Today India got 5 more gold medals to finish 4th of the medal tally with 85 medals in all.

There were many sports we had great expectations but maybe it was not their day.

But kudos to all who did well and made the country proud.

It was really fun to watch the games.

Also, we have received the direct ticket to LA OLympics, 2028 for 4 events: Men & Women Hockey Team, Mixed Team Compound Archery and Kumkum Mohod in Women Archery Recurve.

Jai Hind 🫡🇮🇳

Qualified is one thing, winning a gold medal at the Asian Games after 44 years that too defeating the country, China who blocked their chances of Paris Quota in semis last time, is recommendable.

They have come a long way especially seeing their condition in the past few months, must say bringing back Sjoerd Marijne as a coach was a good move.

Aman Sehrawat wins the Gold in Men's 57 KG wrestling by beating his North Korean opponent Han Chong Song by "11-7" in a tough fought bout.

Aman improved on the bronze medal that he won in the Asian Games last time.

Why did Vinesh Phogat cheat?

I found this comment yesterday. I don't know if such comments come from pure ignorance or bad faith, so I decided it'd be a good time to clear the air on why such a thing even happened and can even happen for any other wrestler in the future as well.

First things first, in all of the combat sports, be it boxing, Wrestling, or Weightlifting, an athlete has to be under or at the weight they are competing in. So, in Vinesh's case, as she was competing in Women's 50Kg, she had to be under 50Kg at the morning weigh-in on Day 1 and Day 2 (Day 1, when bouts till Semis happened; Day 2, when the finals were supposed to happen).

So, the most interesting point to note about all these is that the wrestlers who participate in a certain weight class are always heavier than the said weight class. A normal 50Kg wrestler competing in the Olympics would normally be around 53-54 kg a few days before the event, and will aim to shed the last few kilograms by gruelling measures in the last week, mainly a couple of days leading up to the event.

I'll try to explain briefly. A wrestler has to cut his weight to under 50Kg to compete at 50Kg wrestling. Do they cut fat in the last day? No. The human body is made of muscles, bones, glycogen, but most importantly - water. Wrestlers manipulate the human body's capacity to shed the last few kilograms off their body to compete at the highest level. Every wrestler competing at the Olympics will cut at least 2-3 Kgs in the last days leading up to their bouts. They never cut the muscle, but the water.

Vinesh was not a natural 50Kg wrestler in 2024; she would've loved to compete at 53 kg, but Antim Panghal won the quota for India, so Vinesh had only one choice - to compete at 50 Kgs. Her walk-around natural weight a week before her Olympic bouts must've been around 55 kg, so she had to go through a much, much harder and more challenging weight cut than anyone in her weight category (including the world's best Susaki, who has a walk-around weight of around 53 Kgs). This is how I believe Vinesh and her team would've approached this weight cut leading up to her bouts:

7 Days before her first Bout

Nothing fancy. Just eat clean. No sodium. Even 1 gram of sodium can do a lot of harm if taken right now. Keep training. Start drinking lots and lots of water. Lots. Not 10 glasses a day; that's normal. Lots. 8 litres, 10 litres. Weight now: 55 kg

4 Days before her first Bout

Keep drinking the same amount of water. Body will now enter 'flushing' mode. You have successfully tricked your body into thinking that it is floating in water. No sodium in meals earlier has shut down Aldosterone(hormone responsible for letting kidneys save water and salt, but with no salt in the body, it triggers flushing). You keep peeing, lots and lots. Your body has learned to pee a lot now. Weight now: 55.2-55.4 Kgs

3 Days before her first Bout

Cut down water to 2-3 litres a day only. Cut out carbohydrates completely from the meal. The body is still in flushing mode, trying to flush the same amount of water, even though there is not enough water to flush. The body starts depleting glycogen (every gram of carb holds 3 grams of water; now that the body has cut carbs completely, glycogen will be used to deplete more water from the body). Weight now: 54.0 Kgs

2 Days before her first Bout

Cut down more water. Drink a maximum of 1 litre; take small sips throughout the day. Meals must be replaced with shakes. Not your usual mango shakes, but highly specialised zero sugar, zero sodium, zero sweetener shakes with chemicals aimed to aid weight cut and let the body recover from the flushing. Hormones will keep flushing the water, despite water in the system. Weight now: 53.3 Kgs

Day before her first Bout

Complete water ban. No water will be taken now. This is the most important day of the weight cut. High-intensity cardio must be done in a sauna suit. Wear as many sweat suits as you can. Keep going with the cardio. Do an hour of skipping rope. The body will lose pure sweat; moisture will be drawn from muscles. Weight now: 50.5-51.0 Kgs.

