Hangzhou 19th Asian Games 2023: India's 107 Medals Victory

Hangzhou 19th Asian Games 2023

India Won 107 Medals at 19th Asian Games 2023 where 28 Gold, 38 Silver and 41 Bronze medals were won by our great athletes. India won medals in more than 50% of the 40 odd events in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. And most of the medals came in disciplines that witnessed better competition.

When India announced a 650-plus V V strong contingent for the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, many an eyebrow was raised across the country. Those following our fortunes in the sport extravaganza in the three decades since the start of the 1990s were heavily critical of the size of the squad even though the Government stressed in no uncertain terms that our sportsmen were good enough to better India's previous highest medals tally of 70, including 16 glittering gold medals, achieved in the last edition hosted by Indonesia.

However, at the end of the 2022 edition of the Games held in September! October 2023 the pessimists were silenced and stunned as our team surpassed the coveted 100-medal-mark for the first time ever in the 72-year-old history of the Asiad. Finally, those who teased India's Asian Games slogan –“Ab Ki Baar 100 paar" were handed by our athletes what they deserved in a hitherto unseen stellar performance that saw India clinching the fourth place overall in the medals tally.

Had India retained some of the gold medals, especially in events like chess, wrestling and bridge that its stars had won last time in Jakarta, the figure would have easily touched 115 against the final tally of 107 that included 28 gold medals.

There may be many claims and counter claims regarding the improved performance of India's teams in various disciplines this time. Many associations and its officials are in the forefront these days for taking -credit" for our performance.

Besides the substantial financial, infrastructural and personnel (competent coaches, skilled trainers and experienced physios) support extended by Union Government at various levels prior to the Games, the grit and determination of our players to attain honours also played a significant role throughout the Games. Perhaps for the first time in many years Indians really believed that they could perform well without any hiccups against their stronger opposition. It will be dear if one looks especially at the results in events like shooting and archery, which together produced 12 of India's 28 gold medals. Never did Indian shooters and archers perform that well in the history of the Games. In fact before the start of the Games, there were severe criticisms from the patrons of other sport disciplines about what they felt as 'excessive gover¬nment patronage' to shooters and archers. However, the marksmen and archers proved such doubting Thomases wrong to the hilt.

Winning medals in more than 50% of the 40 odd events itself is a reasonably good achievement for India. And most of the medals came in disciplines that witnessed better competition.

Indeed it is a fact that there continues to be big gap in quality between the top three teams namely China, Japan and Korea and other countries, including India. It is clearly evident from the total medals secured by these three countries so far in the Games history. While China has clinched over 3600 medals, including the 383 in the latest edition, Japan has close to 3400 so far. Korea's number stands around 2400 whereas India which has been a regular participant since the inaugural Games held on its home turf 72 years ago (in 1951), is a distant fourth with around 860 medals. More importantly, China has started participating in the quadrennial sport event only from 1974 onwards.

The 19th Asian Games Hangzhou Medals won by Countries List

Can't a country of nearly 1.4 billion people produce more medals in greater levels of competitions. Until a decade ago, evidently there was very little professionalism in most sport disciplines in India other than cricket, tennis and chess. The development of better sport infrastructure and arrival of world class trainers from various corners of the world in recent years have started bringing an overall improvement in some of our sport discplines. As a result Indians have been able to start their campaign in various championships on a confident note unlike what it used to be until the beginning of the millennium. Earlier, our sport persons, especially our track and field stars had a feeling that they were underdogs and couldn't do much against their formidable rivals. However, there are enough reasons to believe that some important victories at the World level, including Anju Boby George's 2003 World Athletics Championship bronze, Neeraj Chopra's gold in Olympic Games and World Championship, upcoming long jumper

Shaili Singh's silver, walker Amit Kumar's bronze and 4x400 m mixed relay at the Junior World Championship (U-20) in Nairobi have succeeded in enhancing the confidence of our athletes in a big way.

