WATCH: Indian contingent arrives in inaugural ceremony of Asian Games 2023

India’s largest-ever contingent in an Asian Games event arrived at the opening ceremony of the Hangzhou Games 2023. At the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Stadium, the Indian contingent arrived with the cheers from crowd. The flagbearers for the Indian contingent for the opening ceremony were Indian men’s hockey player Harmanpreet Singh and Women’s boxer Lovlina Borgohain.  

The tournament is set to begin on the 23rd of September. India has a contingent of a whopping 650 athletes in 39 different sports. Indian cricket teams (Men’s and women’s) will be making their debut in the tournament and have already reached the quarterfinals and semifinal stages of the tournament, respectively. Along with cricket, some other team sports like Volleyball, Football, and Table Tennis have started. Indian men’s hockey team is one of the favourites to clinch the gold medal.

Harmanpreet will be a big name to watch out for in the event. Neeraj Chopra will also be one of the favourites to win the gold medal in Hangzhou. In Javelin throw, Chopra can face the challenge of Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, who has a better personal best throw in the event. All eyes are on the event in the tournament. 

Indian contingent

Favourites across sports to win the gold medal for India

Some of the individual athletes like Nikhat Zareen, Lovlina Borgohain, Murali Sree Shankar, and Avinash Sable will start their campaign as the favourites to win the gold medals. The goal for the Indian contingent is ambitious. The Indian contingent is aiming to cross the 100-medal mark in the tournament. India has a very good contingent to achieve its goal. Several sports have Indian athletes as favourites to win medals. 

Indian Kabaddi team is expected to bring home the gold medal from both men’s and women’s categories. The men’s Volleyball team is already making the headlines by beating superior ranked teams like Korea, and Chinese Taipei in the event. Indian Football teams have tougher challenges ahead of them. Athletics is expected to provide the highest medal haul for the Indian contingent. It will be a good platform for India to show their excellence.