October 7, 2023, will be marked in golden letters in the history of Indian sports. The Indian contingent achieved their best-ever medals tally, hitting 100 for the first time in the history of the Asian Games.
The Asian Games 2023 have been a smashing hit for India. This event may go down as a game-changer in Indian sporting history.
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That being said, India were in for a few surprises as well. Not quite pleasant. A few of the Indian athletes, surprisingly, could not live up to the expectations.
The Sporting News presents a list of Indian athletes who underperformed in the Asian Games 2023.
Indian athletes who failed to live up to the billing
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Mirabai Chanu
Mirabai Chanu, a Tokyo Olympic silver medalist, failed to finish in the top three in the women's 49kg weightlifting event. She stood at the fourth spot at the end of the contest.
She lifted 83kg in snatch and 108kg in clean and jerk, making for for a combined lift of 191kg. It did not prove to be enough for a podium finish. Notably, she had decided to give herself a break from the 2023 world championships to keep herself fit for the Asian Games.
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Nikhat Zareen
Although Indian boxer Nikhat Zareen clinched a bronze medal in the women's 50kg event, she endured an upset in the semi-final. While it was being predicted that Zareen would defeat Thailand's Chuthamat Raksat to go to the final, Zareen, the world champion, was handed a defeat as the judges awarded the match 3-2 in the favour of her opponent.
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Bajrang Punia
Bajrang Punia's title defense did not end up well for him. Punia, who had won the gold in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, started off nicely, claiming wins in the Round of 16 and quarter-final of the men's 65kg wrestling event.
However, the Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist lost the semi-final bout to Iran's Rahman Amouzadkhalili 8-1. He then faced another defeat in the repechage match for the bronze medal at the hands of Japan's Kaiki Yamaguchi as his campaign accounted for no medal.
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PV Sindhu
India's ace shuttler PV Sindhu lost to China's He Bingjiao 16-21, 12-21 in the quarter-finals of the women's singles event. Sindhu had bagged a silver medal in the 2018 Asian Games. However, the 2023 quadrennial event ended up to be a disappointment for the 28-year-old.
Asian Games 2023: India’s medals tally by sport
| Sport | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shooting | 7 | 9 | 6 | 22 |
| Rowing | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Cricket | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Sailing | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Equestrian | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Wushu | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Tennis | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Squash | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Athletics | 6 | 14 | 9 | 29 |
| Golf | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Boxing | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Badminton | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Roller Skating | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Table Tennis | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Canoe Sprint | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Archery | 5 | 2 | 2 | 9 |
| Wrestling | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Sepaktakraw | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Bridge | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Hockey | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Kabaddi | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 27 | 35 | 40 | 102 |