The women’s cricket team of India have adorned the neck of the motherland with a medal of gold.
And at the centre of that golden adornment stood Smriti Mandhana—elegant, classical and prolific—who, with a magnificent 79 from merely 44 deliveries, not only guided India towards a commanding victory over Sri Lanka in the Asian Games but also entered another distinguished page of cricketing history, becoming the first woman cricketer to complete 11,000 international runs.
Her innings contained seven sixes and five fours; yet, even in its fury, there was an unmistakable Mandhana grace — the sort of batting that makes power appears needless.
India eventually posted 216 for 3, the highest women’s total in Asiad history, before Sri Lanka were dismissed for 69. A 147-run victory brought India its second successive Asian Games women’s cricket gold.
And if Mandhana provided the elegance, Shafali Verma supplied the thunder. The Haryana girl carries something rather special in her arsenal. And when she unleashes it with that familiar aggression, every corner of the ground seems to turn into a mere spectator.
Bangladesh experienced that force in the semi-final.
Shafali remained unbeaten on 100 from just 49 balls, with nine sixes and three fours, as India amassed 195 for 4. Bangladesh were subsequently reduced to 81, India winning by 114 runs and marching into the final.
There is something wonderfully uncomplicated about Shafali’s batting. There is little of the cheeky improvisation that has become fashionable in modern T20 cricket.
Give her width, and she cuts. Put the ball in her arc, and she clears the boundary. Overpitch, and she goes straight through the line.
No unnecessary ornamentation.
Just timing. Power. Intent.
In the final, she contributed another brisk 48 from 29 balls before Richa Ghosh’s late assault — 49 not out from 22 — helped India reach 216 for 3.
The result was not merely a gold medal; it was another emphatic statement from India’s women’s T20 side.
Yet, for all the glitter of that gold, there is another side to India’s Asian Games campaign — and it must be said.
By the end of September 25, India had 23 medals: two gold, nine silver and twelve bronze. The day itself had produced a remarkable six-medal haul.
Gulveer Singh won silver in the men’s 10,000 metres, while Baranica Elangovan claimed bronze in the women’s pole vault and Manpreet Kaur added another bronze in the women’s shot put. In table tennis, Diya Chitale and Manush Shah secured bronze in mixed doubles.
Shooting, meanwhile, produced India’s second gold.
Suruchi Singh and Kamaljeet produced a superb performance in the mixed-team 10m air pistol, finishing with 484.6 points to defeat South Korea’s pair. Their score established a new Asian record.
India then added another silver in the men’s 50m rifle 3-positions team event, with Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Rudrankksh Patil and Niraj Kumar finishing behind China.
Then came Sawan Barwal.
Perhaps not a name familiar to the wider sporting public before these Games, but one that now occupies a permanent little chamber in the history of Indian sport.
Barwal produced a personal-best 2:11:37 to win silver in the men’s marathon, ending India’s 44-year wait for an Asian Games marathon medal. It was India’s first medal in the event since the 1982 Delhi Games and the country’s first marathon medal at an Asian Games held outside India.
India’s tally now stands at 24 medals: two gold, ten silver and twelve bronze.
The number is respectable; the composition, however, remains less reassuring when viewed against India’s record 107-medal haul at Hangzhou in 2023, which included 28 golds.
Of course, the Games are far from over. It would be both premature and unfair to write India’s final report card while the examination is still in progress.
But expectations have changed.
India is no longer a nation that merely celebrates participation. The country now arrives at multi-sport events with ambition, investment and an increasingly formidable sporting infrastructure.
Consequently, the conversation cannot remain confined to the total number of medals.
The more revealing question is whether India is developing sufficient depth across athletics, wrestling, badminton, archery, weightlifting and the other disciplines where medals are won not by reputation, but by sustained sporting excellence.
Then there was Suchika Tariyal.
In the women’s Traditional MMA 60kg competition, Suchika won a historic bronze, becoming India’s first-ever Asian Games medallist in mixed martial arts. She secured the medal after defeating Mongolia’s Altanchimeg Baigalmaa and progressing to the semifinal stage.
Some medals add to a tally.
Others open a door.
Suchika’s medal did the latter.
That, in fact, has been one of the more encouraging aspects of India’s campaign.
Alongside cricket and shooting, there have been medals in disciplines where India does not traditionally command the same attention. There is value in that diversification.
A sporting nation is not built merely by producing champions; it is built when the map of possibility keeps expanding.
And perhaps that is where the Asian Games story should eventually be judged—not simply by the colour of the medal, but by the width of the sporting base beneath it.
INDIA FALTER IN DAVIS CUP
From Nagoya to Seoul, the Indian flag travelled with rather different emotions.
India’s Davis Cup campaign ended with a 1–3 defeat to South Korea. The hosts reached the Davis Cup Final for the first time under the current format, while India’s hopes disappeared in the reverse singles when Soonwoo Kwon defeated Sumit Nagal 6–1, 6–2.
Nagal had already endured a demanding three-set battle against Hyeon Chung, and the physical toll became apparent in the decisive encounter.
There was disappointment, but also a reminder of how unforgiving international tennis can be.
While India departed Seoul, the world’s leading tennis names gathered in London.
The ninth edition of the Laver Cup began at The O2 on September 25, with Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev among the leading names for Team Europe against Team World.
Zverev arrived in London as the newly crowned US Open champion, having defeated Ben Shelton in the final to claim his first US Open title and second Grand Slam crown. Alcaraz, meanwhile, returned to competition following his US Open campaign, which had ended in the quarter-finals.
The opening day saw Team Europe establish a 3–1 lead. Rafael Jodar and Casper Ruud won their singles matches, while Alcaraz and Jakub Mensik defeated Alexander Bublik and Taylor Fritz 6–4, 6–4 in the final match of the night.
The three-day contest runs from September 25 to 27.
MANCHESTER CITY WIN A THRILLER
From rackets to footballs, the Premier League supplied its customary theatre.
Liverpool continued their unbeaten league start with a narrow 1–0 victory over Bournemouth, Alexander Isak providing the decisive goal. It was hardly a vintage Liverpool performance, but sometimes three points arrive wearing workman’s clothes.
Manchester City, meanwhile, maintained their perfect league start with a dramatic 5–3 victory over Sunderland. Erling Haaland sealed the victory late, while Antoine Semenyo scored twice. Sunderland’s Brian Brobbey struck a hat-trick, but City still emerged with all three points.
And perhaps that is the strange beauty of sport.
A week can contain a golden cricket bat, a marathoner’s lonely struggle, a fighter opening a door that had never before been opened, a tennis player running out of breath beneath the weight of expectation, and a football match in which eight goals can make ninety minutes feel like a lifetime.
The scoreboard remembers numbers.
History remembers moments.
