India concluded its brilliant performance with the highest-ever medal record of 107 at the Asian Games, Hangzhou China. Here are the highlights.
The 19th Asian Games came to an end on Sunday, 8th October, with an awesome closing ceremony at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium in China. The ceremony was an extravaganza of the best of Asian sport and culture, and it sure turned out to be an extraordinary event.
The closing ceremony occurred for a couple of hours and spotlighted a variety of performances, including popular Chinese music, dance, and acrobatics. One of the climaxes of the ceremony was the handover of the Asian Games flag to the next host city, Nagoya. The 20th Asian Games will be held in 2027 in Japan.
The Gold Medalist Men’s Hockey team’s goalkeeper PR Sreejesh was India’s flag bearer at the closing parade of the Indian contingent.
The Indian team culminated by living up to the dedication of “Iss baar 100 paar” by establishing their best-ever achievement of 107 medals. So, the last day of the Asian Games was all about heaping gold medals in various events for India.
On the concluding day of the Asian Games, Indian athletes won a sum of 12 medals, with half of them being gold in sports events like badminton, kabaddi, archery, and hockey. The ultimate score of 107 medals comprised 28 gold, 38 silver, and 41 bronze medals. This exceptional performance exceeded India’s earlier best feat of 70 medals in the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta in 2018.
Jyothi Surekha Vennam started the day by winning the gold medal in Women’s Compound Archery, defeating South Korea’s Chae Won So with a total of 145-149. Indian archer Ojas Deotale grabbed a gold as Abhishek Verma settled for a silver medal in the men’s compound individual tournament at the Asian Games.
In an unprecedented effort, India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty ensured the gold medal in men’s badminton doubles by beating South Korea’s Solgyu Choi and Wonho Kim in two consecutive games (21-18, 21-16).
(The triumphant Indian athletes. Image source: Instagram)
The spirited achievement of team India in the Asian Games was filled with several milestones of success in several sports tournaments. First medal in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle Team Event, the first Gold in the Men’s Air Rifle Team Event, India’s victory in the Squash final, gold in equestrian, and Parul Choudhary’s terrific come-from-behind triumph in the Women’s 5000m race, Aditi Ashok’s historic medal in golf, are some of the prominent landmark accomplishments.
The show-stoppers of the Hangzhou Asian Games were India’s athletes and shooters. Athletics fetched India a maximum of 29 medals. While Indian shooters brought a count of 22 medals for the country.
In Javelin, it wasn’t only India’s ‘Golden Boy’ Neeraj Chopra but also Kishore Kumar Jena who led the pursuit. Both of them achieved a historic 1st-2nd podium stance. Indian athletes Parul Chaudhary and Avinash Sable’s double podium, whereas Tajinderpal Singh Toor upheld his shot put title, 4x400m relay teams’ victory, and Tejaswin Shankar’s national record-breaking decathlon silver, were the memorable periods in track and field events.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma praised the performance of the men’s cricket team for grabbing a gold medal, by defeating the Afghanistan team in the 19th Asian Games on Saturday, 7th October. Both the Indian men’s as well as women’s cricket teams clinched the gold medals respectively. The women’s team won over Sri Lanka’s team.
Asian Games 2023 medal score of India:
Total: 107
Gold: 28
Silver: 38
Bronze: 41
(Image source: Twitter)
Before the conclusion of the Asian Games in Hangzhou, India secured fourth position with 107 medals. For its stellar performance, the President of India, Draupadi Murmu congratulated the Indian contingent.
“India’s contingent signs off the Asian Games with an impressive show of skill and grit! Congratulations to the Indian women and men kabaddi teams for their gold medals! Indian men’s cricket team also won gold while the men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won India’s first-ever badminton gold medal. The nation is proud of the players who bring home 107 medals, setting new benchmarks of excellence,” she remarked.
By now, the jubilant team of India must be returning home with a sense of great pride for their most spectacular performance in any of the Asian Games so far, bringing loads of laurels and of course medals. The nation is indeed craving for many more in the future games, whether it’s the Asian or World Championships, as well as the prestigious Olympic Games.
The Momma Clan 
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