Debutants no more: how India's first-timers took over the Asian Games

THE ROOKIES WHO MADE NOISE

Some first-timers did it more than once:

Kumkum Mohod: Two golds and one silver.
Neeru Dhanda: Two golds and one silver.
Prithika Pradeep: Two gold medals in archery.
Sahil Rajesh Jadhav: Two gold medals in archery.
Thirumuru Ganesh Maniratnam: One gold and one bronze.
Himanshu Dhillon: Two silver medals in shooting.
Vidarsa K Vinod: Two silver medals.

A CLASS THAT CAME FROM EVERYWHERE

The debutant medallists came from across the contingent

Shooting: 13 debutant medallists.
Athletics: 14 debutant medallists.
Archery: All nine Indian debutants who won medals finished on the podium.
Women’s cricket: Ten debutants were part of the gold-medal-winning team.
Kabaddi: All 15 Indian debutants were part of medal-winning teams, as India won gold in both the men’s and women’s competitions.

Ten first-timers were part of the women’s cricket gold-medal side

Pratika Rawal
Bharti Fulmali
G Kamalini
Sree Charani
Shreyanka Patil
Radha Yadav
Arundhati Reddy
Renuka Thakur
Kranti Gaud
Nandani Sharma

Indian women’s cricket team defended their gold at the Asian Games (Reuters Photo)

Kabaddi was even more striking. India won gold in both the men’s and women’s competitions, and every Indian debutant in the two squads went home with a medal. The women’s gold-winning team had Bhavna Devi, Ritu, Sanju Devi, Manisha Kumari, Nikita, Pinki Roy and Raj Rani among its first-timers. The men’s squad brought in Rahul, Gaurav Khatri, Ankit, Jaideep, Ashu Malik, Devank, Ayan and Sumit.

Athletics also had its share of debutant medallists

Yashvir Singh: Javelin silver.
Kiran Pahal: Part of the women’s 4x400m relay gold and the mixed 4x400m relay silver.
Harita Bhadra: Also finished among the medallists.

Nobody knew before the Games how many of these athletes would make the podium. By the end, many had. For them, a first Asian Games also became a first medal at the event.

NEVER DONE BEFORE

In Nagoya, India also won medals in events where it had never stood on the Asian Games podium

First-ever medals

Suchika Tariyal, MMA: India’s first Asian Games medal in MMA, a bronze in the women’s traditional under-60kg category.
Jay Meena, soft tennis: India’s first Asian Games medal in soft tennis, a bronze in men’s singles.
Maheshwari Chauhan, Parinaaz Dhaliwal and Raiza Dhillon, shooting: India’s first Asian Games medal in the women’s skeet team event, a bronze.
Parinaaz Dhaliwal and Anantjeet Singh Naruka, shooting: India’s first Asian Games medal in the skeet mixed team event, a bronze.
Satnam Singh and Salman Khan, rowing: India’s first Asian Games medal in men’s double sculls, a bronze.
Baranica Elangovan, athletics: India’s first Asian Games medal in women’s pole vault, a bronze.
Nethra Kumanan, sailing: India’s first Asian Games medal in the women’s dinghy event.
India, sepaktakraw: India’s first Asian Games medal in the men’s quadrant event.

The gold-medal milestones were just as significant.

First-ever golds and silvers

Kamaljeet and Suruchi Singh, shooting: India’s first Asian Games gold in the 10m air pistol mixed team event.
Kynan Chenai and Neeru Dhanda, shooting: India’s first Asian Games gold in the trap mixed team event.
Ankita Bhakat, Kirti Sharma and Kumkum Mohod, archery: India’s first Asian Games gold in the women’s recurve team event.
Dhiraj Bommadevara and Kumkum Mohod, archery: India’s first silver in the recurve mixed team event.
Lovlina Borgohain, boxing: India’s first Asian Games gold in the women’s 75kg category.

OTHER LANDMARKS

Anahat Singh, squash: The first Indian woman to reach the Asian Games women’s singles final, with her silver becoming India’s first medal in the event.
Naorem Roshibina Devi, wushu: Her third consecutive Asian Games medal made her the first Indian to achieve the feat.
Pranavi Urs, golf: The first Indian woman to win individual golf gold at the Asian Games. She had already helped India to silver in the women’s team event alongside Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar.

THE WAIT WAS OVER FOR SOME, TOO

Not every significant result in Nagoya was about doing something for the first time. For some Indian athletes, it was about getting back to a place the country hadn’t been in years

Mirabai Chanu wins maiden Asian Games medal, ends India’s 28-year drought (Reuters Photo)

Mirabai Chanu, weightlifting: Her silver in the women’s 49kg category ended India’s 28-year wait for an Asian Games weightlifting medal. She already had Olympic and World Championship medals. The Asian Games podium was the one place missing from her collection.
Women’s hockey: India’s last Asian Games women’s hockey gold came in 1982. In Nagoya, the team beat China 1-0 in the final to win the title after 44 years. The win also secured direct qualification for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Sawan Barwal, marathon: His silver was India’s first men’s marathon medal at the Asian Games since 1982.
Nitesh Kumar, wrestling: Reached the men’s Greco-Roman 97kg final and won silver, becoming only the second Indian Greco-Roman wrestler to reach an Asian Games final, 64 years after Maruti Mane’s silver in 1962.
Sunil Kumar, wrestling: Became the first Indian Greco-Roman wrestler to win medals at two consecutive Asian Games.
Sujeet Kalkal, wrestling: Became only the third Indian wrestler to win Asian Games gold in the men’s 65kg category, after Yogeshwar Dutt and Bajrang Punia.
Hockey, the marathon and Greco-Roman wrestling all ended long waits. In each case, India had been waiting since 1982 or earlier.

BIG SWINGS IN CRICKET AND BOXING

Cricket and boxing produced results that will be remembered separately from the medal tally.
Women’s cricket won gold, with several members of the squad making their Asian Games debut, and added two records along the way.
Shafali Verma: The first Indian woman to score a century at the Asian Games. Her hundred was also the first century in the history of women’s cricket at the Games.
Smriti Mandhana: Reached 11,000 international runs during the tournament, the first woman cricketer to get there.
In boxing, India produced its most successful Asian Games campaign in terms of gold medals.
Three golds: Lovlina Borgohain, Parveen Hooda and Ankush Panghal.
Three bronzes: Six boxing medals overall, with India improving on its previous best of two golds at the 2010 Asian Games.
Lovlina’s place in history: She became only the second Indian woman after Mary Kom to win an Asian Games boxing gold.

WHAT THE MEDAL TABLE DOESN’T SHOW

The final count: 21 gold, 27 silver and 37 bronze, 85 medals, fourth in the standings

The critics may point out that it’s a smaller return than Hangzhou, where India won 107 medals. But India sent about 24% fewer athletes to Japan as well. No medal is ever guaranteed, and across the Games, India’s athletes pushed themselves to the limit.

Nagoya’s 85 is still the second-highest tally the country has had at an Asian Games.

The established names were there, along with the records that define any major multi-sport event. But a medal table can’t show you a 17-year-old winning a shoot-off on her first trip to the Asian Games. It can’t show Pradeep and Jadhav winning two golds each on debut. It can’t tell you what it means to win a medal in an event where India has never stood on the podium. And it can’t show Mirabai Chanu filling the one gap in a decorated career, or a hockey team reclaiming a title India last won 44 years earlier.

Hangzhou was bigger. Nagoya was newer.

For the 83, it was not simply the first Asian Games. It was the beginning of a much bigger story.

– Ends

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