The headline number of day four is 25 – that’s what India’s medal tally at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games stands at right now. But ESPN India picks out 10 unique numbers that truly helped define the day that India had on Thursday, September 28.
10 and 10
Imagine needing perfection, twice — at the very last chance — to win gold. Imagine nailing perfection.
Men’s pistol last two shots: After Arjun Singh Cheema had shot a 9 with his final shot, India needed to make no mistakes to beat China to gold, and that’s what Sarabjot Singh and Shiva Narwal did, hitting a 10 each on their last shot. That took India’s total to 533, just 1 point ahead of China’s total.
31
Oksana Chusovitina of Uzbekistan is a gymnastics legend. She’s still competing, 31 years since she won an Olympic gold at the 1992 Olympics. She’s 48 years old now and still gives her younger competitors a run for their money. She was 0.150 away from a medal at Hangzhou 2023 when she vaulted to a score of 13.383, just 0.150 behind third-placed Yu Linmin’s 13.533. Meanwhile, India’s Pranati Nayak finished 8th, with a score of 12.350.
12
India vs Mongolia in the pre-quarters of the women’s badminton team event was one of the most one-sided contests these Games have seen. So much so, that Mongolia combined to get just 12 points off 3 matches (6 games) against PV Sindhu (who conceded 5 points), Ashmita Chaliha (5) and Anupama Upadhyaya (2).
There’s dominance, and there’s whatever this was.
-48.24
India smashed their national record in the finals of the 4x200m women’s freestyle relay (that they had set in the heats) by swimming it in 8:37.58 but what really put this in context was how far away they were from eventual gold medalists, China… who finished 48.24 seconds ahead of them.
6
A six-minute period was enough to end India’s football hopes at the Asian Games as the men’s team exited the competition after Mohammed Marran’s brilliant brace in the 51st and 57th minute.
1:38
If Nishant Dev’s punch that knocked out Vietnam’s Phuoc Tung Bui was a knockout win over the KO was stunning (a right hook to the jaw), what made it even more incredible was the speed of it all. A minute and 38 seconds into the nine-minute bout, Nishant had Phuoc on the mat.
10-0
How do you make up for messing up a second set lead before conceding it and entering a super tiebreaker? Why by winning it 10-0, of course. Saketh Myneni and Ramkumar Ramanathan were clutch when they needed it, and boy didn’t they turn on the style while at it.
11-13, 10-12, 3-11
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra were leading Singapore’s Clarence Chew and Jian Zeng 2 games to nil when they collapsed in rather spectacular fashion. They lost the third game 11-13 and the fourth 10-12 before completely crumbling in the pivotal fifth game 3-11.
2
Roshibina Devi became India’s most successful Wushu athlete after winning a silver in the 60kg Wushu sanda to add to her bronze in the category from Jakarta 2018
0.420%
Anush Agarwalla, on Etro, won India’s first individual dressage medal in Asian Games history with a 73.030%. He was *this* close to silver though, finishing just 0.420% behind Hong Kong’s Jacqueline Siu.
