India shines at the Asiad amid cricket ticket woes

Our women athletes proved their mettle in Hangzhou but the spectacle at home of a sparsely occupied stadium for the World Cup opener cast its seat allotment mechanism in poor light

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With just a few days left for curtains to fall on the 19th Asian Games in China, India has much to be proud of. Surpassing its previous 70-medal mark in Jakarta, this year's 653-member squad has bagged 86 medals in 12 days. We deserve our swell of pride in the tricolour as the cry of Ab ki baar, 100 paar' for a three-digit medal tally looks within reach. It would be a moment marker for India's emergence in the wider arena of sports. Many heroic performances shone through. There have been notable advances by men, but we must clench a fist in solidarity with our women athletes at Hangzhou who have been acing various competitive games. Our women's cricket team has earned stardom, too. A glaring gender gap in sports is being bridged, it would seem. For a country that ranks 127th out of 146 on the Global Gender Gap Report 2023 of the World Economic Forum, the sight of more women atop victory podiums is a heart-warmer.