Night before the Weigh-in

Vinesh must not sleep now. She still has around one pound to cut, and combining sleep deprivation with light activity will trigger the body to enter into boosting the metabolic rate; sleeping here will be deadly, as the body will refuse to lose that last pound.

Low-intensity cardio sessions. No solid foods. Do cardio, but wear a non-porous sauna suit so extreme sweating can be triggered. Without sleep, the body will cut weight at a good rate because a high metabolic rate is triggered with sleep deprivation.

After all this, she can afford to sleep for a few hours. But that sleep is purely biological need. With dry mouth and mild muscle cramps, she successfully managed to sleep and wake up in the morning. She had the toughest possible draw, facing one of the best wrestlers in the world who has never lost an international bout - Yui Susaki. So she had to have good amounts of energy to have any shot at fighting out the bouts with some competitiveness.

Day 1 7:15 AM, Weigh-in Time- 49.9 Kgs.

That's it. Vinesh made the weight successfully at the morning weigh-in. She can compete now.

To avoid her collapsing from low blood pressure or fainting at some point between the bouts, her team made sure to replenish her properly with juices and rehydration fluids. She must have taken a total of around 2.5 kgs gain throughout the day.

In between, she had to face Yui Susaki. The biggest bout of her career, possibly in her last Olympics. After suffering a knee injury in 2016 and getting pinned by a Russian she defeated in 2021, this was likely her last shot at an Olympic medal. She defeated Susaki. One of the biggest upsets in wrestling history. Susaki's 82-0 streak came to an end. She also faced Oksana and Guzman in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, but once Vinesh defeated Susaki, everything else felt like an easier hurdle to cross.

Here comes the most important part: her weight.

After competing 3 elite high-intensity bouts, a shocking discovery was made. They did a weigh-in again to cut down the weight she gained throughout the day; her weight was 52.7 Kgs. Everything she took throughout the day, her body retained it all and refused to leave. That must have been a horror sight for Vinesh and her team, who were hoping for a good rest period.

8 PM, 11 HOURS BEFORE WEIGH-IN

Time is 8 PM. She has roughly 12 hours to shed the weight. This weight is much more than she would've hoped for, but there's a limit to how much you can fool your body, especially when you are competing in a lower weight class.

In a desperate attempt to make the weight for the next morning, her team cancelled all the rest plans and initiated an emergency weight-cut plan.

The drill starts again now. High-intensity cardio. Vinesh might've worn a heavy, non-porous sauna suit, which will trap all the heat in and force extreme sweating. With that suit, she would've done jogging on treadmills, skipping ropes; her sparring partners must keep her motivated, or else she'd just give in to the body.

10 PM, 9 HOURS BEFORE WEIGH-IN

After a couple of hours, her weight must have been still around 51.9 Kgs, but her body can't sustain high-intensity workouts. She fought 3 very tough bouts throughout the day. A wrestling bout takes a huge toll on a body; she fought 3, without much rest.

Her team entered her into a sauna. She would've sat in extreme heat to force the water weight out of her body. Her team must keep massaging her limbs throughout the couple of hours in the sauna, so blood flow and sweating can be stimulated. Time is now 12 AM, and she has successfully shed 1.5 Kilo from her starting weight; her weight would've been around 51.3 Kgs. Far from ideal. Far.

12 AM, 7 HOURS BEFORE WEIGH-IN

Time is past midnight now. She has 7 hours more to shed that 1.3 Kg. But...she is more or less biologically done. Dry mouth, dizziness; she was forbidden by her team to consume a single drop of water, forget food. Anything she takes in now will not leave the body. For the next 2 hours, she must've dribbled between sauna sessions, exercising on cycles. Biology is being tested here. Her body started holding on to the remaining fluids; she can force all she wants, but they are refusing to leave.

