Asian Post Media: Not every Asian Games medal weighs the same

With 254 medals, 79 of them golds, India firmly sits in the third spot all-time list at the Asian Games. What comes as stark contrast is that India are 61st in the Olympics, tied 65th with Tunisia and Burkina Faso in the World Championships and 15th at the Commonwealth Games.

Indians have always fared well on the Asian circuit with China and Japan being their only major competitors. India will also be wary of African athletes adopted by oil-rich nations like Qatar and Bahrain in the endurance events. India bagged 20 medals in Jakarta and will surely surpass the tally in Hangzhou. A medal rush shouldn’t surprise anyone.

The Men’s 4×400 relay quartet of Amoj Jacob, Rajesh Ramesh, Mohd Anas and Ajmal Variyathodi with 2:59.05 that finished fifth at Budapest are fresh from two historic back-to-back sub-3 minute races and clear favourites to take gold. (WR: 2:54.29s – USA). In Men’s Javelin (WR:98.48 Jan Zelezny, AR: 91.36m Chao Tsun-Cheng), Neeraj Chopra is the favourite to bring home the gold but Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem will surely give him stiff competition.

In Women’s 100m hurdles (WR: 12.12s Tobi Amusan AR: 12.44s Olga Shishigina), Jyothi Yarraji is currently in the second spot in the Asia season’s best list behind China’s Yani Wu. The women’s short hurdles will be one of the most exciting events with 8 of the top 10 from the Asia list having clocked sub-13-second races this season.

Strength of the field:

Neeraj Chopra & Arshad Nadeem (India & Pakistan): gold-silver at the 2023 Budapest World Championships in Javelin; Winfred Yavi (Nigeria-born Bahrainian): gold at 2023 Worlds in 3000m steeplechase; Gong Lijiao (China): 3 Olympic & 8 World Championship medals in shot put; Wang Jianan (China): gold at 2022 Worlds in long jump; Zhu Yaming (China): silver at Tokyo Games and bronze at Euegene World Championships in long jump.

Indian medal hopes: Jyothi Yarraji (100m hurdles), 4x400m men’s relay team, Tajinder Toor (Shot put), Sreeshankar Murali and Jeswin Aldrin (long jump), Shaili Singh (long jump), Vithya Ramraj (400mH), Praveen Chitravel (triple jump), Neeraj Chopra (javelin), Avinash Sable (steeplechase), Tejaswin Shankar (decathlon), Parul Chaudhary (steeplechase)

Smart stat: Jyothi Yarraji has clocked 7 official sub-13s hurdles this year- the most by any Asian this season so far. Asuka Terada of Japan has five, Asia season leader Yani Wu of China has four, Yumi Tanka and Masumi Aoki of Japan have four each.

– Andrew Amsan

Jyothi Yarraji

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Archery: Compound interest

India’s fortunes in archery are likely to vary in the two styles – compound and recurve.

Of late, India has been one of the strongest sides in compound archery, a format that doesn’t find a place in the Olympic programme. They are the top-ranked side in the compound mixed team event, and second in both men’s and women’s competitions. Jyothi Surekha Vennam has been in great form recently, and ranked third in the world as has Aditi Gopichand. The likes of Abhishek Verma – an Asian Games gold medallist himself – and Ojas Pravin Deotale can be expected to excel on the big stage. Korea and Chinese Taipei are the other major contenders in compound archery, but India should be a good bet for a podium finish, and on a good day, gold.

It is expected to be much tougher in the recurve discipline with Indians much lower in the individual rankings. Koreans are the dominant force here, though Dhiraj Bommadevara recently upset top ranked Kim Woojin at the World Cup finals. China, Chinese Taipei and Japan are also quite strong. The Indian men’s and women’s teams are ranked among the top 10 in the world, but the competition is expected to be intense, especially in the men’s section, almost at Olympic levels. India doesn’t have a single recurve archer – man or woman – in the top 15, and any medal in the individual or team events will be a commendable effort.

Strength of the field: Aditi Gopichand Swami & Ojas Pravin Deotale (India): Individual world champions in compound; Korea: Recurve Men’s team & Recurve Mixed team world champions; Kim Woojin (Korea): Recurve men’s record holder (1391/1440).

Indian medal hopes: Ojas Pravin Deotale, Abhishek Verma, Prathamesh Samadhan Jawkar (Compound men); Aditi Gopichand Swami (Compound women); Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Aditi Gopichand Swami, Parneet Kaur (Compound women’s team); Ojas Pravin Deotale, Abhishek Verma , Prathamesh Samadhan Jawkar (Compound men’s team)

Smart stat: South Korea has been the best nation in archery at the Asian Games ever since the 1982 Delhi edition, winning 42 of 60 gold medals till date. The next best is Japan with 8 gold. India has won 10 medals (1 gold, 4 silver, 5 bronze).

