This year at the Asian Games, India made history after history. You couldn’t concentrate on a single player. Each and every contender fought with their hearts and for the attention of the country. Here are the stories of some of the shining stars who made the impossible possible.
The first surprise story comes from the game of table tennis. Saratha Kamal and new sensation Manika Batra gave India a first-ever mixed doubles medal at the Asian Games.
The Indian women’s hockey team made it into the Asian Games finals. This event has happened for the first time in the past 20 years. The battle with China was fiercely fought. This was India’s first appearance in the finals since the 1998 Bangkok Games.
Due to a teeth injury, Swapna Barman had to compete with a plastered face. She grabbed her maiden Asian Games gold medal in the overall standings. She is the daughter of a rickshaw-puller who has been bed-ridden since 2013. Swapna achieved 6026 points in total. This was from the seven events that took place over a time period of two days.
She won the high jump event with 1003 points. Swapna also won the javelin throw event with 872 points. She finished second-best in short put and long jump with scores of 707 and 865, respectively. Swapna placed fifth in the 100m race with 981 points and seventh in the 200m race with 790 points. But the tremendous overall effort was enough to make her the first heptathlete to notch up a gold at the continental showpiece.
Arpinder was another history maker. He became the first triple jumper in 48 years to achieve a gold medal. The last gold was bagged by Mohinder Singh Gill in 1970.
The Kamal-led men’s Table Tennis team also achieved a bronze. This ended the country’s 60 years wait for a maiden medal in the event.
