ATHLETICS

Neeraj Chopra, without a doubt, is the best bet for a gold medal in athletics. The Olympic and world champion will face a tough challenge from Pakistan’s 2023 World Championships silver medallist Arshad Nadeem who had claimed a bronze in the 2018 Asian Games.

In cricket, India and Pakistan do not play bilateral series and in hockey Pakistan are struggling. So this rivalry between the two neighbours in javelin is something everyone is looking forward to.

While Neeraj is yet to hit the 90-metre mark — his personal best is 89.94m — Nadeem has already breached it by landing his spear at 90.18m in the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Neeraj had pulled out of the CWG after suffering a groin injury. They had a duel in the Budapest world meet last month with Neeraj coming up trumps.

“I still have one more competition, the Asian Games in China,” Neeraj had said after finishing second in the Diamond League Meeting finals in Eugene, United States. “In big competition, it’s about mindset, we don’t need to prepare ourselves. When we enter the stadium, our mind and body will be ready for the competition.”

Kishore Jena, who has a personal best throw of 84.77m and finished fifth in his maiden World Championships last month, is a medal contender. Jena, 28, has the third-best throw among Asians this season.

The focus will also be on the men’s 4x400m relay team. With the Asian record time of 2:59.05 seconds in the qualification round of the World Championships in August, India are a gold medal contender in the event. The Indian quartet’s time is also the eighth-best in the world this season. The country though finished second behind Sri Lanka in the Asian Championships in July with a time of 3:01.80.

Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar will aim to redeem himself after his disappointing show at the World Championships. Jeswin Aldrin, who was in rousing form early in the season, is struggling with fitness issues.

Others to watch out for are shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor, Praveen Chitravel (men’s triple jump), Avinash Sable (men’s 3000m steeplechase), Jyothi Yarraji (women’s 100m hurdles), mixed 4x400m relay team, Shaili Singh (women’s long jump) and Swapna Barman (heptathlon). A big medal contender, Barman will be defending her title. She was beaten by continental leader Ekaterina Voronina of Uzbekistan in the Asian Championships.

ARCHERY

Compound archer Jyothi Surekha Vennam has won multiple medals at Asian Archery Championships, World Cups and World Championships. Jyothi has previously competed at the Asian Games in 2014 and 2018, winning a silver and a bronze medal in the team events. The 27-year-old could clinch multiple medals across categories in Hangzhou.

Compound archer Abhishek Verma has won a team gold and 2 silver medals at the Games. The 34-year-old’s experience will come in handy if India are to clinch a second team gold.

BADMINTON

Men’s singles: HS Prannoy has been the most consistent Indian singles player in the last 12 months. He won the Malaysia Masters in May and finished runner-up at Australian Open before claiming a World Championships bronze medal at Copenhagen last month and achieved a career-best world number six ranking.

Men’s Doubles: Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are world No. 3 in doubles rankings. The duo has been in spectacular form since last year, being part of the squad that clinched its maiden Thomas Cup title, clinching gold at Birmingham Commonwealth Games, a bronze at the World Championships and the World Super 750 title at the French Open. This year also the pair has won the Swiss Open, Indonesia Open, Korea Open and also the Asian Championships. Much hope rests on the duo to clinch the Asian Games gold as well as the team gold. Given the form of Prannoy, Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen along with the duo, India will start favourites for the team gold too.

BOXING

Boxer Nikhat Zareen is the reigning world and Commonwealth champion in women’s 50kg category. While she has never competed in the Asian Games before, the 27-year-old is the favourite for the gold. Win at the Asian Games will also take Nikhat closer to her dream of an Olympic medal as the Asiad is also a qualifier for Paris Olympics 2024. Olympic bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain (75kg) is another medal prospect.

CRICKET

India may not be taking their top players to the Asian Games with the ICC World Cup just round the corner, but the men in blue remain among the favourites to win the gold. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have been given direct entry into the quarter-finals. Led by Ruturaj Gaikwad, the squad has well-known faces like Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube and Arshdeep Singh.

HOCKEY

The men’s hockey team is a firm favourite to win gold. Going by the world rankings (third), form and fitness, it would be a big disappointment if the Harmanpreet Singh-led side achieves anything less than the top spot.

The Savita Punia-led Indian women’s team is also a serious contender for a podium finish. Placed seventh in the world, India are currently the highest ranked team in Asia and they wouldn’t like to settle for anything less than gold. The Indian women won the Asiad gold only once, way back in 1982.0

SHOOTING

India have won 58 medals (9 gold, 21 silver and 28 bronze) at the Asian Games till date. Of the nine gold medals, Jaspal Rana, with four gold, remains the most successful shooter for the country. India bagged nine medals at the 2018 Games and their prospects seem brighter in 2023 with the inclusion of several team events as medal events. Among gold medal prospects are the men’s 10m air pistol team (Sarabjot Singh, Shiva Narwal, Arjun Singh Cheema), the men’s 50m rifle 3-position team (Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Swapnil Kusale, Akhil Sheoran), the women’s 10m air rifle Team of Ramita, Mehuli Ghosh, Ashi Chouksey), the women’s 25m pistol team (Rhythm Sangwan, Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh).

Akhil Sheoran (50m rifle), ranked No.1 in Asia, Sarabjot (10m pistol), Tomar (50m rifle) and Sift Samra (50m rifle) too have the potential to end on the podium.

TENNIS

India’s best bet for a gold in tennis will be in men’s doubles. The experienced Rohan Bopanna, ranked seventh in the world, will partner either Yuki Bhambri or Saketh Myneni. Bopanna had won the gold in 2018 with Divij Sharan. India had also won two bronze medals in men’s and women’s singles. In men’s singles, Sumit Nagal is India’s best bet but it will be a pleasant surprise if he can earn a medal. Among women, Ankita Raina (bronze winner in 2018) and the young Karman Kaur Thandi raise hopes.

WEIGHTLIFTING

Mirabai Chanu has won two gold and one silver medals at the Commonwealth Games, a World Championship title in 2017 and a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics. While it will be tough for Mirabai to secure gold in her category which also features reigning Olympic champion Hou Zhihui and World champion Jiang Huihua, she is still expected to finish on the podium.

WRESTLING

Indian wrestling, riddled with the recent controversy, will look for redemption at the Asian Games. The 18-member team is expected to bring home a few medals. Bajrang Punia is considered as a major prospect in Hangzhou and is expected to repeat his gold-medal-winning performance of the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games in the 65kg category. However, the bronze at the Tokyo Olympics is the last major international medal he won and one can only hope that he would not be too rusty. Antim Panghal (53kg), who was included in the squad after Vinesh Phogat, the gold medalist at Jakarta, withdrew with injury is another medal prospect. Sonam Malik (62kg) — making her Asian Games debut — Deepak Punia (86kg) and Aman Sehrawat (57kg) are all strong contenders for medals in the freestyle category.