– Tushar Bhaduri

ndia’s Jyothi Surekha Vennam (left) and Ojas Pravin Deotale

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Badminton: Tougher than Olympics

India has never won an Asian Games gold in badminton, and that is down to just how seriously the powerhouses China, Indonesia, Korea and Japan take the Asian Games in shuttle. Medalling at Asiad is a big deal and don’t be surprised if top shuttlers peak at Hangzhou even shrugging off the World Championships as lead-ups. Going deep into the Asian Games draw is tougher than Olympics, at times.
For most, the disappointment of the Worlds offers an opportunity of a bounce-back at Asiad on 2023’s most competitive stage, for even the early rounds can get tricky at Hangzhou compared to Copenhagen. Satwik-Chirag, India’s best bets, will also have the toughest opponents, with the Chinese and Indonesian pairings smarting from losses at World’s looking for redemption and playing at home, and the Koreans emboldened after their shock triumph.

Prannoy is the man in form and will once again shepherd India’s Thomas Cup team aiming for the men’s team title, a realistic expectation. Sindhu and Srikanth have been in indifferent form, but an Asian Games medal can salvage the season, especially for Srikanth. An individual men’s medal that India last won in 1982 through Syed Modi though, will be a prized possession.

Strength of the field: All 5 reigning world champions in 5 categories currently are Asians; An Se Young, Korea (WS), Kunlavut Vitidsarn, Thailand (MS), Seo Seung-jae – Kang Min-hyuk, Korea (MD), Seo Seung-jae – Chae Yoo-jung, Korea (XD), Chen Qing-chen – Jia Yifan, China (WD)

India medal hopes: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty, HS Prannoy, Men’s team

Smart Stat: Of the 121 Olympic medals in badminton since 1992, a staggering 106 have been won by Asians, the remaining 15 by Europeans.

– Shivani Naik

HS Prannoy

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Hockey: Only gold standard

The men’s team goes into the Asian Games gingerly optimistic knowing that they are just one brain fade away from a repeat of Jakarta.

India’s rise in the world has coincided with the collective decline of Asian hockey and they are in a comfortable position to reclaim the gold medal they last won at the 2014 Asiad. The real test for India lies outside Asia but to compete at the Olympics, they must pass this test given that the Asian Games is also an Olympic qualifier.

And that’s often tricky. Malaysia, the only side other than India to feature in the world top 10, are a banana skin opponent.

While a gold is the bare minimum expectation from the men’s team, it’ll be tougher for the women. Four Asian teams occupy the six spots – between number 7 (India) and 12 (South Korea) – in the world rankings. And so, while Europe is the dominant force, women’s hockey in Asia is closely contested and is far more open than the men’s game.

An upgrade from silver they won in Jakarta will be a huge feat for the Indian women, who aim for a third-straight Olympic appearance.

Strength of the field: There are no current world champions from Asia.

Indian medal hopes: The men’s team, ranked third in the world, is an outright favourite to win the gold while the women, who won silver in Jakarta, will have to overcome stiff competition to go one step further.

Smart Stat: Four Asian teams occupy the six spots in world ranking between number 7 (India) and 12 (South Korea), underlining how close all teams are.

– Mihir Vasavda

The men’s team, ranked third in the world, is an outright favourite to win the gold

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Shooting: Best in business

The Asian Games may not be as much of a happy hunting ground for Indians as say the Commonwealth Games, but there is definitely an uptick in medals at this level if compared to the World Championships or the Olympics.

Take into consideration India’s Jakarta Asian Games tally. Coming into the tournament with many of who were considered to be a trailblazing group of shooters, India won two gold medals, four silvers and three bronze medals to come third in the overall tally.

Ahead of them were perennial superpowers in shooting in South Korea and China. Both these countries traditionally do better than India at the Olympic level, with China routinely taking gold medals on the back of their superlative shot groupings.

At the recently concluded World Championships, two Indians won bronze medals while the 10m air pistol mixed team event saw a gold medal.

At the Asian level, Indians with slightly lower qualification scores might find themselves making finals and once at that position, a good day in the office can land a medal. That situation is a far departure from the World’s or the Olympics where qualification scores need to be elite in order to even make the final. In 2021 at Tokyo, only Saurabh Chaudhary reached the final of his event. This time around, Chaudhary, who is the defending champion in the 10m air pistol event, is not even a part of the Asian Games squad.

