Record medal haul in Hangzhou Asian Games promises a bumper harvest in 2024 Paris Olympic
India, with a record haul of 107 medals at the Hangzhou Asian Games, has written a glittering chapter in the country's sporting history, while also giving a strong reason to start dreaming about a best-ever Olympic performance next year in Paris. The 660-strong contingent bagged 28 gold, 38 silver and 41 bronze at the continental showpiece, fetching 37 more medals than at the 2018 Jakarta Games.
Indian athletes even surpassed their own expectations in some of the events such as shooting and archery, giving the country its best ever hauls in these disciplines.
The fourth-place finish in Hangzhou, behind China, Japan and South Korea, is a testimony to the determination and the hard work the athletes — many of them competing on the big stage for the first time — put in when the world was being ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ranking-wise too India's stature in the continent rose several notches. The fourth-place finish on the medals table is India's all-time third best after the second and third positions in 1951 and 1962 respectively.
India had finished eighth in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games.
The historic success here can bolster India's ambitions of hosting the Olympics. The government is reportedly mulling presenting the road-map for a 2036 Olympics to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) when its session is held in Mumbai later this month.
