Asian Games Concludes, India has Best Medal Showing in Nation’s History

As the 18th Asian Games came to and end yesterday, India celebrated its greatest ever medal’s tally till date in the competition. Held in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang, the two-week sports meet witnessed a few failures but even  more successes for the Indian contingent. Most notable of the failures was the fact that the men’s team in Kabbadi failed to bring home the gold medal, being forced to settle for bronze instead. However, this was greatly eclipsed by the nation’s showing in several other areas, namely Athletics, where a total of 19 medals were won.

There were 7 gold medals, 10 silver and 2 bronze medals in Athletics for India, with some noteworthy performances by Manjit Singh winning the gold in the 800m, Jinsons Johnson in the 1500m, and Arpinder Singh in the Triple Jump. There were also gold medals won by Swapna Barman in the heptathlon and Neeraj Chopra in the Javelin Throw, the latter of whom went on to set a new national record at the games.

In total, India won 15 gold, 24 silver, and 30 bronze medals, making this their highest medals tally in the Asian Games. Incidentally, this happens to be the same number of medals that India won in the first edition of the Asian Games, back in 1951. The signs are promising for a nation that has long focused on a handful of sports, as the expectation for the second most populous country in the world to make a better impression in the Olympic Games continues to grow.