100 medals: A coming of age for Indian sport

India's elite athletes answered a clarion call, confirming a landmark haul of 100-plus medals at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Friday, to mark the rapid progress made across disciplines in this Olympic cycle and create a new yardstick with which Indian sport will be measured from here on

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On a day when India's dominant men's hockey team won a gold medal that has always held great emotional significance among its billion fans, athletes from across sports ensured that the tally would cross the century mark - 95 in the official medal tally, with seven more assured on Saturday.

India has achieved a 30-medal surge after fielding its largest ever contingent of 655, zooming past the previous best of 70 medals won by the country at the 2018 Jakarta Games. The medals have comes across a number of sports, with brilliant performances in shooting, archery and athletics leading the way.

"Honestly, when we set the target of 100 medals, I did not believe we could achieve it! But once the 70-medal mark was breached, it gave an extra push to our athletes," gushed Chef de Mission Bhupender Singh Bajwa.