HANGZHOU: In some ways, it’s rather poetic that some of India’s final medals were won by Jyothi Vennam, R Praggnanandhaa and the men’s doubles badminton pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. All of them either represent India’s future or created history to be on top of the podium as the Asian Games came to a close from an Indian perspective.
In the end, they had 107 medals. For the record, this is the best ever Asian Games in terms of overall as well as gold won. When Saturday morning dawned in the foothills of the Fushu mountain range, a day of promise, as expected, bore fruit immediately. Seventeen-year-old Aditi Swami won a bronze in the women’s individual compound open the account.
By the time India’s compound archers had locked away the equipment, the national anthem had echoed around the mountains twice. Both Jyothi and Ojas Deotale added to their kitty, with a third gold each which jointly made them the most successful Indian athlete of the Games.
Even as both kabaddi teams expectedly won gold (not before India v. Iran men’s match descended into a farce), the best action came from badminton. Rankireddy and Shetty have had 2023 to savour.