India's golden run at Asian Games sets new benchmark

Cliched as it may sound, India did save their best for the last. Led by a historic gold medal from the men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty on their last competition day at the 19th Asian Games, India ended their most successful campaign with 107 medals (28 gold, 38 silver, 41 bronze), bettering their previous best haul at the 2018 Jakarta Games by a whopping 37 medals.

- SHANTANU SRIVASTAVA

It was also the best competition day for India in terms of gold medals won though October 1 saw India win 15 medals, three more than they won on October 4 and October 7 (12 medals each). On Saturday, India's compound archers, kabaddi teams, men's cricket team and the badminton doubles pair combined for six gold medals that enabled India to wrap up a memorable Games with the most "successful" single-day haul.

In some ways, it was fitting that India's 100th medal came on the kabaddi mat from its women, a sport that the country can lay claim of being its own. With barely 24 hours left for the curtains to come down at Hangzhou, Indian athletes signed off, having raised the bar, and expectations, for next  year's Paris Olympics.

India secured a fourth-place finish at the Games, their best since the 1962 Jakarta Asiad where they had finished third. The top three in Hangzhou were the same from the last Games with China, Japan and South Korea all three improving their medal count from 2018 Jakarta.