Sharp-shooting Sift
In all, shooters won 22 medals (7G, 9S, 6B) with a number of elite performances across rifle and pistol. You would be hard-pressed to find a more dominating performance in the final than Sift Kaur Samra in the women’s 50m R3P. In a discipline that traditionally hasn’t been a stronghold, the 22-year-old set a new world record en route. That she beat China’s world champion, Zhang Qiongyue, by 7.3 points (in other words, almost by one extra ammo) in the final is a fair reflection of how she blew the competition out of the water. It was also the country’s first individual gold of the Games.
Mukherjees to the fore
Ayhika and Sutirtha met each other more than two decades ago. They went to the same table tennis academy, went to the same junior clubs. That was the basis of an incredible bond that gave the country one of its most incredible medals in Hangzhou. In front of an extremely loud crowd, they took out the Chinese world No. 2 duo in the last eight guaranteed them a medal. In the last four — when they were bidding to become the first Indian TT players to reach the final -- they ran North Korea close before going down.
Chaudhary’s race of life
With less than 400m in the gruelling 5000m women’s event, it seemed that the event was already over. Japan’s Ririka Hironaka was leading Parul Chaudhary by more than a few seconds and it seemed like that would hold. Yet, on the home straight, Chaudhary, 28, produced a final kick for the ages when she made a move on the inside. Hironaka was looking for the move on the outside but the Indian outsmarted to become the first women’s athlete to medal in the 3000m steeplechase as well as the 5000m in the same Games.
Ghosal and Co bring roof down
Probably the one team gold that will still be spoken about by the time the next Games comes around in Japan. Up against Pakistan and in a rocking atmosphere, Abhay Singh, India’s last singles player, saved a gold medal point before prevailing over Noor Zaman in a thriller. Saurav Ghosal had brought India back into the tie after Mahesh Mangaonkar had been blanked in the opening singles rubber.
Badminton boys do history
The doubles duo of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty came into the tournament as one of the leading lights of Indian sport. They now go back having enhanced their reputation. They once again showed by how much they had grown as a pair as they walked through the tournament with minimal fuss. In fact, the only time they faced trouble was when Shetty was down with a flu early on in the doubles tournament. Against South Korea in the final, they didn’t even need to get out of third gear to win the country’s first gold in the sport at the Games.
Compounding interest
India had one compound bow in their arsenal in 2004. Now, there’s a case for saying they are one of the kings of this sport. Medals have come at the rate of knots this year and Asian domination has followed, with a clean sweep in the discipline. Ojas Deotale and Jyothi Surekha Vennam will go back to India as the two most successful athletes of the Games with three gold each.
Dressage gold
Before the Games, a dressage gold would have been one of the unlikeliest gold. A week later, it still feels like a dream because of all the governance issues inside the federation. But four athletes — all of whom moved base to Europe to concentrate on their careers — dared to dream and made the impossible possible.
