India registers its best ever Asian Games performance with 69 medals

India registered its best ever performance in Asian Games by bagging 69 medals, including 15 gold, 24 silver and 30 bronze medals. On the last day of the 18th edition of the Asian Games, India won 2 gold medals, one silver and one bronze medal.

Amit Phangal won the gold in Men’s 49kg boxing final match as he defeated Hasanboy Dusmatov of Uzbekistan 3-2. The second gold was won by Pranab Bardhan and Shibnath Sarkar in Bridge men’s pair final. India won the silver medal in Squash women’s team final as it lost to Hong Kong 0-2 while the bronze was bagged in hockey with India defeating Pakistan 2-1.

22-year-old armyman Amit Phangal was the only Indian to make it to the final of the boxing event. Amit showed immense tactical brilliance, especially in defence to outmaneuver the Uzbek, who has an iconic status in international boxing.

"I had lost to him before, so I had to take revenge. Coach Santiago (Nieva) and other coaches had prepared me well. In the semifinal, I did not play the first round well, here I did not repeat that mistake," Amit said after the bout.

The previous best performance of India was in 2010 when the contingent bagged 65 medals, including 14 gold.

There were several highlights in India’s medal run at the 18th Asian Games held in Indonesia. The first gold medal for India at the 18th edition of the games was won by wrestler Bajrang Punia, who clinched the gold medal in the men`s freestyle 65-kg category defeating Daichi Takatani of Japan 11-8 in the final. It was Bajrang`s second successive gold medal at the Asian Games after his triumph in Incheon 2014 in the 61-kg category.

In women wrestling, Vinesh Phogat became the first Indian wrestler to bag a gold medal in 50kg freestyle category. While she was expected to get a stiff competition from Japan’s Yuki Irie, she defeated her hands down 6-2 to win the final. The gold also enabled Vinesh to achieve another feat as she became the only woman wrestler to win two medals in back-to-back Asian Games.

Arpinder Singh was another highlight of the sporting extravaganza as he became the first Indian to strike triple jump gold at Asiad in 48 years.

India’s 27-year-old middle-distance runner Jinson Johnson also scripted history by winning Gold in the Men’s 1500m event. He became the first Indian, after 56 years, to win an Asian Games yellow metal in the track event. Johnson had also bagged the silver medal in the 800m event.

The other events were India bagged gold included men’s javelin throw, women’s 4x400m relay, 10m air pistol men, men’s double tennis, women’s heptathlon, men’s shot put and men’s 800m.