The Asian Games 2023 has come to a close for the Indian athletes and the Indian contingent has won a record 107 Medals at these Asian Games. This is a 37 Medals increase since the last Asian Games in 2018. The Indian sports space has been growing outside of cricket and there are a lot of sports heroes in other sports as well that the Indian fans are getting to see. The next target is the Paris Olympics and India should look to get 15 Medals next year
Let’s look at the Top 5 Performers at the Asian Games for India
1) Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty – Badminton
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty have done the thing that has not been done in the Asian Games in 60 years ever since Badminton was introduced in 1962. Badminton is one of the hardest sports to win a medal win as all the superpowers are in this tournament. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won the Gold Medal in Men’s Doubles event of Badminton and they are the World number 1 as well.
2) Jyothi Surekha Vennam – Archery
This Archer from India is one of the only few athletes from India to win 3 Gold Medals in the Asian Games. Jyothi Surekha Vennam has won the Gold Medal in Women’s Individual Compound Archery Event, The Women’s Compound Archery Team Event and the Mixed Team Archery Compound Event. This performance was truly inspirational and she will look forward to performing better in the Events to come.
3) Neeraj Chopra – Javelin Throw
Neeraj Chopra has to be in these lists because he is the Golden Boy of Indian Athletics. Neeraj Chopra has once again retained his Gold Medal from the Asian Games in 2018. It was him who inspired the change in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He hit a monster throw of 88.88M and he won the Gold medal but he was happier about the fact that Kishore Jena was 2nd as he hit 87.54M and he also qualified for the Paris Olympics next year. Neeraj Chopra is now winning the Gold Medals for the second time in all the events.
4) Parul Chaudhary – Athletics
Parul Chaudhary is an athlete that has set the Asian Games on fire. Parul Chaudhary is an athlete who has won 2 Medals at these Asian Games. First she won the Silver Medal in the Women’s 3000M Steeplechase and then came here crowning moment as she won the first Gold Medal for India in the Women’s 5000M race and she won the race in the last 50M. This was a performance for the ages by Parul Chaudhary as she won 2 Medals and she would look to perform at the Paris Olympics. Parul Chaudhary qualified for Paris Olympics 2024 by breaking the National Record To Qualify In Women's 3000m Steeplechase Event.
5) Abhay Singh, Saurav Ghoshal, Harinderpal Singh and Mahesh Mangaonkar- Squash
This performance by the Men’s Squash Team has to be mentioned in this list because theirs was a performance that will be remembered for years to come and that was the most special moment in their lives. In the final vs Pakistan it was Saurav Ghoshal who made the score 1-1 then in the deciding match it was Abhay Singh who won and India won the Gold Medal. Truly one of the best performances in the Asian Games for India thus Time.
