India have slowly started dominating in Asian Games, CWG: Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who won the silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics in shooting (double trap), said that India has started dominating in the big multi-sports events like Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.

India’s campaign at the Commonwealth Games 2022 officially ended, with 61 medals on the last day of the prestigious multi-sport event.

The 19th edition of the Asian Games will now be held in Hangzhou, China from September 23 to October 8 this year.

“A huge change has come. Now, we don’t talk about one or two we talk about dozens of medals. We have slowly started dominating in Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. New sport will also get introduced. I would want to see a sport like arm wrestling also to be part of the Asian Games. Whenever India does well in sports we all feel proud,” Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who won India’s first-ever individual silver at the Olympics, told ANI.

The 15-day continental event, which has been pushed back from 2022 to 2023 owing to COVID-19, will feature 40 sports this year, with Asia’s best fighting for top accolades.
The Asian Games were postponed in May due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 in and around Hangzhou, China, the host city. The quadrennial event was set to take place from September 10 to September 25, 2022.

India has a long history in the quadrennial event, and participation in the Asian Games has increased significantly in recent decades. At the last edition, held in Jakarta in 2018, India fielded 570 athletes to compete in 36 different sports.

While India’s figure in the CWG 2022 was five short of last edition’s tally of 66, the Indian contingent can certainly be pleased with the number, given that shooting was not a part of this edition at Birmingham.

Rajyavardhan said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done a lot for sports in India and that as a player he never received this kind of support.

“It feels great when a country’s sport comes on international platforms, on televisions. Secondly, we have all done arm wrestling at some point, haven’t we? Be it school or college. Such a sport has got immense recognition from Pravin and Preeti. There are many champions and players who will be recognized by the whole world. What PM Narendra Modi has done to sports. As a player, I can say that such a support I never got. He talks about remaining fit and healthy and we want India to excel in every field,” Rajyavardhan said.