​The magnificent seven: Indian athletes that stood out at Hangzhou Asian Games

1. Kishore Kumar Jena
Javelin | Medal: Silver | Age: 28 | Place: Puri, Odisha
A year earlier, Jena had thrown 78m at the National Games. In Hangzhou, he threw 87.54m to win silver behind Neeraj Chopra. Jena, who had never previously gone past 85m – the distance needed to secure an Olympic quota –smashed his personal best twice. On another day and against another field, that would have meant gold. But Neeraj uncorked a season’s best of 88.88m to end Jena’s short-lived lead to secure top spot on the podium. Jena did not win gold but the progress he showed was incredible. 2. Parul Chaudhary
Athletics | Gold & Silver | 28 | Meerut, Uttar Pradesh
In Parul’s mind, there was more than a gold medal at stake. ‘In UP the policy is if you don’t get a gold medal, you don’t get a direct DSP [Deputy Superintendent of Police] job.’ She is currently working as a ticket examiner (TE) in the Railways. But with this gold, she hopes to become DSP now. Parul ran into the history books with one of the epic final laps in the history of Indian athletics.

In a slow and tactical women’s 5000m run in oppressive humidity, she ran an unbelievable final 100m to reel in Japan’s Ririka Hironaka, who looked to have the race won when she streaked away down the back straight. Parul became the first-ever female athlete at the Asian Games to medal in the women’s 3000m steeplechase (silver) and 5000m race (gold).

3. Saurav Ghosal
Squash | Gold & Silver | 37 | Kolkata, West Bengal

Down 0-1 against Pakistan in the final of the team event, it was Ghosal who bailed India out and set it up for Abhay Singh to lead the team to a gold. Speaking on pressure soon after the final, Ghosal said, “Pressure is a privilege. I always say this.

If you are putting pressure on me, it means I have done something for you to believe in my abilities.”

Ghosal, country’s greatest male squash player, however, couldn’t achieve his dream gold in men’s singles and settled for his second silver, to go with three bronze, in five attempts. “These are memories that will be our legacies in the months and years to come,” said Ghosal, who most likely played in his last Asian Games.

4. HS Prannoy
Badminton | Bronze | 31 | Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
Prannoy had a serious back issue and, unable to move or train, had pulled out of the team final. Understandably, he went into his quarter-final against former world No. 2 Le Zii Jia hampered by the injury. He miraculously won the first game, but dropped second. By third, you could see him grimace at the end of each rally.

But with disappointment staring him in the face, Prannoy dug deep to find reserves he himself probably didn’t know he had. Four straight points, and he collapsed on the court and then flung his shirt to the floor before an emotional Pullela Gopichand, the national coach, embraced him.

Almost predictably, Prannoy ran out of puff in the semi-finals to settle for bronze. But the fact that he was out there, instead of lying in bed with a brace, was an indicator of how badly he wanted to be on the podium.

If he can stay fit, Prannoy is very much India’s best hope of a badminton medal in Paris, alongside the dynamic doubles’ duo of Chirag Shetty and Satwik Rankireddy

5. Sift Kaur Samra
Shooting | Bronze | 22 | Faridkot, Punjab
From not winning a medal at the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to winning 22 medals at the Asian Games, the transformation in Indian shooting is a fascinating story. It is best epitomised by the young Sift Kaur Samra. She had already won a Paris 2024 quota for India in the 50m 3-positions event in the World Championships in Baku in August.

And in China, she gave us evidence why India can dream about her in the future. Leading the final from the very first series, Samra shot 469.6 to obliterate the world record by 2.6 points to give India their first gold at the Hangzhou Games.

It was pure dominance. With 22 medals including 7 golds at the Asian Games, Indian shooting is on a steep upward climb after the lull of a few years. Hopes have soared and the country is now expecting a really good showing in Paris in July 2024.

6. Ayhika Mukherjee & 7. Sutirtha Mukherjee
Table tennis | Bronze | 26 & 27 | Naihati, West Bengal
Ayhika Mukherjee and Sutirtha Mukherjee winning the table tennis medal will rank as one of India’s best TT performances of all time. For them to beat China in China in front of a partisan crowd, speaks volumes of their mental strength. Even in the semi-final against the North Korean pair they were in the contest till the very last game. For two athletes who haven’t had much support, this Asian Games has indeed turned the corner

GOLDEN HITS
Jyothi Surekha Vennam
Archery | Gold x 3 | 27 | Vijaywada, Andhra Pradesh

In a parallel universe, Jyothi would’ve Shooting | Bronze | 22 | Faridkot, Punjab been taming open water tides while crossing channels on her way to records. Afterall, she was just five years old when she became the youngest to swam 5km across the Krishna River in just 3 hours, 20 minutes and 6 seconds and entered the Limca Book of Records.

Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, lack of swimming facilities in Vijaywada, forced Jyothi’s parents to make her switch to archery in 2007. Despite winning her first Asian title back in 2015, the global titles remained out of reach for her.

Until 2022, when something clicked. Since then, the 27-year-old has won almost everything that she could. World Cups, World Championships, equalling world records and now, the Asian Games, where she won gold medals in all three categories she participated in – mixed team, women’s team and individual.

Ojas Pravin Deotale
Archery | Gold x 3 | 21 | Nagpur, Maharashtra
Nagpur has always been known for its oranges. But now it also boasts of a World and Asian Games champion. Deotale, who earlier this year became India’s first male world champion in individual archery, has come back from Hangzhou with three gold medals – one each in mixed team, men’s team and individual categories.

The 21-year-old, who pursued rollerskating as a child and was a national-level medal-winning gymnast, picked up the bow and arrow just to have fun. His life and goals changed once he moved to Satara, where he honed his archery skills away from the distractions of city life. His perfect scores of 150 in quarter-finals and semi-finals at the Asian Games is ode to his genius.

With inputs from Amit Chaudhary