Strength of the field: Women’s 10m Air rifle: (Chn) Han Jiayu (World Champion), Han Jiayu (World Record); Men’s 10m Air rifle: Victor Lindgren (World champion), Yu Haonan (world record)

Indian medal hopes: Rudrankksh Patil, Mehuli Ghosh

Smart Stat: India’s best shooting performance at the Asian Games came in 2006 when the team combined to collect three golds, five silvers and six bronze medals for a total of 14

– Shashank Nair

Mehuli Ghosh

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Boxing: Teeming with Worlds medals

At the 2018 Asian Games, India had a disappointing campaign where none of its women boxers won a medal and the lone bright spot of the campaign was Amit Panghal, who beat the then reigning world champion to bring gold. Vikas Krishnan won a bronze as well.

But this Asian Games might see an uptick for Indian boxers based purely on the number of world champions present in the squad. Nikhat Zareen, Lovlina Borgohain, Deepak Bhoria and Nishant Dev are all reigning World Championship medallists

At the Asian level, the lower weight categories are where the challenge lies. For Zareen, a two-time World’s gold medallist this Asian Games will be a first and a chance to not only gauge where she lies in Asia, but also to decipher how her bouts will be judged at this level, sans the IBA running the programme.

For Lovlina Borgohain, a gold should be the minimum. Out of the CWG, World’s and Olympics, this would be the easiest setting for her to win one. She is also the current reigning Asian champion, a title she won in Amman in 2022.

Strength of the field: Men’s 71kg – Aslanbek Shymbergenov (World Champion); Men’s 51kg – Hasanboy Dusmatov (World Champion)

Indian medal hopes: Nikhat Zareen (51 kg), Lovlina Borgohain (75 kg), Nishant Dev (71 kg), Deepak Bhoria (51 kg)

Smart Stat: Both of the Indian medal winners from the 2018 Asian Games in boxing have not been selected as part of the squad this time around. While Deepak Bhoria was selected over Amit Panghal, Vikas Krishan’s comeback attempt has not fared well.

– Shashank Nair

Lovlina Borgohain

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Weightlifting: Heavy lifting

At the ongoing 2023 World Weightlifting Championships, of the 11 medal events that have been completed so far, 9 gold medals have gone the way of Asian lifters. Asia unquestionably dominates the world of weightlifting, holding 40 out of 47 lifting world records.

India’s weightlifting contingent may have done exceedingly well at the Commonwealth Games, returning with 13 medals, but with the Asian Games coming in the run up to the Olympics next year, and North Korea – a weightlifting powerhouse – returning to both events, the real test among the world’s best should come on Hangzhou.

Strength of the field: Huihua Jiang (China) broke both the clean and jerk (120kg), and total (215kg), world records for the 49kg category at the ongoing weightlifting worlds

Indian medal hopes: Mirabai Chanu

Smart Stat: Having yet to breach the 90kg lifting mark in snatch, Mirabai Chanu’s strength has been the clean and jerk.

– Namit Kumar

Mirabai Chanu

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Kabaddi: Wary of Iran

After making it to the 1982 Asian Games as an exhibition sport, Kabaddi has become a regular feature at every event since the 1990 Games in Beijing. It is also a sport that India has always dominated. But after winning every gold at the Asian Games, the Indian men and women were shocked by Iran at the 2018 Games in Jakarta.

For the record, the Indian men won seven gold while the women won two (Kabaddi for women was introduced at the Asian Games only in 2010).

Iran, who have perennially played second fiddle to India, stunned the men in the semifinal in Jakarta, beating them by an impressive 14 points. The Iranian women stunned their Indian opponents 27-24 in the final to give Iran a kabaddi double at the Games.

The Indians seem to be motivated to avenge their loss and are keen to put the memories of Jakarta behind them with none of the 12 players in the men’s squad making the cut to the team this time around.
The men will also take heart from the fact that they’ve beaten Iran twice at the Asian Kabaddi Championships which concluded in July this year. Even at those Championships, however, it was Iran who made them break a sweat and they’ll definitely be wary of them.

Strength of the field: India’s Kabaddi team (men’s) is by far the most successful national team, winning gold medals at the Asian Games a whopping seven times — 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014. India have dominated the Kabaddi World Cup as well, winning all three events held to date.

Indian medal hopes: Nothing but a gold medal is expected from both the men’s and the women’s team at the Asian Games. After both the teams lost to Iran at the last Games in Jakarta, the pressure is on them to reclaim the gold.

Smart stat: India lost to Pakistan in the 1993 South Asian Games gold medal match. However, in what was an intense grudge match, they exacted revenge at the 1998 Asian Games held in Bangkok, where India beat Pakistan in the final.

– Anil Dias

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Rowing: China dominates amidst weak Asian presence

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Not every Asian Games medal weighs the same - The Indian Express

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