Amit Panghal stunned the reigning Olympic champion Hasanboy Dusmatov to get India’s only boxing gold on the final day of the Asian Games. And two 50-plus bridge players proved that age is just a number with their top finishes as the country achieved its best ever medal haul.
India equalled its best gold medal haul (15) of 1951 and the overall tally surpassed the 65 in Guangzhou by three this time.
Apart from the 15 gold, India picked up 24 silver and 30 bronze medals for a brilliant show that helped them finish eighth for the third consecutive time.
Boxing
India’s Amit Panghal won a stunning gold in the men’s -49kg beating reigning Olympic champion Hasanboy Dusmatov of Uzbekistan by a split decision.
In a tough final bout, the 22-year-old Indian boxer didn’t get bogged down and kept landing his punches even as the Uzbek tried to overpower him.
Squash
For the second consecutive edition, India finished with a silver medal in the women’s team squash.
Sunayna Kuruvilla lost to Tze Lok Ho in the first game of the tie and Joshna Chinappa went down in straight games as Hong Kong’s No 1 Annie Au, as India lost the final 2-0.
This was India’s fifth medal in squash (women’s team silver, men’s team bronze and three bronze medals in the individual event) in the 18th edition and 68th medal overall.
Hockey
Defending champions India put behind the disappointment of missing out on the final to beat Pakistan 2-1 and clinch the men’s hockey bronze.
The Indians were nowhere near her fluent best but found the net through Akashdeep Singh (3rd minute) and Harmanpreet Singh (50th minute) to ensure that they at least finished on the podium after Malaysia surprised them in the semi-final in a penalty shootout.
Bridge
India’s Pranab Bardhan (60 years old) and Shibnath Sarkar (56 years old) won the men’s pair event in bridge.Bardhan is the oldest gold medallist at the 2018 Asian Games.
Bridge, an event making its debut at the Asian Games, has now accounted for three medals with two bronze coming earlier in the men’s and mixed team events.
Other sports
In judo, the Indian mixed team lost the bronze-medal playoff against China in the mixed team event 0-4.
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