Asian Games 2023: ‘Nervous nineties is as good as century’

India’s women’s 5,000m gold medallist Parul Chaudhary. Pics/PTI

Officials of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and Athletics Federation of India (AFI) wore broad smiles at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre on Wednesday night as the athletics contingent completed an impressive wrap on the final day of the track and field competition.

India bagged its best ever 29 medals in athletics, including six gold, 14 silver and nine bronze, faring far better than the Jakarta 2018 edition's 20 medals.

IOA chief PT Usha said the athletes have justified the immense support and faith the country has put in them. "We have won medals in most of the events we participated in so we should be proud of our achievement," the former sprint queen, who won a record four gold and one silver at the 1986 Seoul Asian Games, told mid-day.

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Neeraj Chopra

‘Our 800m timing not good'

The athlete in her however, could not resist making some finer points. "Most of the timings were good, but of course there is room for improvement. In the 800m event, for example, our timing was not good. [India's Harmilan Bains clinched silver in the women's 800m race, clocking 2:03.75]. Tintu Luka [former middle-distance runner and national champion] used to clock 2:01 and even better a few years ago, so we have not improved a lot in this. But overall our athletes have improved so that's good," she added.

AFI chief Adille Sumariwalla claimed that the athletics contingent superseded expectations. "Before the Games, we had said that we would bag 24 or 25 medals in athletics, but we have given 29, so that's a brilliant achievement. We won't touch the magic figure of 100, but will be in the nervous nineties for sure. People need to understand that such performances do not happen overnight. There is a lot of planning by the federation and hard work by athletes that has gone in it," said the former sprinter.

Bhupender Singh Bajwa, Adille Sumariwalla, Anju Bobby George and PT Usha. Pics/Ashwin Ferro

India's Chef de Mission Bhupender Singh Bajwa agreed with the AFI chief. "Our sportspersons began these Games very well, but in between there were fewer medals, so we then started expecting 80 to 85 medals. But now, with this good show by our athletics team, it will definitely go into the 90s," he said.

Stepping stone for Paris

AFI Vice President and former champion long jumper Anju Bobby George said this performance could well be the stepping stone to bringing glory at next year's Paris Olympics. "There have been some extraordinary performances and there have been some unexpected dips, but overall it's been a wonderful show by our athletes. This shows that our planning is good and we are heading in the right direction. But this is not our destination. Our ultimate aim is the Olympics, where we need to win medals. Just before these Games, when we did a TV commercial claiming that we can reach 100 medals, many people would've laughed at us, but now we have come so close and should finish between 90 and 100. We also missed a few medals like men's and women's long jump, triple jump and 400m flat race otherwise we would've easily touched 100," she explained.