5 things observed during the first half of India's stint at Asian Games 2018

Asian Games - Opening Ceremony

By 25 August 2018, we're halfway through with the Jakarta and Palembang Asian Games 2018. Though marred by weird selection policies, followed by internal politics, it seems India is gunning for glory, as they've garnered 6 gold medals, 5 silver, and 14 bronze medals as of now.

For the first time in years, India has continuously won a gold medal on an impressive rate of almost one gold per day. Following are the 5 things that were observed during India's performance at Asian Games 2018:

#1 Improved medal tally

One major surprise observed during India' stint in the 1st half of Asian Games 2018 is the number of gold medals. In earlier editions, India used to win one gold medal in the beginning and had to wait for days to get another medal.

But not this time. As of now, almost 7 days have completed, and India has won a staggering 6 gold medals, at the rate of almost 1 gold medal per day, which is a huge improvement if keeping in mind the upcoming Tokyo Olympics 2020, since Asian Games are no less than Mini Olympics, when it comes to the level of competition.

Though presently ranked 9th, India has a potential of breaking into the top 5 of the medal tally, given that there are almost infinite sports lying ahead in the latter half of the Asiad, where India can win a good amount of gold medals. It's only a matter of time to see if India successfully manages to do that, and breach their lifetime best tally of 15 gold medals, made in Delhi 1951.

#2 Khelo India finds massive success at Asian Games 2018

Asian Games 2018 : Khelo India successfully brings out the best in Indian sports here

The brainchild of the current NDA government, Khelo India, an initiative to find the best of talent in sports from Indian schools has seemed to reap rich dividends this time. A significant lot of India's medalists in these Asian Games have come up from this very initiative.

At the Asian Games 2018, Khelo India has accelerated a significant improvement in the sports of shooting and swimming. Shooting, which had suffered the jolt of returning empty-handed from Rio Olympics 2016, has witnessed a huge improvement, with 9 medals in their kitty, of which 2 are gold medals, 4 silver and the rest are bronze medals. Even though they couldn't win any medals, swimming contestants also stormed easily into the finals of their respective events, thanks to the cream of the talent spotted by Khelo India.

Interestingly, three of the shooting medalists are not even 20 years old. Lakshay Sheoran, who clinched a surprise silver medal in the Men's Trap event, is 19, while Saurabh Chaudhary, who shocked one and all with a gold medal in the last moments of the Men's 10 m. Air Pistol, is barely 16, and is also a contender for a strong podium finish at the Buenos Aires Youth Olympics.

Even Shardul Vihan, who won a silver medal in the Double Trap category, is only 15 years old, and one of the youngest Asiad medalists from India by the virtue of his age. Had Manu Bhaker not underperformed in the finals of Women's 10 m. air pistol and Women's 25 m. pistol finals, she could've joined this list as well!

#3 Surprise packages on a roll

Asian Games 2018 : Sepak Takraw and Rowing turn out as surprising packages for INDIA

Once again, surprise packages gave India umpteen reasons to cheer at the Jakarta Asian Games 2018. The team won medals in those events, where they were either not very well known, or where they never went beyond the group stage.

One such surprise package was the men's team from sepaktakraw, a sort of volleyball competition played in soccer style. Ever since the sport was introduced in the 1990s, India never progressed beyond the stage. However, this time not only India progressed beyond the group stage, but also stormed into the semifinals.

Though they lost to the defending champions Thailand, they went down fighting and created history by clinching India's first ever medal in this event.

Another surprise came from the field of rowing. Normally, rowing is not a sport where one can expect team medals from India. However, the quartet of Dattu Bhokanal, Sawarn Singh, Sukhmeet Singh and Om Prakash proved everyone wrong with a surprise gold in the men's quadruple sculls, followed by Dushyant Chauhan, who became India's first rower to win back to back medals in the individual rowing events since Bajrang Lal Takhar, despite suffering from nausea and high blood pressure. The rowers ended the campaign with 1 gold and 2 bronze medals, their most successful tally ever.

#4 Star performers tank miserably

Asian Games 2018 : Star performers tank miserably

However, if India received so much glory within the 1st half, it also faced some unexpected setbacks. One of the top contenders for a gold medal in women's shooting, Manu Bhaker surprisingly choked in the finals, failing to capitalize on the impressive scores she garnered in qualifications.

In both her individual events [Women's 10 m. air pistol and 25 m. pistol], it was her compatriots Heena Sidhu and Rahi Sarnobat, who barely managed to qualify for the finals but walked away with ultimate glory.

Shooting - Commonwealth Games Day 4

Rahi went a step further and despite an intense shoot off, created history by becoming India's first ever woman shooter to win a gold medal at the Asian Games. Even Anish Bhanwala, who became the Commonwealth Champion at the age of mere 15, failed to get into the finals of his event despite an impressive lead in the first stage.

As if this was enough, even wrestling disappointed the Indians miserably. Despite a historic performance of more than one gold medal, one of the best since Jakarta 1962, wrestling was far from impressive, especially in the male perspective.

Contrary to expectations, only Bajrang Punia managed to clinch a medal in the entire squad of male freestyle wrestlers. To everyone's shock, even star wrestler Sushil Kumar touted to give a fitting reception to his critics through an impressive stint at the Asiad, tanked in the first round itself, losing to a relatively unknown wrestler from Bahrain.

#5 Disaster haunts India yet again

Asian Games 2018 : Kabaddi witnesses an unexpected downfall!

However, the real disaster was saved for one sport which none expected to deliver an underwhelming performance: Kabaddi. Ever since it was introduced in 1990, Kabaddi was India's permanent fixture when it came to winning gold medals. The men's team had continuously won 7 gold medals on the trot, while the women's team won 2 consecutive gold medals, ever since the segment was introduced at Guangzhou Asiad in 2010!

To everyone's rude shock, neither of the teams could manage to clinch the coveted yellow metal for the first time in the history of the Asian Games. While the women's team still had the luck of at least making it to the finals, losing to the ultimate champions from Iran by a whisker, the Indian men's kabaddi team couldn't have that luxury either, losing to Iran by a humiliating margin of 18-27 and being forced to settle for a humiliating bronze.

Archery saw yet another humiliating stint, with none of the recurve archers managing to make any mark. The closest they could come to a medal was till the quarterfinals, where they failed to get past the stalwarts like South Korea, Chinese Taipei etc. Of the individual recurve archers, only Atanu Das managed to reach till the quarterfinals. The only hope for a medal from archery now lies with the compound teams, who've performed impressively as of now.

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Edited by Amar Anand