Asian Games 2023: India's Top-5 Performances in The Continental Event

India is all set to feature in the Asian Games 2023 scheduled to be played in Hangzhou, China. The continental event will officially start on September 23. India hosted the first-ever Asian Games back in 1951 and it is one of the very few countries to have featured in every edition of the competition. Their 2018 campaign in the Jakarta Asian Games was the most successful one as they won a total of 70 medals in the sporting extravaganza.

India has won an astounding 672 medals in the Asian Games history producing some of the most memorable performances that the sports has ever witnessed. In this article, we take a look at some of India’s top-five performances in the previous editions of the Asian Games.

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1. Neeraj ChopraIn 2018, Neeraj Chopra won a gold medal in javelin throw at the Asian Games. He recorded a throw of 88.06 metres at the event. It was his second straight major tournament following the Commonwealth Games where he won a gold medal. Neeraj missed out on the Rio Olympics due to injury. However, he made up for it by becoming the first Indian ever to secure a gold in track-and-field events at the Tokyo Olympics.
2. PT UshaPT Usha had set the racing course ablaze in the 1986 Asian Games. She had secured four of the five gold medals India won that year alongside a silver medal. She broke the Asian Games record in four events including the 200-metre, 400-metre, 400-metre hurdles and 4×400-metre relay races at the Seoul 1986 Asian Games.
3. Sachin NagThis list will likely be incomplete without the inclusion of the first-ever gold medallist for India at an edition of the Asian Games. Sachin Nag achieved this feat at the Asian Games held in Delhi back in 1951. The swimmer won the 100-metre freestyle event in that edition. He competed twice for India at the Olympics in 1948 and 1952.
4. Rahi SarnobatRahi Sarnobat became the first Indian woman to win gold in shooting at the Asian Games, etching her name among the pantheons of the competition’s greatest names. In the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, Sarnobat beat Thailand’s Yangpaiboon Naphaswan in the 25-metre pistol event. She also set an event record alongside the Thai by securing 34 points.
5. Kabaddi 1990-2014India has been the most dominant team in kabaddi at the Asian Games. They are the only side ever to win seven gold medals at the event since its introduction back in 1990. In 2018, India lost to Iran in the semi-finals making it the first time that the country had not won a gold in kabaddi at the Asian Games.