The fourth day of the ongoing Asian Games 2023 started on an extremely positive note indeed for India as its athletes bagged two gold, two silver and three bronze medals in various events.
India’s medal rush began on Wednesday with shooters Sift Kaur Samra, Manini Kaushik and Ashi Chouksey winning silver in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Women's Team event.
The trio registered a total score of 1,764 putting them in second place behind China which topped bagged gold with a score of 1,773 points. The Korean team claimed bronze medal with a score of 1,756.
Later in another shooting event, the Women’s 25m Pistol Team event, India’s Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh, and Rhythm Sangwan won the gold after registering a total score of 1,759.
The silver medal in the event was claimed by the Chinese team who scored 1,756 and the South Korean team had to settle for bronze with a total score of 1,742.
Continuing this medal streak, Sift Kaur Samra clinched the gold medal in the 50-meter Rifle 3 Positions Individual event with a total score of 469.6 after 15 shots each in kneeling, prone and standing positions.
The silver medal in the event went to China’s Qiongyue Zhang who registered a total score of 462.3 but the bronze medal also went to India as Ashi Chouksey finished third with a score of 451.9.
Samra’s medal was the first individual gold for India - all other awards in the yellow metal have been for team events.
In the process of bringing home the gold medal, Samra also broke all sorts of records including the world record set by Seonaid McIntosh, a British shooter, in the International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup in Azerbaijan's capital Baku in May this year.
Before her triumph in the final, Samra also broke the Asian Games record in qualification with a total score of 594 (out of 600).
India bagged another bronze medal in the men’s skeet event as the team consisting of Angad Vir Singh Bajwa, Gurjoat Khangura and Anant Jeet Singh Naruka were placed third on the podium.
The gold medal in the event was bagged by the host China and the silver medal was clinched by Qatar.
Indian sailor Vishnu Saravanan added to the country's haul of medals as he clinched bronze in the ILCA-7 event.
And India bagged one more silver as the shooter Esha Singh secured second place on the podium in the 25m Pistol event.
Apart from this, India has been performing extremely well in other sport events too: it defeated Singapore in women’s hockey by 13 goals and the team of Taniksha Khatri, Jyotika Dutta and Ena Arora advanced to the quarter-finals in fencing.
The athletes' achievements have been praised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Federal Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and netizens too.