5 things observed during the first half of India's stint at Asian Games 2018

#3 Surprise packages on a roll

Once again, surprise packages gave India umpteen reasons to cheer at the Jakarta Asian Games 2018. The team won medals in those events, where they were either not very well known, or where they never went beyond the group stage.

One such surprise package was the men's team from sepaktakraw, a sort of volleyball competition played in soccer style. Ever since the sport was introduced in the 1990s, India never progressed beyond the stage. However, this time not only India progressed beyond the group stage, but also stormed into the semifinals.

Though they lost to the defending champions Thailand, they went down fighting and created history by clinching India's first ever medal in this event.

Another surprise came from the field of rowing. Normally, rowing is not a sport where one can expect team medals from India. However, the quartet of Dattu Bhokanal, Sawarn Singh, Sukhmeet Singh and Om Prakash proved everyone wrong with a surprise gold in the men's quadruple sculls, followed by Dushyant Chauhan, who became India's first rower to win back to back medals in the individual rowing events since Bajrang Lal Takhar, despite suffering from nausea and high blood pressure. The rowers ended the campaign with 1 gold and 2 bronze medals, their most successful tally ever.