Asian Games swansong for India
India’s unprecedented 2023 Asian Games haul of 107 medals, that too, in China, with whom the country is known to have had highly strained relations in the recent past, is worth applauding.
The medal tally was added most in the disciplines of shooting, athletics, archery and racquet sports, and the sporting high comes at a time when a high-expenditure Cricket World Cup is being organized in India, for a sport that is played seriously only by a handful of countries.
Cricket stars and the sport normally enjoy high attention and full stands in India but the inaugural game between England and New Zealand on October 5 witnessed scores of empty stands.
At such a juncture, teenagers from the field of shooting and some highly inspired young stars from the world of badminton captured the nation’s attention across TV sets and social media in a way that has truly never been done before.
What lies ahead is even more motivating as we approach the 2024 Paris Olympics, where the competition is of course going to be much tougher compared to the Asian level, but the hopes are still high.
India’s star javelin throw athlete Neeraj Chopra has been dominating his discipline at the world level for some time now, having achieved almost every milestone in terms of both tournament wins and record throws.
Badminton in India had been doing well for some time but what we were truly lacking was a high-level doubles pair who could bring us glory in the team events. India have now got just that in Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who after claiming the Asiad Gold on Saturday, are due to become World №1 in the rankings, once published on Tuesday.
Shooting at the 2023 Asiad has seen some really young, new stars come up and bring medals in specific gun events that India has traditionally never really done that well in on the world stage.
All in all, looking at what just transpired, it’s a really bright Paris 2024 Olympics that we can hope for as Indian audiences to inspire us as a nation going forward.