India at Asian Games 2022: A record high in Hangzhou with 107 medals

It was a record-setting Asian Games campaign for the Indian contingent in Hangzhou, China. India registered its best-ever medal tally of 107 (28 gold, 38 silver, 41 bronze), first time breaching the 100-mark in the Games history.

India finished fourth in the medals table while China was at the top with 382 medals (200 gold, 111 silver, 71 bronze) followed by Japan (186 medals; 51 gold, 66 silver, 69 bronze) and Korea (190 medals; 42 gold, 59 silver, 89 bronze).

There are seven gold medals on offer in Karate (6) and Artistic Swimming (1) on the final day of the Games on Sunday. However, there are no Indian athletes in action in these events.

India’s previous best was 70 medals in the last edition in Indonesia where the country’s athletes won 16 gold, 23 silver and 31 bronze medals to record their best-ever performance.

The tally had touched the 95-medal mark on Friday while 12 medals came on the last day of the campaign, clinching six gold, four silver and two bronze.

Track and field athletes led the way for India’s record haul with 29 medals followed by shooters (22).

From September 24 to 30, the first week of the Games, India had won 38 medals, and between October 1 and 7, it add 69 more medals.

Here is a look back at how India achieved the record medal haul in the second and final week of the Asian Games.

100th medal

The 100th medal for India at the Asian Games 2022 came from the women’s kabaddi team as it beat Chinese Taipei 26-25 in a thrilling final on Saturday (October 7).

This was the women’s kabaddi team’s third title triumph in the continental showpiece, doing one better than its runner-up finish in the last edition of the Games in Indonesia and fulfilling the country’s expectations of touching the historic three-figure mark for the first time.

Later in the day, the Indian men's kabaddi team too emerged victorious after an hour of arguments to reclaim its Asian Games title, beating defending champion Iran 33-29 in a controversial final, which was temporarily suspended.

Double gold in cricket

The Indian men’s cricket team clinched the gold medal on its Asian Games debut after their final against Afghanistan was called off due to rain, and the Ruturaj Gaikwad-led side was adjudged winners by virtue of being seeded higher in the continental showpiece on Saturday.

Last week, the Indian women’s team had won gold after beating Sri Lanka in the final.

Hockey medals

A dominant Indian men’s hockey team thrashed defending champions Japan 5-1 to reclaim the Asian Games gold medal after nine years and qualify for next year’s Paris Olympics.

The Indians, who had to be content with a bronze medal in the last edition in Jakarta, thus won their fourth Asian Games gold and first since the 2014 Incheon edition. India’s other gold medals came in 1966 and 1998, both times in Bangkok.

Also, the Indian women's hockey team rose from the shock semifinal loss to edge past defending champions Japan 2-1 and claim the bronze medal.

The Indians, ranked seventh in the world, were the favourites to win the gold but one bad match cost them dearly as hosts China thrashed them 4-0 in the semifinal.

But the Savita Punia-led side left behind the disappointment and displayed commanding hockey to clinch its seventh Asian Games medal and fourth bronze.

The Indian women thus avenged their 0-1 defeat against Japan in the last edition of the Games in Jakarta in 2018.

Historic gold in badminton

The Indian duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty downed South Korea's Choi Solgyu-Kim Wonho 21-18, 21-16 to clinch a historic gold medal.

Satwiksairaj and Chirag became the first-ever Indian badminton doubles pair to win the Asian Games gold medal, having eliminated former world champions Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in the last four stage.

Archers dominate

Ojas Deotale and Jyothi Surekha Vennam claimed a hat-trick of gold medals on Saturday, while Aditi Swami bagged a bronze as Indian archers signed off with a historic haul of nine medals.

The recurve archers earlier on Friday bagged two medals, India's first in 13 years in the Olympic discipline.

India had won two silver medals in archery in the 2018 edition in Indonesia. India's previous best was at Incheon 2014 when the country had won three medals.

Neeraj wins after Chinese officials try to ‘cheat’

Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra became only the second man in Asian Games history to defend his gold with a season's best effort of 88.88m in the javelin throw event marred by controversy.

The 25-year-old Chopra sent his spear to 88.88m, his fourth career-best throw, in his fourth effort to clinch the gold. He had won a gold in the 2018 Asian Games with a throw of 88.06m.

Before Chopra, Pakistan's Muhammad Nawaz won gold in the 1951 and 1954 editions of the Asian Games.

