The magnificent seven: Indian athletes that stood out at Hangzhou Asian Games
1. Kishore Kumar Jena Javelin | Medal: Silver | Age: 28 | Place: Puri, Odisha
A year earlier, Jena had thrown 78m at the National Games. In Hangzhou, he threw 87.54m to win silver behind Neeraj Chopra.
Jena, who had never previously gone past 85m – the distance needed to secure an Olympic quota –smashed his personal best twice. On another day and against another field, that would have meant gold. But Neeraj uncorked a season’s best of 88.88m to end Jena’s short-lived lead to secure top spot on the podium.
Jena did not win gold but the progress he showed was incredible.
2. Parul Chaudhary Athletics | Gold & Silver | 28 | Meerut, Uttar Pradesh
In Parul’s mind, there was more than a gold medal at stake.
‘In UP the policy is if you don’t get a gold medal, you don’t get a direct DSP [Deputy Superintendent of Police] job.’ She is currently working as a ticket examiner (TE) in the Railways. But with this gold, she hopes to become DSP now. Parul ran into the history books with one of the epic final laps in the history of Indian athletics.
In a slow and tactical women’s 5000m run in oppressive humidity, she ran an unbelievable final 100m to reel in Japan’s Ririka Hironaka, who looked to have the race won when she streaked away down the back straight.
Parul became the first-ever female athlete at the Asian Games to medal in the women’s 3000m steeplechase (silver) and 5000m race (gold).
3. Saurav Ghosal
Squash | Gold & Silver | 37 | Kolkata, West Bengal
Down 0-1 against Pakistan in the final of the team event, it was Ghosal who bailed India out and set it up for Abhay Singh to lead the team to a gold. Speaking on pressure soon after the final, Ghosal said, “Pressure is a privilege.
