HANGZHOU – India celebrated its most successful Asian Games on Wednesday following its success in archery, stunning powerhouses South Korea to win the first gold in the sport in Hangzhou.
Having won a national record 70 medals at the Jakarta Games five years ago, the Indians grabbed their 71st when Ojas Deotale and Jyothi Surekha Vennam narrowly beat South Koreans So Chae-won and Joo Jae-hoon in the mixed team compound event, a non-Olympic discipline.
“With 71 medals, we are celebrating our best-ever medal tally, a testament to the unparalleled dedication, grit and sporting spirit of our athletes,” India Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
South Korea are traditionally strong in archery – they dominated the sport at the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, snaring four of the five golds, with Turkey winning the other.
But they were pipped in the final on Wednesday, with the Indian duo squeezing out an impressive victory with a score of 159-158.
“I’m very happy to win a gold medal for my country,” the 21-year-old Deotale, the men’s compound world champion, said after playing his part in India’s win.
“I’m not surprised by the result. We knew that we could do this. It was very close, but we maintained our form, we stayed calm in every situation.”
Rising Asian power India has work to do to catch China, though, with the hosts hurtling towards their Games-record 199 gold medals in 2010 with 171 by Wednesday night.
China’s boxer Li Qian, runner-up in the women’s middleweight in Tokyo, beat India’s world champion Lovlina Borgohain for gold in the 75kg division with a unanimous decision.
It was a case of Li turning the tables on Borgohain, who beat the Chinese boxer in the semi-finals on the way to the middleweight world championship in March.
There was also revenge for North Korea’s Pang Chol Mi, who defeated China’s Chang Yuan to win the women’s bantamweight (54kg) gold. The pair met in the flyweight (51kg) final at the Jakarta Games in 2018 with Chang winning a tight decision.
In a scrappy rematch on Wednesday, it was Pang who did the better work to get a deserved result, even though the judges were split 3-2. Chang conceded that the better fighter won.
“I probably should have handled it better,” she said.
“Last time we fought it was at a different weight so I think today was a completely new contest.”
China also completed a sweep of the race walking events, picking up gold in the mixed team 35km early on Wednesday, with Japan taking silver ahead of bronze-winning India.
The Chinese walkers had taken the gold and silver in both the men and women’s individual events earlier.
Another notable winner on Wednesday was Hong Kong’s Yang Qianyu, streaking to gold in the women’s cycling road race. She sniffled and fought back tears on the podium.
“It feels like I’m dreaming right now. I’ll remember this day for the rest of my life, and I have no regrets,” she said.
Myanmar claimed their first gold of the Games, beating Indonesia for the men’s quadrant title in sepak takraw. Vietnam won their second gold, edging out Indonesia in the women’s quadrant. REUTERS, AFP
