Asian Games 2023: 3 talking points from Day 2
India won six medals on Day 2 of the Asian Games 2023. The Indian shooters won the first gold for the nation, while the women's cricket team won the gold medal by defeating Sri Lanka in the final.
On Day 1 of the Asian Games 2023, India won two medals in shooting and three in rowing. Yesterday, on the second day of the continental meet, the Indian shooters won three medals, while India added two medals in rowing. India also won its first gold in women's cricket at the Asian Games.
Courtesy of the medals won by the Indian athletes on Day 2, India now holds the sixth position in the Asian Games 2023 medal tally. In total, India has won two gold medals, three silver medals and six bronze medals. China, South Korea, Japan, Uzbekistan, and Hong Kong are ahead of India.
Now that the second day of Asian Games 2023 is in the history books, here's a look at the three major talking points.
#1 Indian women's cricket team makes the nation proud
Cricket is the most-followed sport in India, but the BCCI refused to send an Indian team to cricket tournaments at the Asian Games in 2010 and 2014. This year, the board finally gave the green signal to the men's and women's teams to travel to Hangzhou and compete against Asia's best.
India were the favorites to win the gold medal in women's cricket, and a fantastic bowling performance from Titas Sadhu helped India defeat Sri Lanka in the final. Forties from Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues guided India to a 116-run score in the first innings.
Chasing 117 for a win, Sri Lanka finished with 97/8 in 20 overs, losing the final by 19 runs. Sadhu was the pick of the bowlers for India with figures of 3/6 in four overs.
#2 Indian shooters smash world record in 10m Air Rifle team event
Before the Indian women's cricket team won their gold medal, the Indian shooting trio of Rudrankksh Patil, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Divyansh Singh Panwar topped the standings in the 10m Air Rifle men's team event by scoring 1893.7.
With this score, India shattered China's world record of 1893.3 points, set by the Chinese shooters at the World Championships in Baku earlier this year. India's Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar also won a bronze medal in 10m Air Rifle men's individual event, while Vijayveer Sidhu, Adarsh Singh and Anish Bhanwala won a bronze medal in Men's 25m rapid fire pistol team.
#3 Two more medals for India in rowing at Asian Games 2023
After winning two silver medals and one bronze medal in rowing on Day 1 of Asian Games 2023, India won two more bronze medals in the sport on Day 2. Parminder Singh, Satnam Singh, Jakar Khan and Sukhmeet Singh finished third in the Men's quadruple with a timing of 6:08.61 seconds.
Before that, the quartet of Jaswinder Singh, Bheem Singh, Punit Kumar and Ashish attained the third spot in the Men's fours event by clocking 6:10.81s. It has been a historic outing for India's rowers at Asian Games 2023 as they won a total of five medals.