HANGZHOU: The Hangzhou evening skies have been pretty dramatic to look at it over the last few days. The city of high rises with pockets of green everywhere, cools down rapidly in the evenings. By the time the locals occupy the 80,000 seater (Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium), you look skywards if you want to reel an Insta story.
If India’s medal tally was driven by the Fuyang Yinhu Shooting Ranges in the first week, the Olympic Stadium is unsurprisingly driving the push as the Games enters the business end. Now, they are on the verge of overhauling two of the medal records (gold/overall) set at Jakarta-Palembang in 2018. With five days left, they are on 69 medals (15 gold) and fourth on medals behind China, South Korea and Japan. They had 16 gold and 70 at Jakarta. With more events lined up in athletics, including Neeraj Chopra in the men’s javelin as well as the Asian record-breaking men’s 4x400m quartet, they are set to go past the gold medal mark on Wednesday itself.
The performances of the shooting team (22 medals and seven gold) where they finished second only behind hosts, China, set the tone early on. After an underwhelming Tokyo Olympics, this was a big test for the shooters ahead of the Olympics next year. They have always been a powerhouse in track and field in Asia and that’s been reflected again as they exceeded the 2018 Jakarta tally of 20. They are already on 22 (four gold). They added two more gold on Tuesday, with Annu Rani (women’s javelin) and Parul Chaudhary (women’s 5000m) adding to the collection. With Tejaswin Shankar winning India’s first-ever silver in the decathlon, the medals continued to rain unabated.
The next challenge for the contingent is to meet the three-figure mark in terms of medals won. The focus will shift to the likes of archery where a clutch of medals are expected. With the country already in several finals (either team or individual), there is potential for picking up more medals before the curtains come down. With the likes of bridge, cricket, badminton, squash, kabaddi and wrestling holding some promise for gold or multiple medals, Hangzhou will surely go down in history as the country’s most successful Games yet. And of course,
#isbaar100par looks more real now.