Asian Games 2023: Who are the medal contenders for India on Day 5, September 28?

The Indian contingent will look to add more medals on day 5 of the continental event.

It was a day of medal rush for the Indians in the Asian Games 2023, as India won eight medals to increase their total tally to 22 in the medals table. The shooters from India were on target for most part of the day as they won seven of the eight medals. Sift Kaur Samra broke the world record in the 50m Rifle 3-position individual event to grab the gold.

Ashi Chouksey by bagging the bronze in the same event, became the first Indian with three medals in the Hangzhou Asian Games 2023. Earlier in the day, the two along with Manini Kaushik won the silver in the 50m Rifle 3-position team event. The women shooters brought more laurels from the team event as the trio of Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh, and Rythym Sangwan won the gold in the 25m Pistol event.

Esha went on to win the silver in the 25m Pistol team event. In the Men's skeet event, India won a bronze in the team event while Anant Naruka had to settle for a silver after a tight fight against Olympic medalist Abdullah Alrashidi of Kuwait who equaled the world record in the final. Vishnu Saravanan won the bronze medal at the Men's dinghy ILCA7 sailing event.

India will be hoping to continue their momentum and bring more medals from different disciplines. Day 5 could be one such historic day as medals awaited in events in Wushu and Equestrian. Let's see who are the contenders to be on the podium.

Shooting

Arjun Cheema, Sarabjot Singh, and Shiva Narwal - 10m Air Pistol Men's (Individual and Team)

With a tally of 12 medals in shooting, India have already overhauled the 2018 Jakarta Games tally of nine. But, India would still be happy to add more specifically in the 10m Air Pistol event. India are the defending champion in the event and also won the bronze thanks to Saurabh Chaudhary and Abhishek Verma respectively.

Team India would like to repeat the same this year and their hopes will be on Arjun Cheema, Sarabjot Singh, and Shiva Narwal. Watch out for the 17-year-old Shiva Narwal, who recently overcame a family tragedy to win Gold in the World Championships held at Baku.

Wushu

Roshibina Devi - Women's 60 kg Finals

If anyone at the start of the Hangzhou Games wrote a list of sports in which India could get a medal, then Wushu might not be on the list of most of them. But the supremely talented, Roshibina Devi has not only made Indians take note of the sport but also in line to write the history books.Roshibina became only the second India to qualify for the Wushu finals in the Asian Games. She was at her dominating best on her way to the finals in the women's 60kg event, especially the quarterfinal win over Kazakhstan's Aiman Karshyga. A win in the finals would mean so much to her state Manipur in these tougher times.

Equestrian

Hriday Chheda with Chemxpro and Anush Agarwalla with Etro - Dressage Individual Freestyle Finals

The highlight of India's campaign in the Asian Games 2023 is the fact that medals have come from different sports including some of the least expected ones. Equestrian is one of them when the quartet of Hriday, Anush, Divyakriti, and Sudipti claimed a historic team dressage gold, breaking a 41-year-old jinx at the continental event.

India awaits more glory as Hriday Vipul Chheda and Anush Agarwalla are in medal contention after qualifying for the individual dressage final of equestrian at the Asian Games. Hriday and his horse Chemxpro topped the qualification round with 73.883 points. While the other Indian in the fray Anush Agarwalla riding Etro, finished fourth with a score of 71.706.

Artistic Gymnastics

Pranati Nayak - Women's Vault Final

Pranati Nayak will be the underdog going into the finals of the Women's Vault Artistic Gymnastic event. Nayak earned a total of 12.716 points to finish sixth among the top eight qualifiers in the women's vault competition. The lady luck was on the 28-year-old Gymnast as she qualified despite finishing 23rd overall in the all-around competition.

The Bengali girl was still allowed to compete because each nation was allowed a maximum of two gymnasts in the final. China, Japan, Chinese Taipei, North Korea, and the Republic of Korea all had three gymnasts each.

Swimming

Aryan Nehra and Kushagra Rawat - Men's 800m Freestyle - Fast Heat

Aryan Nehra and Kushagra Rawat will be gunning for medals in the Men's 800m Freestyle fast heat event. The two Indians have the last and the second-last qualification timing among the eight finalists. But when the swimmers enter the HOC Aquatic Sports Arena, these timings won't matter. It's about performing on the day and these two youngsters would be eager to prove their worth.