Hangzhou: After nine years, the Indian men's hockey team won the gold medal at the Asian Games as India won nine medals to get closer to the impossible goal of 100 medals for the first time in the game's history.
India won nine medals on Friday to increase its total to 95 medals, including 22 gold, 34 silver, and 39 bronze medals, solidly placing them in fourth place.
On the penultimate day of competitions, India claimed one gold, two silver and bronze medals. The men's recurve archery team redeemed itself after disappointing outings in individual events to claim a silver while the women's team bounced back from a defeat to Korea to overcome Vietnam in windy and rainy conditions to win a bronze.
The second silver came in the card game of bridge in which the men's team lost to Hong Kong China in the final.
Top shuttler H.S Prannoy ignored debilitating back pain to take the court but lost to China's Li Shifeng in straight games to settle for bronze.
Women wrestlers Sonam Malik (65 kg) and Kiran (76 kg) won bronze medals as did male freestyle wrestlers Aman (53kg). women's regu (Speak takraw) won the bronze medal to complete Friday's haul of nine medals, leaving the contingent on 95 medals and many more medals assured on Saturday with Indians featuring in a clutch of finals.
The men's cricket team led by Ruturaj Gaikwad will take on Afghanistan in the final while Indian Kabaddi teams will also figure in both the finals, the men taking on Iran, their nemesis of 2018, while the women's meet surprise package Chinese Taipei.
Abhishek Verma will take on compatriot Ojas Deotale in the Compound Men's Individual archery final, assuring the country of both medals. Another will come from the Compound Women's Individual final in which Jyothi Surekha Vennam will take on a Korean archer So Chae-won.
And to top it all, the Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Ranjireddy and Chirag Shetty will take on the Korean pair of Choi Sol-gyu and Kim Wonho in the final. The Indian doubles pair sealed a historic maiden berth in the men's doubles final after beating the top Malaysian pair of Aaron Chia Teng Fong and Soh Woi Yik in straight games on Friday.
It is surely going to rain medals for India as the country of 1.3 billion people is not only going to cross the magical 100-medal mark.
It will definitely be an occasion worth remembering for a country that had managed only one gold medal when China first hosted the Asian Games in 1990 in Beijing.
India surely is going to end the Hangzhou Asian Games with a bang.
With inputs from IANS