The headline number of day seven is 38 – that’s what India’s medal tally at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games stands at right now. But ESPN India picks out eight unique numbers that truly helped define the day that India had on Saturday, September 30.
4, and 4
In game 4, staring defeat in the face, Abhay Singh pulled off four straight points to take it from 8-10 to 12-10. Four points to go from a silver placed finish to a final deciding set… where he did it all over again, going from 7-9 to 11-9. Incredible. Filmi, even.
(177 + 112) – (2+4) = 283
Ayhika Mukherjee is world no. 177, Sutirtha 112. Chen Meng is world no.2, Wang Yidi world no. 4. But the Indians played ‘bindaas’ and that’s a win that has the potential to send the TT world into a spin.
China in Table Tennis at the #AsianGames:
◾️ Dominated since 1974
◾️ Most gold medals ever. More than three times the amount than second-place Japan
◾️ 1-2 in the women’s doubles event in 2010 and 2014 (no women’s doubles in 2018)
◾️ Won gold in EVERY event last editionAnd… pic.twitter.com/7X4UtVny6e
– ESPN India (@ESPNIndia) September 30, 2023
2
Preeti Pawar stunned a former Worlds medallist Zhaina Shekerbekova of Kazhakstan to enter the semis of the 54kg boxing; and in doing that became just the second Indian boxer to book a quota at the Paris Olympics. After a certain Nikhat Zareen, of course.
9
Nine kilograms is the jump that Mirabai Chanu had to make to win bronze. And so, despite not being anywhere near 100%, she upped her weight in the clean & jerk from 108kg to 117kg. And that’s how she ended up on the floor, in tears. A fourth-place finish to go with her ninth place finish in 2014 (she didn’t participate in 2018 due to injury). A trophy cabinet that has Olympic, World Championship and Commonwealth Games medals still has an empty space for one from the Asian Games.
6
Rohan Bopanna and Rutuja Bhosale won gold in the last event of the tennis – the mixed doubles. That was enough for India to continue a rather impressive streak: India have now won a gold in every Asian Games stretching back to 2002. That’s six Games, six golds.
Two tennis medals for India �� ��
India now have 34: 10 gold, 7 silver and 17 bronze medals in tennis at the #AsianGames pic.twitter.com/AL9MrXRgdV
– ESPN India (@ESPNIndia) September 30, 2023
10.7
With the mixed team 10m air pistol final tied 14-14, Bowen Zhang pulled out the most sensational final shot to make sure Gold went to China… he hit a 10.7 to take their total to 21.0, uncatchable for the Indians Sarabjot Singh and Divya TS who hit a 20.4. 16-14, China won. That’s as clutch as it comes.
40
Karthik Kumar reduced his earlier personal best by a stunning 40 seconds [28:15.38] to take silver, while Gulveer Singh ran 37 seconds [28:17.21] faster than his best to take home the bronze in an eventful men’s 10,000m race.
180
India and Pakistan have played 180 games of men’s hockey and Saturday was the first time when the Indians scored 10 goals against their arch-rivals.
