Incheon: India ended their 17th Asian Games campaign at the eighth spot on the medals tally, a drop of two positions from the previous edition of the mega-event which drew to a close.
India signed off with 57 medals – 11 Gold, 10 Silver and 36 Bronze. The tally dipped considerably compared to the 2010 edition in Guangzhou, China.
Four of those Gold medals came in athletics (two) and kabaddi (two) while archery, boxing, hockey, shooting, squash, tennis and wrestling accounted for the rest.
In 2010, where the country’s Asian Games preparations had started earnestly with the immediately preceding Commonwealth Games hosted in New Delhi, the break-up of 65 medals won was 14 Gold, 17 Silver and 34 Bronze earning India the sixth spot on the medals rostrum.
In 2010, a total number of 609 competitors piloted the country to a two-and-a-half-decade-high spot out of 45 countries and regions.
At the end of it all competitions here, the 541-strong Indian sporting contingent has once again secured the top 10 place out of the same number of nations and regions.
The first golden touch to India’s campaign, which stuttered early on before picking up some pace, came from talented army shooter Jitu Rai who handled the pressure well to nail the men’s 50m pistol crown on the very first day.
The second Gold was fetched by compound men’s archers team – Sandeep Kumar, Raijat Chauhan and Abhishek Verma.
Third Gold was bagged by the men’s squash team spearheaded by Saurav Ghosal. Others in the team was Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu, Kush Kumar and Mahesh Manaonkar.
Star wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt notched up India’s fourth Gold medal in the men’s freestyle 65kg final wrestling event.
Yogeshwar came with a mission to win Gold and accomplished it in style by ending India’s 28-year-old Gold medal draught in the ancient sport. The London Olympic Games bronze-medallist fought with verve and determination to win the men’s freestyle 65kg Gold and was the saving grace on the mat.
Discus throw player Seema Punia was the next golden girl winning the event. She beat back a strong challenge from two Chinese rivals to bag the coveted yellow metal.
Tennis star Sania Mirza and Saketh Myneni’s defeated Chinese Taipei’s Hsien Yin Peng and Hao Ching Chan 6-4, 6-3 to win India’s sixth Gold medal at Incheon. This is Sania’s third consecutive Asian Games mixed doubles final appearance. In 2006, she won Gold with Leander Paes. She followed that up with a Silver in 2010 with Vishnu Vardhan.
Magnificent M C Mary Kom gave India its seventh Gold medal. Mary Kom became the first Indian woman boxer to win a Gold medal at the Asian Games in South Korea. The five-time world champion came from behind to beat Kazakhstan’s Zhaina Shekerbekova in the 51kg category.
Next in the line was the Indian men hockey team. They beat Pakistan 4-2 in penalty shootout in the final. It was 1-1 after regulation time. They ended a 16-year wait for Gold
Indian women team – M R Poovamma, Tintu Luka, Mandeep Kaur and Priyanka Panwar – won the ninth Gold for India after winning the 4×400 metres relay race.
The country’s campaign ended on a high with the men and women’s kabaddi teams retaining the Gold after waging tough battles against Iran in both finals.
Defending champions India staged a late comeback to edge Iran 27-25 in the men’s kabaddi final and the women’s team beat Iran comfortably 31-21 for their second successive Gold at the Games.
With PTI inputs