Monday, September 18, 2023

Asian Games 2023: How India performed at Jakarta 2018? A look at top 5 medal winners

The 19th edition of the Asian Games is all set to kick off on 23 September, however, a few events will kick off from 19 September. The event is slated to be held in Hangzhou, China and will continue till 8 October. A total of 655 players from India will participate in the 2023 Asian Games, competing across 39 different sports. Among them, 68 athletes, including 35 men and 33 women, will take part in the track and field events. In the earlier edition of the Asian Games, India finished eighth in the medal tally after securing as many as 70 medals which comprised 16 gold, 23 silver and 31 bronze medals.

Asian Games 2023: Complete schedule of events, live streaming details

The 18th Asian Games also saw India winning their first medal in sepaktakraw, also known as kick volleyball. On the other hand, Rani Sarnobat became the first Indian female shooter to bag an Asian Games gold, while Vinesh Poghat became the first Indian to win a gold medal in women’s wrestling.

Asian Games 2023: New sports introduced and the ones making a return

With the Asian Games knocking at the door, let’s take a look at India’s top five performers from the previous edition:

Neeraj Chopra (Gold, Men’s Javelin Throw): 

Ace javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra came to the 2018 Asian Games on the back of a Commonwealth Games gold. He successfully replicated the performance in the continental event and secured a gold medal with a throw of 88.06m, which was a national record at that point in time. China’s Liu Qizhen won the silver with an attempt of 82.22m, while Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem claimed the bronze with an 80.75m throw.

Tajinderpal Singh Toor (Gold, Men’s Shot put): 

A record-breaking throw of 20.75m helped Tajinderpal Singh Toor win gold at the 2018 Asian Games. The previous Asian Games record of 20.57m in the shot put was set by Saudi Arabia’s Sultan Al-Hebshi. Tajinderpal failed to breach the 20m mark in his first four attempts in the finals. But he got the job done in the fifth try. Tajinderpal shattered his own record at the Inter-State Championships in June this year with a throw of 21.77m.

Vinesh Phogat (Gold, Women’s 50kg Freestyle Wrestling):

Like Neeraj Chopra, Vinesh Poghat went into the 2018 Asian Games as a Commonwealth Games gold medalist. She pulled off a roaring start to the campaign with an 8-2 victory over China’s Sun Yanan. En route to the final, Poghat got rid of South Korea’s Kim Hyung-joo and Uzbekistan’s Dauletbike Yakhshimuratova, registering an 11-0 and a 10-0 win respectively. In the final showdown, Poghat prevailed over Japan’s Yuki Irie to earn the historic gold.

Rahi Sarnobat (Gold, Women’s 25m Pistol Shooting): 

The journey to winning her first Asian Games gold was not easy for Rahi Sarnobat. The Kohlapur-born shooter squared off against Thailand’s Naphaswan Yangpaiboon in the final. Both shooters put up a neck-to-neck battle to end the match in a draw. The first round of shoot-offs also failed to decide on the winner. In the second series, Sarnobat found the target three times to finish atop the podium, while her opponent could hit two.

Sharath Kamal (Two Bronze, Men’s Team Table Tennis & Mixed Doubles): 

 

Chinese, Japanese and South Korean players mostly dominated the table tennis event at the Asian Games until the 2018 edition when a Sharath Kamal-led Indian squad broke the norm. The team including Kamal, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Anthony Amalraj, Manav Thakkar and Harmeet Desai finished second in the group stage before beating two-time champion Japan in the quarter-finals. In the end, they fell to a 3-0 loss to South Korea and secured the bronze.

Sharath Kamal replicated the feat in the mixed doubles event as well, teaming up with Manika Batra. The Indian duo edged past Malaysia, South Korea and North Korea to reach the semi-final where China had the last laugh.



from Firstpost Sports Latest News https://ift.tt/A1jvczM

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