All hail India's gold medal winners at the Asian Games - Part 1

A tally that seemed improbable at the beginning when the Hangzhou Asian Games began on September 25th, India's surprise wins in equestrian, sailing and rowing has taken its total to a record 100 medals at the ongoing Games. Here's a shoutout to the Indians on the podium with a gleaming gold, who made us proud

By Madhu Kapparath

Published: Oct 7, 2023 12:06:39 PM IST

Updated: Oct 10, 2023 12:47:25 PM IST

Image: Dylan Martinez / Reuters

Indian shooters Divyansh Singh Panwar, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar led by teenage world champion Rudrankksh Patil (centre) created history as the trio smashed a world record in men's 10m Air Rifle team event to win the country's first gold medal, with an overall point tally of 1893.7, India shattered China's feat of 1893.3 points accomplished at the World Championships in Baku earlier this year.

Image: Ishara S. KODIKARA / AFP

Led by Capt Harmanpreet Kaur (extreme right), Indian women's cricket team clinched a gold medal in their inaugural appearance, triumphing over Sri Lanka by a margin of 19 runs in a hard fought, low scoring final held on a challenging pitch.

Image: WANG Zhao / AFP

The long and difficult journey of leaving home at a young age to train in Europe separately reaped reward for India’s equestrian dressage team of Anush Agarwalla, Sudipti, Hajela Divyakriti Singh and Hriday Chheda (from left) won the first ever Asian Games gold.

Image: Shailendra Bhojak / PTI

The tough trio of Esha Singh, Rhythm Sangwan & Manu Bhaker (from left) shot their way to a gold in women’s 25m Pistol Team event, achieving rapid fire score of 1759.

Image: Stanley Cheah / Reuters

22 year old Sift Kaur Samra (centre), who quit medical studies in Faridkot to focus on shooting, with a total score of 469.6 - after 15 shots each in the kneeling, prone and standing positions - shattered the world record to win gold in the women's 50m rifle 3 position event.

Image: Shailendra Bhojak / PTI

Shiva Narwal, Arjun Singh Cheema and Sarabjot Singh (from left) clawed their way back from eighth among 14 teams after the first series to eventually finish with gold in men’s 10m Pistol Team event, beating the Chinese team by a narrow margin of 1 point !

Image: Shailendra Bhojak / PTI

Smashing the world record by a whopping eight points, the Indian trio of Swapnil Kusale, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Akhil Sheoran (from left) created history, winning the team Gold medal in men's 50m rifle 3 positions, amassing 1769 points to take the top podium

Image: Stanley Cheah / Reuters

Originally from a village in Jhajjar, 13 year old Palak Gulia picked up a pistol at her school sports practice in Gurugram, and four years later, the teen sensation clinched the gold medal in Women's 10m Air Pistol, shooting 242.1 in the finals for an Asian Games record.

Image: Philip FONG / AFP

Bonding with newcomer Rutuja Bhosale, the veteran Rohan Bopanna came back from a set down to clinch the tennis mixed doubles win against Chinese Taipei, India’s only gold in tennis at this year’s Games.

Image: Kim Kyung-Hoon / Reuters

India's squash team - Saurav Ghosal, Abhay Singh, Harinder Pal Singh & Mahesh Mangaonkar - won the Men's Team gold in a tense, emotion-filled drama when Abhay Singh (in action) came back from two match points down to win the deciding game and beat rivals Pakistan.

Image: Stanley Cheah / Reuters

With the Chinese fans rooting for him, chanting ‘Indo Jiayou’ (‘come on, India’), Avinash Sable shattered Asian Games record in 3000m Steeplechase event, winning India’s first gold medal in athletics with a timing of 8:19.50, chipping the old record by over 3 minutes.

Image: Dylan Martinez / Reuters

With an amazing throw of 20.36 metres on his sixth and last attempt, the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games gold medallist Tajinderpal Singh Toor successfully defended his Asian Games title and grabbed the gold, with a throw of 21.77m, a new Asian record.