India is Proud of our Unsung Heroes! We Salute them!!
By Abdul Raheem Teekay / NV Paulose
They are homeless, coach-less, facility-less, shoeless, daily stipend-less, at times even foodless, fighting unimaginable tragedy back home, adversaries in life is order-of-the-day- yet it didn’t stop them to win laurels for their nation. They made the nation proud. I rate these 65 plus medals won by our champs over the 260 plus won by China. While our politicians keep ridiculing the nation everyday; in a nation where lynch, riot, rape, hatred are order of the day, these ordinary men & women brought glory to the nation, helping unfurling the Tiranga high at international arena. They held our head high.
Salute to our unsung heroes. For us, you are the heroes. You are the Nation. And you are the role models to our children. Thank you. Jai Hind.
India return from Indonesia with a tally of 69 medals (G: 15, S: 24, B: 30), its best-ever at the Asian Games whereas the number of gold medals are best since the first Asiad in 1951. There were surprise winners in a few disciplines while in some, the athletes ended decades-long drought. It could’ve been better had the country continued its dominance in a few sports, but that’s just being greedy…
Athletics: faster, higher
In 2018 — Gold: 7; Silver: 10; Bronze: 2
In 2014 — Gold: 2; Silver: 4; Bronze: 7
Best-ever (1951) — Gold: 10; Silver: 12; Bronze: 12
It might not be the best-ever in terms of the number of medals won, but the achievement can be ranked higher than the 1951 Games, when India won 34 medals including 10 gold and 1982 Games when they managed 21 medals with four gold.
For one, those two performances came at home Games where India had fielded a larger contingent. And secondly, this was at a time when the West Asian nations hadn’t yet started to import African athletes and China was in early stages of its athletics development. The brighest point was India continued its dominance in events it has traditionally done well in and added won medals in variety of events, some which have a huge global appeal. Gold medals in javelin throw and heptathlon were a first. In some other sports, the success came after decades – 1500m was first time in 20 years, 800m gold was after 32 years and triple jump after 48 years.
Another pleasing factor was the number of national records and personal bests that were set. Indian track and field athletes have often been guilty of under-performing at major events. This time, however, four athletes – Dharun Ayyasamy, Hima Das, Tejinder Singh Toor and Neeraj Chopra – set national records while several others achieved their personal best marks.
Archery: Perennial chokers
In 2018 — Gold 0; Silver: 2; Bronze 0
In 2014* — Gold 1; Silver 1; Bronze 2
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