Strive for Sixteen Golds (India at Asian Games 2018)-IV

…………………..Continued from third part

In this concluding part, we will start with Squash

Squash

Squash team won us a Gold medal in last Asiad and we have some strong medal contenders like Sourav Ghoshal, Harinder Pal Sandhu, Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal. India surely has a bright chance to win at least one Gold medal, if not more in Squash. There will be 4 events in Squash and India must win at least one medal in all the 4 events – Men’s & Women’s individual and Team event

Overall: 1Gold 2 Silver 5 Bronze Total 8 Medals 4th Rank

Incheon 2014: 1 Gold 2Silver 1Bronze Total 4 Medals

Jakarta 2018(Prediction): 1Gold 1Silver 2Bronze Total 4 Medals

Swimming

India has been lucky to win two consecutive bronze medals in last two Asian Games with the effort of Virdhawal Khade and Sandeep Sejwal respectively. However, it seems that we would be coming home with empty hands this time around.

Overall: 1Gold 2 Silver 6 Bronze Total 9 Medals 13th Rank

Incheon 2014: 0 Gold 0 Silver 1Bronze Total 1 Medal

Jakarta 2018(Prediction): 0Gold 0Silver 0Bronze Total 0 Medal

Table Tennis

There has been a lot of media attention around Table Tennis esp. after their exploits at Commonwealth Games. Manika Batra went on to win Gold medal in Singles event defeating world no. 4 in the process. However, one needs to keep the level of Asian Games in mind before expecting miracles from our Athletes. The chances of our paddlers are almost negligible and even if any of them reaches Semi-Finals, it will be a creditable achievement.

Tennis

Though, India has produced some of the best Tennis players of the continent but could not replicate that success in these quadrennial Games. We won the first Gold medal in 1994 when Leander Paes was at his peak. In total, we have won 8 Gold medals largely due to the efforts of Sania Mirza, Somdev Devvarman, and Leander Paes. Men’s doubles have been the best event for India in which we have won 4 Gold medals. In last Asian Games too, we missed the Gold by a whisker and that too not in Finals but in Semi-Finals. Indian pair Yuki Bhambri and Divij Sharan had a match point against Korean pair but could not close the game. Had they won their match, India would have won the Gold and Silver medal in this event. In 2018, India team is again poised to make a positive contribution to the overall medal tally and the best bet for Gold seems to be the men’s doubles event. A total of 2-3 medals seem to be a realistic target and all of them seem to be coming from men’s event. In absence of Sania Mirza, we are going to miss a certain medal in the mixed doubles event.

Overall: 8Gold 6 Silver 15 Bronze Total 29 Medals 5th Rank

Incheon 2014: 1Gold 1 Silver 3Bronze Total 5 Medals

Jakarta 2018(Prediction): 0Gold 1Silver 2Bronze Total 3 Medals

Weightlifting

After Karnam Malleshwari and N Kunjurani Devi, India has found a world-class weightlifter in Saikhom Mirabai Chanu who after a long time who won the World Championship last year with an impressive lift of 194 Kg. She improved upon her performance in CWG this year with a lift of 196 Kg and she was a sure shot Gold medal contender in upcoming Asian Games. Unfortunately, she has pulled out of the Games due to injury and thus, India lost the chance of winning a medal at this level. Other athletes will be competing but they don’t belong to such a stage as yet.

Overall: 0Gold 5 Silver 9 Bronze Total 14Medals 5th Rank

Incheon 2014: 0Gold 0Silver 0Bronze Total 0 Medal

Jakarta 2018(Prediction): 0Gold 0Silver 0Bronze Total 0 Medal

Wrestling

The second most successful Sports for India after Athletics has been Wrestling but Gold medal count in wrestling has only been 9 till date. Indian performance has seen an upswing in recent times esp. after Sushil Kumar’s exploits in 2008 Beijing Olympics. In last Asian Games, Yogeshwar Dutt provided the lone Gold medal. Sushil Kumar will be present at this year Games and this will be the last time where he would like to win that elusive Gold Medal at Asian Games. His best performance has been the bronze medal in 2006 Doha Asian Games. Apart from him, Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malick are the strong Gold medal contenders. On recent form, Indians can win 4-5 medals out of which one medal must be a Gold medal.

Overall: 9 Gold 14 Silver 33Bronze Total 56Medals 7th Rank

Incheon 2014: 1 Gold 1 Silver 3Bronze Total 5 Medals

Jakarta 2018(Prediction): 1Gold 2Silver 2Bronze Total 5 Medals

Overall

To conclude, Indian contingent of more than 550 athletes are poised to win at least 10 Gold medals and depending upon their performance on the day, the tally can increase to 13-14 too but it seems to a bit difficult to reach the magic figure of 15 Gold medals. On medal front, we are once again on the course of completing a half-century of medals but to cross the highest medal tally of 64, many athletes would have to punch above their weight. A count between 50-60 medals seems to be on the cards. India will sorely miss some strong Gold medal contenders like Mirabai Chanu, Mary Kom, Tejaswin Shankar, Tintu Luka, Leander Paes and Sania Mirza. Between, them they would have surely won 3 Gold medals. Whatever it is, here our athletes are! Once again to delight the fans with their superlative performance and we will be back them in their performance. All the Best!!!!!

Overall: 139 Gold 178 Silver 286 Bronze Total 602 Medals 6th Rank

Incheon 2014: 11 Gold 9 Silver 37 Bronze Total 57 Medals 8th Rank

Jakarta 2018(Prediction): 11 Gold 16 Silver 31Bronze Total 58 Medals 7th Rank