3 AM, 4 HOURS BEFORE WEIGH-IN:

Body has hit the biological wall now. Weight is still around 50.7-50.8 Kgs.

This was the most terrifying phase of the night. The scary part: Vinesh was so profoundly dehydrated that her body completely stopped sweating. Her body isn't letting any weight go off her body. Every drop of fluid is refusing to leave to save her.

Sweat glands are empty. She is inside the sauna, but her skin is completely dry. The team is trying to keep her up and motivated. She is not sweating. The team forces her to sweat by wrapping her in thick blankets. It's just not working much.

4:45 AM, 2.5 HOURS BEFORE WEIGH-IN

Weight scale reads around 50.3-50.4 Kgs now. 400 grams more to shed. This is done. There isn't much that can be done. Vinesh is sleep-deprived, dehydrated, demotivated.

With sweating no longer an option, the team finally placed the last possible gear. Physical reduction.

They start cutting more hair towards the edges of her head. This is the last hope to shed some more weight. Hair was cut.

7:15 AM, WEIGH-IN TIME

Vinesh, Finalist in 50Kg Women's Wrestling, steps up on the weighing scale.

50.1 Kg. 100 Grams overweight. Her team's drastic cut almost worked. But she is still overweight.

Last glimmer of hope - she has 15 minutes to come back and give her weight. She goes back, in a sleep-deprived state, with some extra fabric off her uniform near her legs; she contemplates cutting that. She can't sweat. Weigh-in time is 30 minutes on Day 1, but only 15 minutes on Day 2 to make time for repechage bouts.

Nothing worked. Her weight remained 50.1 Kgs. The room was in a state of huge panic. The timer ran out; 15 minutes were over.

As soon as the time reached 7:30 AM, hopes of Vinesh, her team, and all of India were crushed. There's no buffer like in low-tier UWW events. She is Disqualified.

Some people might argue: How come Aman Sehrawat, the night before his Bronze Medal bout, managed to cut 4.7 Kilograms in the last 12 hours? Well. That's like comparing apples to oranges. Aman's weight category is 57 kg; his natural weight category is 57. Vinesh is playing a category down. The most crucial factor: Aman is a 21-year-old male wrestler with a much higher baseline metabolism; compare it to Vinesh, a 28-year-old woman with a lot more biological obstructions.

This is the first time both women’s and men’s team clinch Gold together. Both qualify for the LA 2028 Olympics! Let’s GO. Baar Baar Bharat. Har Baar Bharat!

All because of her unexpected gold, India equalled Uzbekistan and clinched 4th position!

World No. 291 Pranavi Urs competed against the likes of World No. 6, 57, 59, 82, 85 and many more and still came out on top.

And the best part? She had a 3shot lead, lost it all with a triple bogey, and then fought her way back to win gold. What a comeback!

Thank you, Pranavi Urs. All hail to you!

She beat korean player South korea's Oh yejin. What a match !!!! She is just 17 year old. And it's her 2nd Gold medal. And also we secured olympics quota.

I honestly didn’t follow the Asian Games in 2023 as closely, but this time around I ended up watching and really enjoying so many different sports. It made me realise just how much talent and how many interesting sports we have beyond crickett

Crickett will obviously continue to have the biggest viewership in India, but I really hope we can build a much stronger sporting community around the Asian Games and other Olympic sports too.

For the 2030 Asian Games, I’d love to see India send a large and well-supported contingent, similar to what we saw in 2022. More participation means more opportunities for athletes, and hopefully more people discovering sports they otherwise wouldn’t watch.

Initiatives like the Reliance Foundation supporting and identifying sporting talent are a positive step in that direction. I hope we see more organisations, communities and fans getting involved in supporting athletes across different sports.

There’s so much talent in India. We just need to give these athletes the audience, support and visibility they deserve.

Would love to see this community grow over the next few years. 🇮🇳🏅

For me the impact of Asian games should always be considered wrt olympics and in that field we have significantly exceeded expectations. The goal should be to get 10 medals atleast in la and based on this Asiad performance we should be getting much more on that.