Similarly, India's badminton teams are apparently in a roaring form in the last few years. The medals by Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu in the last three Olympic Games and India's historic triumph in Thomas Cup in 2022 have done a world of good for our shuttlers. Undoubtedly such victories at high level contests have been a morale booster to the team. As a result, India has been able to win the gold in the men's doubles at Hangzhou. Satwiksairaj Ranki Reddy and Chirag Shetty have now won medals at all major competitions including the Asian Games (gold), Asian Championships (gold), World Championship, BM World Tour (seven gold, and 2 silver), and Commonwealth Games (gold 2022, silver 2018).

With Pakistan no longer a force that they used to be, India's men hockey team certainly started as favorites and they did not leave their fans down. Their winning the bronze at the Olympic Games after a 41 year gap, no doubt, has played a decisive role in improving their performances since then. Equally commendable was the performance of Indian women in finishing with a bronze. It may be recalled the fast improved ladies were simply unlucky to lose a medal in the last Olympic Games. Improved shows by our girls have attracted more attention and viewership for women's hockey these days.

One hopes the overall performance of Indian sportspersons at Hangzhou will give a great boost to India's preparations for next year's Olympic Games in Paris where stronger and tougher competitions are on cards. However, if the shooters continue to maintain or improve upon their present form, medals will certainly be not out of their reach

While India was expected to win about 15 to 20 medals overall in the 'track and field competitions in the the glamorous event of the Asian Games, the final number of 29 medals in athletics certainly exceeded the expectations of regular watchers of our performances. However, contrary to our earlier hope of a minimum of 10 gold medals, India could pick up only six first positions in the competition. Among the unexpected setbacks were those involving long jumpers World Junior Championship silver medallist long jumper Shaili Joseph and Jeswin Aldrin who had some of the best jumps of the season. Surprisingly the beneficiaries of their disappointing shows were their compatriots Sreeshankar Murali and Ancy Sojan, both silver medallists in thei respe¬ctive competitions. In fact Anots medal involved her career performance of 6.63 metres.

India's 4x400 m mixed relay team were the pre-race favourites but had to settle for silver against African- propelled Bahrain. Similarly, the 2018 Asian Games champion in the 1500 metres Jinson Johnson, who had apparently overcome a host of health issues, could manage only the bronze in his pet event behind his team mate Ajay Kumar.

The gold winning performances of Avinash Sable (3000 metres steeple chase), javelin thowers Neeraj Chopra and Annu Rani, long distance runner Parul Chaudhary, shotputter Tejinder Pal Singh Toor and Indian men's 4x400 m relay team were commendable as they came against a stronger opposition. Now our sports buffs believe some of them can repeat such performances in the next Olympic Games as well. But the bigger question still remains unanswered. Should this nation of more than one billion people remain content with just 5 or 6 medals?

The unsavoury controversies surrounding the President of the Wrestling Federation of India (WEI) have had a negative effect on the performance of Indian wrestlers. Though India won six medals, five of which were bronze. The team was without a gold this time unlike in the last edition where India's topmost wrestler Bajrang Punia and Mesh Phogat were winners in their respective categories. Our only silver in wrestling came from Deepak Punia, who was unlucky to lose his bout for bronze at Tokyo Olympics two years ago. Bajrang who was also a bronze medallist in Olympic Games returned without a medal for the first time in the Asian Games since 2014. In Incheon, the wrestler clinched the silver in the 61 kg class. In Incheon too, India had a gold winner in Yogeshwar Dutt, who won the 65 kg class.

Will Indian wrestlers be able to continue their medal winning shows in Olympic wrestling next year in Paris as well. Remember, it is the only sport that produced at least one medallist for the country in every Olympics since Beijing (2008). India has 6 medals in wrestling since then.

Two gold medals in squash was no mean achievement. It remains to be seen if India will be able to strike a winning combination against superior opponents from Egypt, New Zealand and England in the future competitions.

India at Asian Games:  Medals by Each Edition

Indian women pugilists are seemingly in good form these days. Out of the five bronze medals won by our team, four were from the eves. Time alone can tell whether Nikhat Zareen or Lovlina Borghain will be among medals in Paris. Out of the last four Olympic Games, Indians have won at least one bronze each in boxing in all editions other than Rio (2016). A good draw and an impressive performance can help one of our women boxers make a podium finish.

Sports fans' earnest hope at this juncture is our performers will not flatter to deceive when it matters most. There is no room for resting on the laurels that came in recent years. Good luck India.