Nagoya: The hitherto under-performing Indian contingent came alive on Friday at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026.
So much so that India moved up to fifth in the medal standings with 15 gold, 25 silver and 35 bronze.
A historic Women’s Recurve Team triumph in the morning was followed by birthday girl Lovlina Borgohain’s triumph in Women’s 75kg Boxing final.
But it was during the afternoon that the Indians produced a hat-trick of gold medals in the space of half an hour!
Parveen Hooda pulled off a stunning 3-2 victory over former World champion Chen Nien-Chin of Chinese Taipei to clinch the Women’s 65 kg gold medal. It signalled a remarkable turnaround for Parvin, who was stripped of her 57 kg category bronze medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games following a 22-month suspension for whereabouts failures.
Returning to the ring after serving her suspension, Parvin moved up to the 65 kg category, and has soared to the top of podium.
Half an hour later, Ankush Panghal gave India its third gold after outpunching South Korea’s Kim Minseong in the Men’s 80 kg final.
Almost simultaneously, at the wrestling venue, Sujeet Kalkal did the country proud by coming up trumps in the Men’s 65 kg Freestyle gold-medal bout against Abdulmazhid Kudiev of Tajikistan.
Sujeet produced an incredible as he looked down and out, trailing 2-9 after the opening three minutes. The Indian didn’t, however, give up and rattled off 8 points whithout conceding any to win 10-9.
