Asian Games 2023: Who are the medal contenders for India on Day 8, October 1?

The Indian contingent will look to add more medals on day 8 of the continental event.

India continued its fine run at the Asian Games 2023 with five more medal additions to its tally, while also confirming medals in several events. Shooting, as usual, started the day shiny and bright with a silver medal in the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team event. Sarabjit Singh, who also celebrated his birthday today, along with Divya TS achieved the podium finish taking India's shooting medal count to record 19 medals. The day got better as Rohan Bopanna and Rutuja Bhosale won the mixed doubles gold medal in tennis with a thrilling over their Chinese Taipei opponents.

The biggest highlight of the day, however, came much later when Abhay Singh saved game points and stole a thrilling win to take India to a historic gold medal win in a squash men's team event. That the victory came over Pakistan made it much sweeter. Athletes seem to be talking about the path of shooting, in terms of medals, with the event adding two more medals in athletics on day 7 of the Asian Games 2023.

Kartik Kumar finished second to claim the silver medal in the men's 10000m, while compatriot Gulveer Singh won the bronze in the same event.

Day 8 promises to be even better and bigger for the Indian athletes and sports fans with several medal events lined up throughout the day.

Tajinderpal Singh Toor - Men's Shotput

One of the favorites before the Indian contingent took the journey to Hangzhou was Tajinderpal Singh Toor. With a throw of 20.75 meters, he captured the gold at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. Since then, he has improved, and his 21.77-meter throw in earning gold at the National Inter-State Championships in Bhubaneswar in June presently owns the Asian record.

The 28-year-old Punjabi athlete who won gold at the Asian Championships in Bangkok in July when throwing 20.23 meters in the first round did it at the expense of a groin ailment. Toor will become the fourth shot putter from India to successfully defend his gold medal if he does so in Hangzhou, following Parduman Singh Brar (1954 and 1958), Joginder Singh (1966 and 1970), and Bahadur Singh Chouhan (1978 and 1982).

Avinash Sable - Men's 3000m Steeplechase

Steeplechaser Avinash Sable has quickly established himself as this generation's top long-distance runner in India after making his debut on the scene a few years ago. Sable's rise has been notable, especially given that he only started running as a sport in 2015.

The most recent time and current national record for men's 3000m steeplechase belongs to Avinash Sable, who ran 8:11.20 in Birmingham, England, to win the silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. He had surpassed the national average three times in the previous five months.

The Indian runner finished Birmingham 2022 barely 0.05s behind Kenya's Abraham Kibiwot, who won the gold medal.

Furthermore, Sable prevented the dominant Kenyan team from sweeping the podium at the Commonwealth Games for the first time since Canada's Graeme Vincent Fell (at Victoria 1994). Additionally, India won its first steeplechase medal at the CWG with the silver. India hopes for an Asian Games medal from the 29-year-old.

Jyothi Yarraji and Nithya Ramraj - Women's 100m Hurdles

Jyothi Yarraji qualified for the final on Sunday with a time of 13.03 seconds. The 24-year-old has a decent chance of winning a medal in the final based on the timing she showed in the preliminary rounds, though a gold medal seems uncertain.

The two Chinese, Yuwei Lin (12.79s) and Yanni Wu (12.80s) were the two fastest hurdlers in the two heats when compared to Jyothi's 13.03 seconds. Two Indians, Jyothi and Nithya Ramraj, who managed to qualify as the eight qualifiers with the slowest timing of 13.30s, will compete in the eight-woman final.

A 100m hurdles medal at the Asian Games has never been won by an Indian woman. However, the 400m hurdles have produced medals, like PT Usha's gold medal in 1986.