Chopra's compatriot Kishore Jena took the silver with a throw of 87.54m in a 1-2 finish for India. Jena thus also sealed his berth for the Paris Olympics. The qualification mark was 85.50.

A huge controversy erupted during Chopra’s event when his first attempt was not measured, prompting legendary Anju Bobby George to accuse the Chinese officials of "trying to cheat" and "deliberately targeting the Indians".

It seemed Chopra had comfortably cleared the 85m mark but to his surprise, the effort was not recorded by the officials apparently because they could not spot the landing point of his javelin at the 'Big Lotus' stadium.

It did not, however, matter much to Chopra in the end as he was able to shrug off the chaos on the field and went on to produce his season's best.

But it was not an easy win for Chopra as he had to face an intense and stirring duel with compatriot Jena who, in fact, was leading after the halfway mark of three throws.

"I normally throw six throws in a competition. Today I had to throw seven (smiled). I have never seen anything like this before. There was something wrong. They did not measure my throw and by the time the next guy threw, they lost my mark. The first throw looked good, I'll look at the video again to see how far it might have gone," said Neeraj.

4x400m relay team ends 61-year wait

The men's 4x400m relay team of Muhammed Anas Yahiya, Amoj Jacob, Muhammed Ajmal and Rajesh Ramesh won the gold for the first time after 61 years with a time of 3:01.58. They emulated the feat of the 1962 Asian Games 4x400m relay quartet of Milkha Singh, Makhan Singh, Daljit Singh and Jagdish Singh.

After 1962, India had won seven silver medals in men's 4x400m relay -- 1970, 1974, 1978, 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2018.

Avinash Sable (5,000m), Harmilan Bains (800m) and the women's 4x400m relay team clinched a silver each, while the 35km race walk mixed team of Ram Baboo and Manju Rani won a bronze.

Chess silver medals

The Indian men’s and women’s chess teams won silver medals. GM Harika Dronavalli, IM Vaishali Rameshbabu, IM Vantika Agrawal, and WGM Savitha Shri Baskar all won their games in a dominating fashion to beat South Korea 4-0 in the final round to finish with 15 match points.

The top-seeded Chinese team won its last-round match against the UAE with a 4-0 margin to take the gold with 17/18 match points.

The Indian men finished their campaign with a 3.5-0.5 win against the Philippines.

Top seeds Arjun Erigaisi, D Gukesh, Vidit Gujrathi, and Harikrishna Pentala all won their matches against their Filipino counterparts while R Praggnanandhaa drew his game to finish second behind gold winners Iran.

Surprise medals

The Indian contingent won many surprise medals, the biggest being a women's table tennis team bronze by Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee, who humbled the mighty China in the semi-finals during the first week.

Parul Chaudhary's sensational dash in the last 30 metres of the women's 5,000m event will also be remembered for a long time as the Meerut runner snatched a gold by edging Japan's Ririka Hironaka in a close finish.

Javelin thrower Jena's astonishing 86.77m throw that gave him a lead over Chopra for a brief period in the men's javelin event was another unforgettable moment.

Canoers Arjun Singh and Sunil Singh Salam's historic bronze in the men's double 1,000m along with Ram Baboo and Manju Rani's third-place finish in the mixed 35km race walk were perfect examples that if athletes refuse to bow down to the hardships life throws, excelling in sports is possible.

Here is a sport-wise breakdown of medals won by India at the Asian Games 2022.

Athletics: 29 (6 gold, 14 silver, 9 bronze)

Shooting: 22 (7 gold, 9 silver, 6 bronze)

Archery: 9 (5 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze)

Wrestling: 6 (1 silver, 5 bronze)

Rowing: 5 (2 silver, 3 bronze)

Boxing: 5 (1 silver, 4 bronze)

Squash: 5 (2 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze)

Sailing: 3 (1 silver, 2 bronze)

Badminton: 3 (1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze)

Cricket: 2 (2 gold)

Kabaddi: 2 (2 gold)

Equestrian: 2 (1 gold, 1 bronze)

Chess: 2 (2 silver)

Tennis: 2 (1 gold, 1 silver)

Hockey: 2 (1 gold, 1 bronze)

Roller Skating: 2 (2 bronze)

Golf: 1 (Silver)

Wushu: 1 (Silver)

Bridge: 1 (Silver)

Sepaktakraw: 1 (Bronze)

Canoeing: 1 (Bronze)

Table Tennis: 1 (Bronze)

Total: 107 medals (28 gold, 38 silver, 41 bronze)

(With agency inputs)