Asian Games 2023: Indian skaters surprise with unexpected bronze

Indias speed skaters overpowered at the Asian Games 2023 with two surprise bronze medals in mens and womens 3000m team relay events to match their bestever performance in roller sports at the continental showpiece here on MondayTeenagers Karthika Jagadeeswaran and Heeral Sadhu combined with 29yearold Aarathy Kasturi Raj to clinch Indias firstever medal in the speeding skating discipline in Asian GamesAnand Kumar Velkumar Siddhant Kamble and Vikram Ingale then followed their women counterparts to grab the third spot with a timing of 434861s in the final at Qiantang Roller Sports CentreTaking to TwitterCongratulations to Karthika Jagdeeswaran heeral_sadhu and aarathyskating Our exceptional womens speed skating relay team wins a remarkable Bronze Medal in the Womens Speed Skating 3000m Relay at the Asian Games Their unwavering determination and outstanding teamwork ishellip pictwittercomGc0d2cOBYlmdash Narendra Modi narendramodi October 2 2023Also ReadAsian Games 2023 Mukherjees wins historic bronze in table tennisRoller sports made its debut in the Asian Games in 2010 when Anup Kumar Yama bagged bronze in mens single free skating event before combining with Avani Panchal to finish third in the pairs skating eventOn Monday the womens quartet finished with a timing of 434861s to bag the third place on the podium behind gold medallists Chinese Taipei 419447 and silver winner South Korea 421146Winning bronze will definitely open up a lot of opportunities for us because we are not on the priority list in India Sadly this isnt an Olympic sport Aarthy a doctor and wife of Indian cricketer Sandeep Warrier said after the winIncidentally Chinese Taipei 405692 and South Korea 405702 took the toptwo spots in the mens event as wellThe Indian trio had clocked 415126 in the heats and bettered it in the finalWe were really hoping for a medal today as we knew we were in the mix Being with the Chinese Taipei and Republic of Korea guys is a really big thing for us as theyre the best in the world and we are not at that level yet Were maybe among the top 15 athletes in the world Kamble saidThe 24yearold revealed that his wheel slipped in his second lap which slowed them a bitWe were still going to try and fight for silver in the relay but in my second last lap in one of the corners my wheel slipped a little bit and a small gap grew between us and the other teams After that it was all about recoveringFor most of the Indian skaters it was a maiden Asian Games appearanceIt was really hard racing It was my first time racing in the senior category so it was a great experience to be racing with them Winning the medal was a dream come true and all the people in India will be happy said 20yearold Velkumar who is a computer science studentA delighted 17yearold Sadhu who had finished a creditable seventh in the womens 1000m PointElimination race said This is my first Asian Games Im just 17 and Im really happy we got a team medalThe 15yearold Karthika hoped this medal would encourage others to take up the sportIt was really great it was my first experience at the Asian Games and it is going to be the best experience for me Karthika saidThis is a really good opportunity for others to get into the sport Its an opportunity for everyone It shows we can get medals in any sport I would like to see more competitions in roller skating and make everyone really proud of roller skating in our country she addedWith Agency Inputs