Asian Games: Indians look to end gold medal drought in these sports – Check Out

India will be sending its largest-ever contingent to the upcoming Asian Games. 637 athletes will be in action across 18 disciplines in the quadrennial event. While the aim will be to comeback with the highest-ever medal haul, there are few sports in which the Indians are yet to clinch a gold medal in the history of the quadrennial sporting event.

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In the 72-year history of the Asiad, India has collected a overall tally of 155 Gold medals. However the yellow metal has eluded India is sports like Badminton, Weightlifting and Table Tennis.

Badminton

Indian Badminton has been on the rise over the last decade. Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu have been the flag-bearers of Indian Badminton taking the sport to greater heights by finishing on the podium at the Olympics. Much recently Indian Men won a historic Thomas Cup making heads turn.

However no Indian shuttler has managed to win a gold medal in the Asian Games. India has only a solitary silver medal so far in the history of the event. PV Sindhu won it in the last edition at Jakarta in Women’s Singles.

PV Sindhu, HS Prannoy, Lakshya Sen and Men’sDoubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will lead India’s challenge in the sport in the upcoming edition of the Games. Especially Prannoy and Satwik-Chirag pair have achieved career-best rankings this year. It remains to be seen whether they could end’s India’s gold medal drought by finishing on top of the podium at Hangzhou.

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Weightlifting

Indian Weightlifting has a rich history and legacy. However when it comes to the Asian Games, the country is yet to win a single gold medal in the sport. India have a total of 14 medals in the history of the Asiad so far. It includes 5 silver and 9 bronze medals.

Meanwhile, India’s last medal in the sport came way back in 1998. Karman Malleswari won the silver medal back then. It was the last time an Indian stood on the podium in the sport at the Asian Games.

Tokyo Olympic Silver medallist Mirabai Chanu hopes to end India’s medal drought in the sport. Asian Games medal is the only thing that is missing from her cabinet. The 29-year old wants to win nothing less than gold in the upcoming Games. She, along with Bindtyarani Devi will be the only Indians in action in the event.

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Table Tennis

Table Tennis is also one sport where India is yet to grab a gold medal. This is one sport in which the Indians have struggled to finish on the podium. It was only in 2018 that the paddlers from the nation won their first-ever Asian Games medal.

Sharath Kamal, G Sathiyan, Anthony Amalraj, Harmeet Desai and Manav Thakkar won the bronze medal in the Men’s team event. Meanwhile Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra bagged one more bronze medal in Mixed Doubles.

Having opened their account in the Asian Games, the Indian paddlers will now want to better their previous edition’s performance. Sharath Kamal, G Sathiyan, Harmeet Desai and Manika Batra will all yet again be in action in the continental event.

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Fencing

Fencing is also one sport, where Indian can fancy its maiden gold medal. One can expect a top of a podium finish especially since the country’s top fencer Bhavani Devi will be in action in Hangzhou.

Bhavani Devi much recently became the first Indian to win a medal at the Asian Championships. She won the bronze medal in the Women’s Sabre event at the Asian Fencing Championships. This raises hopes of a podium finish for India in the upcoming edition. Apart from Bhavani Devi Karan Singh Gurjar and Sunil Kumar are also some of the other Indians to watch out for.