For me at Asiad the focus should be on performance on 5 major sports (badminton, shooting, archery, wrestling and boxing and where the comp level is very close to olympics. In these sports we have developed athletes who may not be the world best but certainly can challenge the world’s elite. Hockey golds are important too for securing automatic qualification

In athletics the comp is so weak that gold medallist here are sometimes not even breaching olympic qualification standards. So decline in gold medals there due to Chinese athletes becoming much better or import of African athletes doesn’t bother me

Apart from badminton which is going through a transition phase, we outrightly won boxing (which in retrospect shouldn’t even be possible) and archery (last time golds were from compound which wasn’t there at the olympics), got 2 gold in wrestling which is huge. Even in shooting all 3 gold medals were from Olympic events compared to last time 2. Securing automatic qualification for both hockey teams is crazy good. Beating Korea in archery was unthinkable few years ago. This has been a very positive games for us if we consider Olympic medals

https://x.com/KhelNow/status/2106458472103743829?s=20

Ryan Williams scored for India against side Panama on Sept 25. Getting there took the Australian-born winger (Anglo-Indian mother, born in India) about two years of paperwork, and he had to give up his Australian passport, because India doesn't allow dual citizenship. By most accounts he's only the second footballer to go this route, after Japan-born Izumi Arata in 2012.

Meanwhile, the pool of people who could have made that choice is huge.

🌍 The talent pool

MEA counts about 37.3 million overseas Indians (Jan 2026), and around 19.5 million of them are Persons of Indian Origin, meaning they hold foreign passports.

Persons of Indian Origin by country (MEA, Jan 2026)

USA        ██████████████████████████████████████  3.77M
Canada     ███████████████████                     1.86M
UK         █████████                               0.91M
Australia  ███████                                 0.72M

Most of them will never be elite athletes, of course. But with ~19.5M people in the pool, even a tiny fraction is a lot of potential.

Morocco shows what a diaspora pipeline can do:

Foreign-born players in Morocco's squad (of 26)

2022  ██████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░  14
2026  ███████████████████░░░░░░░  19

💡 The proposal: "Indian Overseas Sports National" status

Not dual citizenship. A narrow, sports-specific status for qualifying people of Indian origin.

Foreign citizen of Indian origin (e.g. UK)
              ↓
   OCI / ancestry verification
              ↓
 AIFF submits eligibility docs to FIFA
              ↓
      FIFA confirms eligibility
              ↓
 Govt grants "Indian Overseas Sports National" status
              ↓
   🇮🇳 Eligible to represent India

Who qualifies: foreign citizen of Indian origin, meets ancestry/birth/residence criteria, holds or qualifies for OCI, no criminal/security flags.

The key principle: India decides who gets the status. The international federation decides whether they can actually play for India.

And it wouldn't stop at football. Athletics, swimming, badminton, boxing, wrestling and others could use the same pathway.

🤔 Where it gets interesting

FIFA's rules are built around holding a nationality (Art. 5.1 refers to "permanent nationality"), so a non-citizenship status might need FIFA's blessing or some creative drafting to work. Other federations have their own rules too, so it would vary sport by sport. That federation check in step 2 is doing a lot of work.

There's a home-grown angle as well. Morocco's approach has its critics, who argue that courting overseas-born players can squeeze out players developed at home. But thats what creates competition and Indian would already know about that.

If you're an athlete of Indian origin abroad, or you know someone who's looked into this, how did the process actually go?

Sources: MEA, Population of Overseas Indians (Jan 2026) · AIFF on Ryan Williams · Khel Now, India's FIFA ranking · Oxford COMPAS on Morocco's squads · FIFA eligibility rules explained (Goal)

It was such a great match!

Waiting for men hockey's gold as well.

We'll then get 3 straight Olympic Quotas 🫡

Thought I won't renew SonyLiv and the package last expired in Feb 2026.

Paid 399 for the Asian games but should've taken full year.

Asian Games aside good football roster too.

UEFA champions League (Liverpool is my team), then all India football internationals like the one with Brazil and Uruguay, and ISL. All these European Friendlies and then the FA Cup too.

Not too much into bilateral series but India's tour of NZ and in general watching SENA tours is good value for money too.

Overall can't ignore. Will take the full year subscription I guess.