The 2014 Asian Games at Incheon was the 17th edition of the pan-Asian multi sports event that is held every four years. The event which is also known as the XVII Asiad, was held from 19th September to 4th October 2014 at the city of Incheon, South Korea. It was participated by 45 Asian nations with over 9,500 athletes and sportspersons representing their respective countries. A total of 439 events were conducted at the 2014 Asian Games in 36 sports.
The XVII Asiad had the motto of “Diversity Shines Here” that represents and highlights the significance of Asia’s wonderful diversity in history, cultures, religions.
Indian Contingent
The Asian Games 2014 India contingent had a strength of 515 competitors, which was the fifth most in that edition of the Asian Games. The nation with the most athletes representing them was China with 894, who were closely followed by hosts South Korea who had 833 competitors. Japan and Thailand also had more competitors than India with 718 and 518 competitors respectively.
The flag bearer for India at Incheon Asian Games was Sardar Singh who was representing the Indian Hockey team.
Asian Games 2014 Indian Winners
India finished their XVII Asiad campaign with a haul of 57 medals in total, as they won 11 gold medals, 10 silver medals, and 36 bronze medals. They failed to perform as well as they did in the last edition of the Asian Games 2010 at Guangzhou, where they had finished with a total of 65 medals.
In comparison to other nations, India finished a joint fifth with Iran in terms of the number of medals won, but finished eighth overall in the medals tally. India won the most medals in athletics and shooting, with 13 and 9 medals respectively. India also managed a sweep in Kabaddi, where both men and women in their respective categories overcame Iran to win the gold medal.
However, the XVII Asiad was also marred with controversy for India as lightweight boxer Laishram Sarita Devi refused her bronze medal, after her controversial semifinal loss against eventual silver medalist Park Jina of South Korea. Overall, boxing was alleged of poor judging and host favoritism, as their competence was brought into question multiple times.
Medal Winners
Indian gold medalist in Asian Games 2014 included big names like MC Mary Kom, Jitu Rai, yogeshwar Dutt, Sania Mirza and Saketh Myneni.
A list of all competitors representing India at the 2014 Asian Games is provided below, according to the events sorted alphabetically:-
Archery (1 Gold, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze)
Gold: Rajat Chauhan, Sandeep Kumar and Abhishek Verma in Compound Men’s Team
Silver: Abhishek Verma in Compound Men’s Individual
Bronze: Trisha Deb in Compound Women’s Individual; Purvasha Shende, Jyothi Vennam, and Trisha Deb in Compound Women’s Team
Athletics (2 Gold, 3 Silver, 8 Bronze)
Gold: Priyanka Pawar, Tintu Luka, Mandeep Kaur and Poovamma Machettira in Women’s 4x400 Relay; Seema Punia in Women’s Discus Throw
Silver: Khushbir Kaur in Women's 20km Race Walk; Vikas Gowda in Men's Discus Throw; Tintu Luka in Women's 800m; Manju Bala in Women's Hammer Throw
Bronze: Rajiv Arokia in Men's 400m; Poovamma Machettira in Women's 400m; Lalita Babar in Women's 3000m Steeplechase; OP Jaisha in Women's 1500m; Naveen Kumar in Men's 3000m Steeplechase; Inderjeet Singh in Men's Shot Put; Annu Rani in Women's Javelin Throw
Badminton (1 Bronze)
Bronze: Ashwini Ponnappa, PC Thulasi, Tanvi Uday, Pradnya Gadre, Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Sikki Reddy in Women's Team
Boxing (1 Gold, 4 Bronze)
Gold: MC Mary Kom in Women's Fly (48-51kg)
Bronze: Vikas Krishan in Men's Middle (75kg); Satish Kumar in Men's Super Heavy (+91kg); L Sarita Devi in Women's Light (57-60kg); Pooja Rani in Women's Middle (69-75kg)
Hockey (1 Gold, 1 Bronze)
Gold: Men's Team
Bronze: Women's Team
Kabaddi (2 Gold)
Gold: Men's Team; Women's Team
Rowing (3 Bronze)
Bronze: Swarn Singh in Men's Single Sculls; Kapil Sharma, Ranjit Singh, Bajrang Lal Takhar, Robin Ulahannan, Sawan Kumar, Mohammad Azad, Maninder Singh, Davinder Singh, Mohammed Ahmed in Men's Eight, Dushiant Dushyant in Lightweight Men's Single Sculls.
