Asian Games: India win record 100th medal with gold in Women’s Kabaddi final against Chinese Taipei – WATCH

India recorded the best-ever tally at the Asian Games 2023 by crossing the 100th-medal mark on Saturday, with the Women’s Kabaddi Team winning the gold medal against Chinese Taipei in a closely fought contest. The Indian Team trailed by two points in the second half but staged a superb comeback to win the match and gold medal with a 26-25 scoreline.

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Assuring them of a medal by qualifying for the finals, the Indian women’s kabaddi team faced a stiff challenge against the Chinese Taipei at the Xiaoshan Guali Sports Centre in Hangzhou.

A win over the Chinese Taipei on Saturday marked the Indian women’s kabaddi team’s third gold medal in the tournament history. They first won the gold medal at Guangzhou 2010 and defended the title at Incheon 2014. The Indian Team finished runners-up at Jakarta 2018.

For the Chinese Taipei side that won bronze the last time, they upgraded their medal to silver at the ongoing Asian Games 2023.

See-saw ride for India

The match began with Pushpa Rana and Pooja Hathwala starting the raids for India.

The opposition was on the top of its game, with Hsiu-Chen Feng stunning the two-time winners with a super raid to level scores. Feng then managed two touches and a bonus to equalise the score 5-5 for the Chinese Taipei.

Although the competition was neck-to-neck in the first half, Pooja Hathwala’s super raid, three touches, and a bonus saw India take a handsome five-point lead. With the scorecard reading 14-9 at halftime, India extended their lead to give them an extra cushion.

That, however, couldn’t keep the Chinese Taipei down as they staged a comeback, thanks to a super tackle on Pushpa Rana, cutting the deficit to two points.

The pattern kept going on for the next few minutes, as every time India took the lead, the Chinese Taipei crawled back into the game. At one point, they inflicted an all-out on India to take a two-point lead at 21-19.

Heading into the business end of the game, India managed to get ahead by a point, courtesy of successful raids from Pushpa Rana. Following the tight contest, India beat Chinese Taipei by 26-25 to win the match and grab the gold medal.

The Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, congratulated the women’s kabaddi team on this remarkable achievement.

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