getting a total of 69 medals including 15 gold, 24 silver and 30 bronze medals brought by the stars of India. So here is the great Indian performance report:

  • ATHLETICS

Bringing most of their medals (a total of 19) from athletics, India showed one of their best, most impressive and extravagant performance in Athletics (Asian Games). India gained a lot from young and growing athletic stars such as Hima Das, Swapna Barman, Tajinder.S.Toor and many more. India also got to a better and better position in the Track and Field events with one athlete winning two medals and bringing double the joy and double the power in Track events. There were some events which surely left a deep memory in the viewer’s mind such as the Men’s Javelin Throw , Men’s Shot Put, Women’s 200 m, Men’s 800 m, Women’s 4 x 400 m Relay, Women’s 4 x 100 m Relay, Mixed 4 x 400 m Relay and many more. India surely slipped on dome great podium as well as gold medal finishes which could have made it even better and interesting.

 

  • SHOOTING

India continued to show some great show at the shooting ranges with a total of 9 medals shot in the bag. Indian athletes showed their best performances and everyone tried to compete out the others but where some shot on target , some stars shot just off target resulting in India losing big medals in events which India had mastered . But as it is said – Every negative has a positive hidden in it. Some stars shone out and made India win 2 prestigious medals in 1 single event.

 

  • WRESTLING

Wrestling seemed to be a big contention of medals for India as both the men and women had shown some valorous and impressive performance in the past but this turned out to be the sport with a lot of disappointment for the Indian Contingent as they came home bringing a total of only 3 medal but it surely included 2 gold medals and other 1 as a bronze medal. The Indian Contingent was seen losing to their rivals in the first starting rounds sealing their fate but 3 wrestlers showed some better performance and were able to bring home medals.

 

  • BRIDGE

Later it all came down to a game of cards when people who loved to play card games contributed their bit to the medals tally. India showed good performance winning 3 medals (1 gold and 2 bronze).

 

  • ROWING

Indian stars showed a great performance where India actually got the result of their years and years of hard work in rowing. The medals bought in by the team could have surely increased if there was more women participation as well which was surely lacking. This proved India’s strength in the waters to the world.

 

  • TENNIS

In the game of tennis (also known as lawn tennis), India proved to be decisive bringing in 3 medals. India brought in medals from all the 3 broad section of Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles and Doubles (Men’s). India survived the international scare in all these three sections but could not get through the host opponent team – Indonesia, in the Mixed Double’s Quarter-Finals. But India still proved to be impressive with stars such as Leander Paes and Sania Mirza not participating.

 

  • BOXING

In boxing as well India showed pretty poor performance by winning only 2 medals which included a gold(Men’s Light Fly 49kg) and a bronze medal(Men’s Middle 75kg). India, in the past had beaten up even the best in the world but this time even failed to cross the Asian barrier, leaving the Indian supporters disappointed and looking at other players taking away the medals that the Indian Contingent deserved.

 

  • ARCHERY

In Archery, India continued to show poor performance by only striking in two silver medals in Men’s and Women’s Compound Teams (one each). India could have surely bagged in several more medals if the individual participants would have struck and hit at the right place at the right time which would be a bullseye. But India still got home two medals from a tough war of arrows and precision fought between the two of the most competitive and game changing countries – India and Korea.

 

  • EQUESTRIAN

Then next comes Equestrian in which India revealed and displayed their great horse riding skills and getting home two silver medals. India got home a team medal from which Fouaad Mirza also got an Individual Medal. India got home a medal after a long time bringing back India’s pride and glory.

 

  • HOCKEY

The defending champions (India) could not hold on to their titles as both the men’s and the women’s team could not grab the gold medal. Both the teams were unable to continue their winning stride in the Asian Games 2018 as they could not show the best of their performance in the two most important and deciding games.

  1. Men’s Team – the team showed some great performance throughout the tournament by scoring over a century of goals and not even conceding one , but this remained only till they met Malaysia against whom they not only conceded goals but even lost the all-important semi-final. India had one foot in the Finals until the last minutes when Thailand hit in the goal which drew the match 2-2. The match went into a long Penalty Shootout where Malaysia proved themselves to be the ones who can snatch away the title opportunity from the defending champions in just moments which even surely showed India’s poor performance in defense, goalkeeping, and surely penalty strikes.
  2. Women’s Team – The women’s team showed some better performance than he Men’s team by entering the finals and only settling for a silver after a 2-1 loss against the Japan’s team in a nail biting match. India’s overall tournament performance could have surely been better if there was a better/higher penalty corner conversion rate. In the final match as well, India played well and could have played a little more faster as whenever Japan got a foul shot , they resumed the game pretty fast not giving the Indian defense time but still India showed some great performance.

 

  • KABBADI

The defending champions could not hold on to their titles as both the men’s team(in Semi-Final) and the women’s team(in the final) lost against Iran and ended up just raiding a bronze and a silver medal.

  1. Men’s team – the men’s team surely were not very consistent through the tournament even losing to South Korea once. India’s defense and raids were still a treat to watch. But Iran outplayed them and took the title.
  2. Women’s team – The team stormed into the finals and then lost to Iran in a very tense match. There are also speculations on an umpiring error which sealed the fate for Iran’s win and India’s loss. The Indian team played with great performance. They came back with a silver medal.

 

  • other events

India also won other medals and created history in some events such as Sepaktakraw, Kurash, Wushu etc. India also failed at some places such as the E-SPORTS arena, where India surely had a fair chance.

 

India still proved to be the masters of all different kinds of sport. All the best to the Indian athletes and sports persons for all their future activities and events. May they all bring hundreds of medals back to India with records like no other contingent and athletes have ever created. India has that great potential to become the masters of the world sporting arena.

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