It's a century: Thakur congratulates Indian contingent for 100 medals at Asiad

NEW DELHI: After India reached the milestone of winning 100 medals at the Asian Games for the first time, Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur addressed the media and congratulated the Indian contingent for clinching a "century".

Thakur interacted with the media to celebrate India's stellar performance at the Hangzhou Asian Games and said that every Indian is proud of the athletes.

"It's a century, India has done it for the first time, more than 100 medals we have won in Asian Games. Every Indian is so proud of their athletes. My heartfelt congratulations to each and every athlete.

1.4 billion Indians are sending their best wishes and congratulations to the athletes. 72 years of Asian Games we had not done that well, what we have done this time, our athletes broke many records this time and made many Asian records," Anurag Thakur said on Saturday.

The Sports Minister also expressed hope that Indian athletes will perform with the same enthusiasm in the upcoming Paris Olympics 2024. "Hockey team performed excellent; matches were one-sided. With the quota in the Olympics, many athletes promised to continue this performance in the Olympics as well," he added.

Earlier, PM Narendra Modi also congratulated the Indian contingent on the "momentous achievement" on his X handle.

PM Modi informed through his post that he will be hosting the Indian contingent in the Asian Games on October 10, adding that he will personally interact with athletes, who lit up the Hangzhou Games with dazzling individual and team performances to help the country reach the 100-medal mark in the 19th Asian Games.

"A momentous achievement for India at the Asian Games! The people of India are thrilled that we have reached a remarkable milestone of 100 medals. I extend my heartfelt congratulations to our phenomenal athletes whose efforts have led to this historic milestone for India.

Every awe-inspiring performance has made history and filled our hearts with pride. I look forward to hosting our Asian Games contingent on the 10th and interacting with our athletes," PM Modi posted on X.

The women's kabaddi team took a 14-9 lead against Chinese Taipei in the gold medal match at the Asian Games 2023 and kept their noses in front in the contest to eventually claim the yellow metal. The two teams had played out a 34-34 tie in their campaign opener.

The Indian raiders scored bonus points in the first half while Chinese Taipei took the lead in the second, scoring 16 points. The Indians trailed in the second half at 12 points. However, the Indian raiders scored two bonus points in the second half to turn the tide in their favour.

Largely on the weight of their stellar performance in the first half, the Indian women clinched a 26-25 win over Chinese Taipei, claiming India's 25th gold and taking the country's medal tally to exactly 100.