India's golden Friday: From 9-2 down to hockey glory, a day of comebacks and firsts
Aichi-Nagoya, Oct 2 (UNI) Friday was the sort of day Indian sport occasionally produces - improbable, dramatic and rather difficult to fit into one headline.
There was a wrestler who stared at a 9-2 deficit and still walked away with gold, three boxers who turned the ring into a golden assembly line, archers who finally got the better of South Korea, and, to crown it all, a women's hockey team that waited 44 years to reclaim the Asian Games throne.
The crowning moment came in the evening when India beat China 1-0 in the women's hockey final, ending a 44-year wait for the Asian Games title. Lalremsiami scored the only goal in the 10th minute on her 200th international appearance, but it was goalkeeper Savita Punia and a stubborn defence who had to do the hard work thereafter. China came at India with penalty corners, a penalty stroke and, in the dying minutes, an extra outfield player after pulling out its goalkeeper. India refused to blink.
The final whistle brought not merely gold but direct qualification for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. If hockey supplied the evening drama, Sujeet Kalkal supplied the afternoon's great escape. The Indian wrestler was 2-9 down against Tajikistan's Abdulmazhid Kudiev in the men's 65kg freestyle final and appeared to have left himself an Everest to climb. Instead, he produced a remarkable fightback, scoring four takedowns in the second half to win 10-9 and give India its first wrestling gold of the Games. Earlier, Sujeet had stunned reigning Olympic champion Kotaro Kiyooka of Japan 3-3 on criteria in the semifinal, surviving a late assault to reach the gold-medal bout.
The boxing ring was equally kind to India. Lovlina Borgohain defeated China's Bao Zi Yi by unanimous decision in the women's 75kg final to claim her maiden Asian Games gold. It was India's first women's boxing gold at the Games since Mary Kom's triumph in 2014. Parveen Hooda followed with a narrow 3-2 split-decision victory over Chinese Taipei's Chen Nien-chin in the women's 65kg final, before Ankush Panghal completed India's boxing hat-trick by defeating South Korea's Kim Min Seong in the men's 80kg final. And then there were the archers.
Ankita Bhakat, Kirti and Kumkum Mohod defeated South Korea to win India's first Asian Games gold in the women's recurve team event. The gold was followed by silver for the men's recurve team, which lost to South Korea, and another silver for the mixed team of Dhiraj Bommadevara and Kumkum Mohod after China prevailed in the final. Sailing added another bronze through Nethra Kumanan, while India secured its first-ever medal in the men's quadrant event in sepak takraw after losing to Japan in the semifinal.
Pranavi Urs ensured golf remained another Indian talking point, taking the outright lead into the final round after carding a four-under 68 to move to 15-under par. By the time the hockey players walked off the field with gold around their necks, India had enjoyed a day that had nearly everything - history, heartbreak, comebacks and moments when the scoreboard seemed determined to make life unnecessarily difficult. Friday, however, belonged to India.
UNI BDN
