The whole of India woke up to a historic achievement of 100 medals by the athletes in the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou on Saturday (October 7) morning as the women's kabaddi team helped the country to get to the milestone. India started the day with 95 medals and archers added four more to the tally rather quickly with a double podium finish each in men's and women's compound events and the kabaddi team led by Ritu Negi prevailed in a thrilling Gold medal match against Chinese Taipei 26-25 to win the 100th medal.
The Indian women's team was leading the clash after a good start with five points. Some good raid points and solid defence was the highlight as India led Chinese Taipei 14-9 at the halfway mark. A couple of more points were added to India's as the lead was extended to seven points. However, the Chinese Taipei bounced back strongly with five consecutive points to leave the scoreline 16-14 in India's favour.
Pooja earned a couple of points as India got a four-point lead but the Women in Blue kept conceding points through defence. In a bid to get tackle points, India almost cancelled the raid points they were earning as the scoreline was neck and neck. Getting all out didn't help as Chinese Taipei now had a two-point lead.
The same process of earning raid points and giving away defence points continued before two touchpoints were earned in critical moments with just 90 minutes on the clock. One defence point was gifted but it didn't matter as India won their third Gold in women's kabaddi in Asian Games.
It was a historic moment as this was the 100th medal for India in Asian Games and there are more coming in cricket, men's kabaddi and men's doubles badminton.
India squad: Akshima, Jyoti, Pooja, Pooja, Priyanka, Pushpa, Sakshi Kumari, Ritu Negi, Nidhi Sharma, Sushma Sharma, Snehal Pradeep Shinde, Sonali Vishnu Shingat.
