Ashgabat 2017: India bag four medals at Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games to take tally to 40
What's the story?
Indian tennis player Sumit Nagal clinched gold to take the nation's medal tally to four for the day, in the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games on Wednesday. Nagal defeated compatriot Vijay Sundar Prasanth in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1.
Meanwhile, in chess, the Indian men’s blitz team and men’s blitz team under-23 collected two bronze medals. Wednesday was the final day of the Games and India's total medal tally adds up to nine gold, 12 silver and 19 bronze medals.
In case you didn't know...
More than 200 athletes across 15 disciplines represented India in the Games. The 40 medals earned by the Indian contingent meant that the nation placed 11th in the overall standings. The host nation, Turkmenistan, topped the medal tally with 89 gold, 70 silver and 86 bronze medals. China placed 2nd in the standings with 42 gold, 32 silver and 23 bronze. Iran was 3rd with 36 gold, 23 bronze and 59 bronze medals.
The heart of the matter
Chess player K Sasikiran drew his match with Vietnam's Le Quang Liemand. Meanwhile, Surya Sekhar Ganguly lost to Le Quang's compatriot Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son in the semifinals of the men’s blitz team event. This meant that the pair had to settle for a bronze.
Meanwhile, in the U-23 blitz event, Diptayan Ghosh and Vaibhav Suri lost to the Iranian pair of Alireza Firouzja and Parham Maghsoodloo in the semifinals. They too had to settle for bronze.
Parallels from history
In 2013, after the International Olympic Council de-recognised the Indian Olympic Committee, the Indian athletes were allowed to participate under the Independent Olympic Athletes banner. So, during the 2013 Games at Incheon, the Indian athletes won 10 medals under the IOA banner. This included two gold, three silver and five bronze medals, a performance which put them in 12th place.
Author's take
It is a joy to see such talented athletes proving their mettle on the big stage and coming away with hard-earned medals. The likes of Nagal, Herold and the others are young and have long careers ahead of them, if they can keep performing the way they are now.
Here is the medal tally in full!
