List Of Indian Champions Who Won 15 Gold At Asian Games 2018 And Made India Proud

The Asian Games 2018, a pan-Asian multi-sport event which was held in Jakarta and Palembang in Indonesia, saw some outstanding performances by the Indian participants. The sporting event commenced on August 18th, 2018 and concluded on September 2nd, 2018.

We bring to you the names of those Indian athletes who have won the Gold Medal for their country:

1. Bajrang Punia- Men’s Freestyle Wrestling (65 kg)

Born in 1994, Bajrang hails from Jhajjar, Haryana and began wrestling at the age of seven. He is employed with the Indian Railways as a TTE. During the event, Bajrang claimed gold by defeating Takatani Daichi of Japan with a score of 11-8. The beginning was in favour of Bajrang as he took a lead by 6-0. Although Daichi managed to take it to 4-6, Bajrang emerged victorious in the end.

2. Vinesh Phogat- Women’s Freestyle Wrestling (50 kg)

She is the first Indian woman wrestler to win Gold in both Commonwealth and Asian Games. Vinesh is a cousin of successful wrestlers Geeta Phogat and Babita Kiumari. In the event, Vinesh defeated Yuki Irie from Japan by taking a lead by 4-0 in the first round and ending the game at 6-2.

3. Saurabh Chaudhary- Men’s 10 metre air pistol

A 16-year-old boy from Meerut, UP, Saurabh has also set a new junior world record some time back in the ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany. However, this time being his first senior event, he shot a total of 240.7 to claim gold and defeat Tomoyuki Matsuda of Japan who scored 239.7 to bag the silver.

4. Rahi Sarnobat- Women’s 25 metre pistol

Hailing from Kolhapur, Maharashtra, Rahi has also won two gold medals in 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. She is India’s first woman to win a gold medal in shooting in the Asian Games. She defeated Naphaswan Yangpaiboon from Thailand, who scored the same as Rahi. To declare the winner, two shoot-offs had to be held as the first was also a tie. In the second and final shoot-off, Rahi emerged as a winner by shooting three while Naphaswan shot two.

5. Sawaran Singh, Dattu Bhokanal, Om Prakash and Sukhmeet- Men’s quadruple sculls

A four-member team, they succeeded in bagging the gold medal for India in the Quadruple Sculls event by clocking 6:17:13. The team defeated Indonesia (6:20:58) and Thailand (6:22:41) who bagged the silver and bronze, respectively.

6. Rohan Manchanda and Divij Sharan- Tennis Men’s doubles

While Rohan belongs to Bengaluru and has a world ranking of 3 in doubles (in 2013), Divij hails from Delhi and also represents India in the Davis Cup. The duo won the gold medal by defeating Aleksander Bublik and Denis Yevseyev of Kazakhstan in straight sets by 6-3, 6-4 in 52 minutes. This medal is the fourth gold for India’s men doubles team in the history of Asian Games.

7. Tejinderpal Singh Toor- Men’s shot put

Born on 13th November 1994, Tejinder comes from a Jat Sikh family of farmers in Moga district, Punjab. He not only holds the outdoor national record but also the Asian Games record throw by winning at 20.75m. During the event, he started with a throw of 19.96m and proceeded to win the gold defeating Liu Yang of China (19.52m) and Ivan Ivanov of Kazakhstan (19.40m).

8. Neeraj Chopra- Men’s javelin throw

A Junior Commissioned Officer of the Indian Army, Neeraj hails from Panipat, Haryana. During the event, Neeraj excelled by throwing the spear to a brand-new personal best of 88.06m while other finalists could only reach the 60m mark.

9. Manjit Singh- Men’s 800 metres

Hailing from Haryana, Manjit Singh Chahal is an Indian middle-distance runner who specialises in the 800 metres event. During the run, Manjit ran with astonishing timing of 1:46:15 and seized the win from the seasoned runner Jinson Johnson.

10. Arpinder Singh- Men’s triple jump

Born in 1992, this Indian triple jumper hails from Amritsar, Punjab. During the event, he reached 16.77m defeating Ruslan Kurbanov of Uzbekistan (16.62m) and Shuo Cao of China (16.56m) who scored silver and bronze, respectively. This marks the first medal for India in 48 years in the sport of Triple Jump at the Asian Games.

11. Swapna Barman- Women’s heptathlon

Belonging to Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, Swapna created history by becoming the first Indian woman to win gold in the heptathlon event in the Asian Games. She scored a total of 6026 points defeating Qingling Wang of China who scored 5954 points

12. Jinson Johnson- Men’s 1500 metres

Hailing from Kozhikode, Kerala, Johnson is a middle-distance runner. In the 1500 metre event, Johnson claimed the gold with a timing of 3:44:72, defeating Amir Moradi of Iran who won the silver with a timing of 3:45:62. Johnson has earlier won a silver in the 800-metre event as well.

13. M. R. Poovamma, Saritaben Gaikwad, Hima Das and Vismaya- Women’s 4 x 400 m relay

Displaying a magnificent effort at the relay event, Hima Das who is also considered as the fastest quarter-miler of India gave an exceptional lead to the team with an impressive first lap. The rest of the team also caught on to the speed astoundingly. The Indian team bagged the gold with a superb timing of 3:28:72s, defeating Bahrain which finished at 3:30:61s and Vietnam at 3:33:23s, claiming the silver and bronze respectively. However, the Indian team missed the Games record of 3:28:68s by just an edge.

14. Amit Panghal- Mens Light Fly Boxing (49 kg)

Born in 1995, this debutant belongs to Mayna village in Rohtak District, Haryana and is the son of a farmer. In the event, he defeated 2016 Olympic champion Hasanboy Dusmatov of Uzbekistan by 3-2 to bag the gold medal with utmost brilliance.

15. Pranab Bardhan and Shibhnath Sarkar – Men’s pair bridge (trick-taking card game)

This duo beat the Chinese team of Lixin Yang and Gang Chen with a fantastic score of 384.00 points to bag the gold. The Chinese team won the silver medal with a score of 378.00 points and the bronze was claimed by the Indonesian team of Henky Lasut and Freddy Eddy Manoppo who finished at 374.00 points.

 

With a total of 15 gold medals, the athletes have not just done a commendable job for themselves, but for their country as well. Not just that, India has successfully claimed 24 Silver medals and 30 Bronze medals. It needs no mention that athletes are like these are our heroes who are taking their nation’s name to new heights and making us all proud.