Asian Games: 4-gold haul by Haryana players

The first gold came in the morning when 20-year-old Kirti Sharma, who hails from Ritoli village in Jind district, helped the Indian women’s recurve team defeat South Korea 5-3 in the final. Kirti, along with Ankita Bhakat and Kumkum Mohod, won India’s first Asian Games gold in women’s team recurve archery.

Then came Haryana’s first boxing gold of the day, as Parveen Hooda from Rurki village in Rohtak district won the women’s 65 kg title. She defeated Chinese Taipei’s former world champion Chen Nien-chin 3-2 in an intensely fought final. She comes from a farming family where her mother, Neelam Devi, is the sole breadwinner, earning a living by selling milk. Her father, Lakhpat Hooda, who is battling cancer, has been a major source of support in her sporting journey. Parveen had also qualified for the Paris Olympics but missed the Games after being suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency over three whereabouts failures.

Another gold followed through 21-year-old boxer Ankush Panghal of Bheria village in Hisar district. He defeated South Korea’s Kim Minseong 4-0 in the 80 kg final to claim the Asian Games title. Ankush, who had also won the gold at the 2026 Commonwealth Games, became the first Indian male boxer since Amit Panghal in 2018 to win an Asian Games gold.

The fourth gold was delivered by wrestler Sujeet Kalkal, who completed Haryana’s golden haul of the day with a dramatic victory in the 65 kg freestyle category. The Imlota village resident from Charkhi Dadri district, who has been training in Sonepat, fought back from a 2-9 deficit against Tajikistan’s Abdulmazhid Kudiev to win 10-9, producing one of the most dramatic comebacks of the Games.

Sujeet’s father and coach, Dayanand Kalkal, who is associated with the Sports Authority of India in Sonepat, expressed pride in his son’s achievement. “Sujeet has done something remarkable. He has won not just our hearts but those of the entire country,” he said.

For Haryana, the four gold medals in a single day came across disciplines ranging from recurve archery, a relatively lesser-known sport, to the state’s traditional strongholds of boxing and wrestling.