India Record Their Best-Ever Medal Haul In Asian Games

Mtoday news

Guangzhou, Nov 26: The men’s and women’s kabaddi teams expectedly maintained their supremacy by clinching the gold as India created history by recording their best-ever medal tally in the Asian Games by adding six more medals on a productive 14th day of competitions here today.

 

While the kabaddi teams did not sweat much to keep their reputation intact in rather lopsided finals, long distance runners Preeja Sreedharan and Kavita Raut had their moment of glory by winning the silver and bronze medals respectively in the women’s 5000 m event.

Rollersports fetched India a couple of unexpected bronze medals with Anup Kumar Yama bagging one in men’s single free skating before combining with Avani Panchal to finish third in the pairs skating event.

With the addition of six more medals, India’s medal tally climbed to a record 12 gold, 15 silver and 32 bronze (total 58), the biggest ever haul in the Asian Games so far.

India’s best medal haul till date was recorded in the 1982 Games in Delhi when they had won 13 gold, 19 silver and 25 bronze for an overall tally of 57.

With a few more gold medals expected in the second session, particularly from the boxers, India will be looking for a top-five finish in the Games. India had finished tenth on the medals table in the last edition of the Games in Doha with a tally of 10-17-26.

Much was expected from the kabaddi teams to provide the boost to the gold haul and they did not disappoint.

The men’s kabaddi team maintained their impeccable track record by winning the gold medal for the sixth time on the trot, demolishing Iran with a facile 37-20 margin what turned out to be a lop-sided contest.

 

The script unfolded on expected lines for the women’s kabaddi team also as they completed a memorable Asian Games debut by clinching the gold medal with a comprehensive win over Thailand in the final.

The Indians beat Thailand 28-14 in a dominating performance to clinch the inaugural women’s kabaddi gold of the Asian Games.

It turned out to be a relatively good day for India in the athletic arena as Preeja and Kavita clocked their personal bests to clinch the silver and bronze respectively in the women’s 5000m race.

Preeja, who earlier clinched the 10,000m gold, returned a timing of 15:15.89.

Kavita, who bagged a silver in 10,000m, could not get past her compatriot yet again but managed a personal best of 15:16.54 to win the bronze.

Bahrain’s Mimi Belete Gebgregeiorges clinched the gold medal with a timing of 15:15.59, which was incidentally her personal best as well.

Two bronze medals came from rollersports with Anup Kumar Yama bagging one in men’s single free skating before combining with Avani Panchal to finish third in the pairs skating event.

Anup totalled 244.2 in his singles routine for which he fetched 123.6 on technical merit and 120.6 for artistic impression.

In the pairs event, Anup and Avani combined for a score of 222 which included 112.5 points on technical merit and 109.5 for artistic impression.

Despite suffering an elbow injury, Indian woman grappler Suman Kundu reached the semifinals of the 63kg freestyle before exiting from the hunt for the gold medal, but is still in with a chance to bag the bronze on the final day of wrestling event.

Suman edged out Vietnam’s Luong Thi Quyen 3-1 in her opening bout by making a strong comeback after being outclassed 5-0 in the first period, by clinching the next two narrowly despite sustaining the injury to her joint.

She then fought on bravely and again rallied after losing the first period to Kyrgyzstan wrestler Nestan Kiiazova 3-1, but then won the next two with handsome 5-0 and 2-0 margins.

However, the injury hampered her from giving her best in the semifinal bout and she lost 0-3 to Mongolia’s Nasanbyrmaa Ochirbat.

PTI