Golden Saturday: Five Golds Take India to Fourth on the Medal Table

India won five gold medals on Saturday at the Asian Games, in men's hockey, men's cricket, wrestling, golf and archery, and added silvers in golf and wrestling and a bronze in archery. The haul takes India to 21 golds, 27 silvers and 37 bronzes, 85 medals in all, and up to fourth on the medal table.

The men's hockey team defended their Asian Games title with a 5-1 win over Malaysia in the final, Harmanpreet Singh, Jugraj Singh, Hardik Singh and Shilanand Lakra among the scorers. The gold also qualifies India for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, and completes a hockey double after the women's team won their final on Friday. The men's cricket team did the same in their sport, beating Pakistan by 19 runs in the gold medal match after the women's team had won their title on 22 September. India made 211 for 6, with Abhishek Sharma scoring 61 off 28 balls, and Pakistan fell short on 192 for 6 despite Hasan Nawaz's 96 off 51.

The individual golds came in wrestling, golf and archery. Aman Sehrawat won the men's freestyle 57 kg title, Pranavi Urs took the women's individual golf gold, and Kumkum Mohod won the women's individual recurve. It was Mohod's third medal in two days: she won the women's team recurve gold and the mixed team recurve silver on Friday.

Urs added a silver in the women's team event with Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar. Antim Panghal won silver in the women's freestyle 53 kg, losing the final 1-9 to Japan's Moe Kiyooka, while Neeraj Chauhan took bronze in the men's individual recurve a day after winning team silver with Dhiraj Bommadevara and Yashdeep Bhoge.

India began Saturday on 16 golds, 25 silvers and 35 bronzes, 76 medals in total.