Guangzhou Asian Games 2010: India likely to finish sixth on medals tally

After a lacklustre performance from the shooting contingent at the Guangzhou Games, India had to depend on stereotypical events such as Kabaddi, Hockey and Boxing for the medals. However, the surprise was the athletics event where new stars have emerged in Ashish Kumar and the 4*400 relay team. Continuing the uprising from the Commonwealth Games at Delhi the athletics team has shown potential to match with the world’s best and today’s gold in a track event means a lot to Indian Sport.

On the other hand, India owe a lot to the Boxing contingent for surpassing their highest medal tally at the Asian Games of 1982. India with 14 gold medals and a total of 64 medals have ended their sojourn at Guangzhou. Measure up this performance against China and you will know the kind of improvement we should aim at. China have as their medal tally a total of 197 golds and over 400 medals. This spectacular tally is not just presenting a dominating stake for world supremacy but clinching it by far.

However India will take it step by step from here. We have fulfilled one aim of ours at least, of gaining our best medals tally surpassing the 13 golds we won at New Delhi.

Vijender Singh bags gold at Guangzhou Asiad

Boxer Vijender Singh capped India’s journey with the 14th gold medal in his 75 kg category. Surprisingly Vijender Singh had missed out on the gold at the Commonwealth Games but he completed his revival here at a time when India needed him the most.

Earlier in the day, India maintained their domination in Kabaddi as both the men and women bagged gold medals without much strife. The men’s team defeated Iran in an easy going match that finished 37-20. Indian women slightly bettered the men’s performance as they beat Thailand 28-14.

The highlight of the day however was wehen India secured the 13th gold medal through the women’s 4X400m relay team of Manjeet Kaur, Sini Jose, Ashwini Akkunji and Mandeep Kaur. The team clocked 3:02: 29 to win the yellow metal for India. Kazakhstan claimed the silver medal here with China helping themselves to the Bronze.

Today was the penultimate day of the games and India are not likely to add anymore to the tally after they won a total of 11 medals today. This means that we will either hold our ranking or slip down so it remains yet to be seen where we finish.

For the moment, here is the medals tally:

Country	G	S	B	Total
China	181	104	91	376
South Korea	72	61	85	218
Japan	39	68	86	193
Iran	19	11	23	53
Kazakhstan	15	18	32	65
India	14	17	33	64
Chinese Taipei	12	12	33	57
Uzbekistan	10	17	20	47
Malaysia	9	17	13	39
Thailand	9	7	31	47