Nagoya (Rajeev Sharma): A late surge of championship performances powered India to a fourth place standing at the Asian Games on Saturday, capped by breakthrough individual triumphs in archery and golf alongside title defences in team events. The contingent concluded the primary slate of competition with an overall haul of 85 medals, comprising 21 gold, 27 silver, and 37 bronze. While the collective count fell short of the 106-medal milestone achieved in the previous edition, an extraordinary run across the final 48 hours produced 11 gold medals to cement India’s spot near the top of the table.
Teenage recurve archer Kumkum Mohod and golfer Pranavi Urs delivered the most historic individual breakthroughs of the day. Seventeen-year-old Mohod became the first Indian woman to capture an individual recurve gold at the Games, securing a 6-5 shoot-off victory over South Korea’s Oh Yejin after defeating reigning world champion Kang Chaeyoung and China’s Jingyi Zhu in earlier rounds. The Maharashtra native concluded a dream debut with two gold medals, one silver, and an Olympic qualification quota. On the greens, 23-year-old Urs held her nerve to card an even-par final round, finishing at 15-under 265 to clinch India’s first individual women’s golf gold while also steering the national squad to a team silver alongside Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar.
India’s powerhouse squads in cricket and field hockey fulfilled expectations by retaining their continental titles in commanding fashion. The Shreyas Iyer-led men’s cricket team defended its Asian Games crown with a 19-run triumph over arch-rivals Pakistan in Nisshin, propelled by fiery half-centuries from Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma that set up a formidable total of 211 for 6. On the turf in Kakamigahara, the men’s hockey team routed Malaysia 5-1 behind a two-goal performance from skipper Harmanpreet Singh, who finished as the tournament’s leading scorer with 12 goals. The victory completed a historic hockey double following the women’s team triumph a day earlier and secured India direct qualification for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Combat sports also delivered strong returns on the mat, led by Olympic bronze medallist Aman Sehrawat, who upgraded his continental standing by capturing gold in the men’s 57kg freestyle wrestling division with a 10-7 win over North Korea’s Chong Song Han. Antim Panghal added a silver in the women’s 53kg category, while recurve archer Neeraj Chauhan claimed bronze in the men’s individual playoff against compatriot Dhiraj Bommadevara. With wrestling contributing two golds overall and the archery team signing off with nine medals, India wrapped up a landmark Saturday ahead of the closing equestrian fixtures.
