A Games to look back on

Hangzhou: India, with a record haul of 107 medals at the Hangzhou Asian Games, has written a glittering chapter in the country's sporting history, while also giving a strong reason to start dreaming about a best-ever Olympic performance next year in Paris. The 660-strong contingent bagged 28 gold, 38 silver and 41 bronze at the continental showpiece, fetching 37 more medals than at the 2018 Jakarta Games. Indian athletes even surpassed their own expectations in some of the events such as shooting and archery, giving the country its best ever hauls in these disciplines. The fourth-place finish in Hangzhou, behind China, Japan and South Korea, is a testimony to the determination and the hard work the athletes -- many of them competing on the big stage for the first time -- put in when the world was being ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic. Ranking-wise too India's stature in the continent rose several notches. The fourth-place finish on the medals table is India's all-time third best after the second and third positions in 1951 and 1962 respectively.

India had finished eighth in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games.

Before the contingent left the country's shores, several officials in the Indian Olympic Association were sceptical about India touching the magical 100-medal mark, but medals started coming thick and fast from day one onwards. Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra's global presence seems to have rubbed off on the entire contingent, and while he led the charge in athletics there is no denying that the javelin exponent was a motivation for athletes in other disciplines as well. Of course, there were a few disappointments along the way -- the biggest being 65kg wrestler Bajrang Punia being humbled and humiliated on the mat -- but they were just a few sour notes in the success story scripted by the young Indian athletes. Boxer Lovlina Borgohain, after her world championships success in Delhi was a sure-shot gold medal contender here, but finished second best, while weightlifter Mirabai Chanu finished fourth after suffering a thigh injury and shuttler PV Sindhu crashed out at the quarterfinals.

Athletics and shooting contributed the maximum number of medals (29 and 22 respectively) making up nearly half of India's total and gold count. Shooting gave the most gold medals -- seven -- while athletics contributed six. Archery gave nine medals, including five gold, in a huge improvement after just two silver in the 2018 edition. The shooters also produced their best-ever show with seven gold, nine silver and six bronze.

The Indian men's hockey team dominated the tournament and clinched a deserving gold to qualify for the 2024 Olympics. India thrashed Japan 5-1 in the final. Before that, India also had the satisfaction of hammering arch-rivals Pakistan 10-2 in the pool stage, the biggest margin of victory by either team in the 180 matches they have played against each other.

The Indian women's hockey team, though, settled for a bronze after losing to hosts China 0-4 in the semifinals.

Rohan Bopanna and Rutuja Bhosale also won the tennis mixed doubles gold. India also swept the gold medals on offer in cricket and kabaddi, while squash also gave two yellow metals. The men's cricket final between India and Afghanistan was abandoned due to rain and the Ruturaj Gaikwad-led team was declared gold winner on the basis of higher seeding. The Indian men's kabaddi team won the gold after a controversial final against Iran with players of both sides sitting on the mat in protest and play being held up for nearly one hour.

Star Indian men's doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy made history by winning the country's first-ever badminton gold.

Controversial moments

Hangzhou: Controversy hit athletics, that too in an event involving Neeraj -- the iconic Indian javelin thrower. In a bizarre incident rarely seen in a major competition, the competition officials did not measure Chopra's first throw and also could not find the landing spot of his javelin. Former long jumper and Athletics Federation of India senior vice-president Anju Bobby George accused the competition officials of trying to "cheat" the thrower.

Days before that incident, India's top 100m hurdler Jyothi Yarraji was first disqualified for a false start along with a Chinese competitor -- who was clearly the culprit -- before the Indian was allowed to run and her bronze upgraded to silver. In another unsavoury incident, 2018 Asian Games gold winner heptathlete Swapna Barman, after failing to win a medal, accused compatriot Nandini Agasara, who won the bronze, of being a transgender. 

Time for India to bid for Oly: Usha

Hangzhou: Buoyed by the record medal haul at the Hangzhou Asian Games, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president P T Usha on Sunday supported the government's plan to place a proposal to host the 2036 Olympics. "After this record-breaking performance in the Hangzhou Asian Games, if our country's athletes, coaches and national federations work hard, I feel we can win double digit medals in the Paris Olympics," Usha told PTI here. "The government is doing everything possible for the betterment of Indian sports and for the athletes. Our PM takes a lot of interest in the country's sports." She said the time has come for India to bid for the Olympics. "We should bid for the 2036 Olympics. I am sure India will win more medals in the Paris Olympics than in Tokyo, and then, with the medals to show, we can host the Olympics," said the 59-year-old former track star fondly known as 'Payyoli Express'. 

Combo images of the torches of all the Asian Games; (Left) New Delhi 1951, (L-R in top row) Manila 1954, Tokyo 1958, Jakarta 1962, Bangkok 1966 and 1970, Tehran 1974, (L-R in middle row) Bangkok 1978, New Delhi 1982, Seoul 1986, Beijing 1990, Hiroshima 1994, Bangkok 1998, (L-R in bottom row) Busan 2002, Doha 2006, Guangzhou 2010, Incheon 2014, Jakarta and Palembang 2018 and Hangzhou 2022, on display at the 19th Asian Games, in Hangzhou, China on Sunday