The day began with an arrow piercing the morning chill. It ended with a spear floating across the night sky. And both yielded similar results: a gold medal.
The archers ensured India’s best-ever overall medal tally at the Asian Games when the compound mixed team won the gold. The athletes made sure the gold count, too, would be higher than ever before.
The track and field athletes, who won seven medals on Wednesday and have a total haul of 29, took India’s medal count to 81 – 11 more than that at the 2018 Games. The 18 gold medals, too, are two more than the previous edition in Jakarta with javelin and relay providing the final push.
“When we finished our events and posed for photos,” javelin gold medallist Neeraj Chopra said, “(silver medal winner Kishore) Jena told me, ‘aaj sab taraf apna flag dikh raha hai (our flag is everywhere)’.”
While the duo were navigating through a controversial final, Neeraj and Jena saw the Tricolour being hoisted four times. The 35km mixed walk team was the first to be handed their bronze medals after a punishing race in the morning. Harmilan Bains then claimed the silver in the 800m followed by Avinash Sable’s battling silver medal in the 5,000m and the women’s 4x400m relay team’s second-place finish.
Then, as Jena and Neeraj embarked on a lap of honour with the flag draped around their shoulders, they spotted four smiling faces on the opposite end of the field. “I looked up and saw the relay team was celebrating their win,” Jena said.
India’s 4x400m quartet brought the curtain down on the track events in some style to win the gold medal. For a brief moment, it looked beyond their reach – just like it did with the women, who couldn’t retain the title they have held every time since the Busan Asiad.
Mohammad Anas, who ran the opening leg, started well and was quickest among the four Indians. But the oldest man of the team, at 28, was still fifth best in the field. On the final stretch, he ran out of steam and from pushing for first place, he finished far behind the rest of the pack with a timing of 43.60 seconds.
India’s baton exchange was smooth and Amoj Jacob took off. He covered the gap inside the first 200m, overtook Sri Lanka’s Kaushika Dewage and Qatar’s Ashraf Osman and as he came out from the curve, Jacob extended the gap between him and the second-placed Sri Lankan by nearly a second.
Muhammed Ajmal, with his long strides and unending energy, did not let the lead slip despite coming under increasing pressure from Qatar’s Ismail Abakar, who ran a faster leg. But the cushion provided by Jacob came in handy as India were still in pole position going into the anchor leg.
And Rajesh Ramesh, the youngest of the lot aged 23, did not let it fritter away. India finished the race in 3 minutes, 1.58 seconds ahead of Qatar (3:02.05) and Sri Lanka (3:02.55).
As he crossed the finish line, Ramesh kissed the baton and held his arms wide open. From the other side, Jena and Neeraj watched as the four men embraced each other.
Comeback stories
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Behind the smiling faces were stories of sweet redemption for a quartet that hasn’t been in the best of form in recent years. Anas has struggled and was virtually written off. Ramesh’s prospects faded after a promising start to his career after injuries, work commitments and the pandemic nearly ended his career in 2020. Until recently, the Tamil Nadu runner worked full-time as a ticket checker at Trichy railway station.
Jacob, too, contemplated quitting the sport after being bogged down by injuries while Ajmal turned into a quarter-miler only a year ago.
The upturn in fortunes was evident at the World Championships in Budapest, where they challenged the mighty Americans in the heats to qualify for the final. The relay gold, India’s first since the 1962 Asiad, has now stoked Olympic ambitions.
“Overall, it feels good that we won gold, so happy,” Jacob said. “We tried for a new record but gold without a record is also fine. A record without gold will not feel good. Aim fulfilled for this season, now let’s focus on the Olympics.”
