Asian Games: Can India Reach The Magical 100-Medal Mark?

New Delhi: Three gold, one silver and a bronze on Thursday took India’s medal tally at the Hangzhou Asian Games to an impressive 86.

The 0-4 semifinal defeat of the women’s hockey team at the hands of hosts China was a big disappointment. But another day of competitions ended on a happy note when the crack pair of Satwik Sairaj and Chirag Shetty brushed aside their Singaporean opponents to enter the men’s doubles semifinals, this assuring themselves of a medal.

The question uppermost on Indian sportslovers’ minds is – can we breach the 100-medal mark for the first time at the continental Games?

Just two more days of competition remain in the Games, but India still have a chance of winning 14 more medals to reach the magic figure.

For starters, quite a few medals are already guaranteed. Among them are 3 in archery, with 2 Indians (Abhishek Verma and Ojas Pravin) to face off in men’s compound gold-medal match, and Jyothi Surekha to play the women’s final; 2 in badminton via HS Prannoy and Satwik-Chirag pair who have booked last-four slots; men’s hockey team which faces Japan in the final tomorrow.

These certainties apart, the men’s cricket team is expected to beat Bangladesh and enter the final; women’s hockey team has a chance to claim bronze; kabaddi teams should fetch 2 medals; wrestling can be counted on to provide 4-5 medals; chess and bridge teams too are favourably placed to bag at least one medal each.

So fasten your seatbelts and prepare for two days of dramatic and exciting action from Indian athletes at Hangzhou.