Asian Games 2023 controversies: Neeraj Chopra, Kabaddi and Jyothi Yarraji

Indian athletes Jyothi Yarraji, Neeraj Chopra, Kishore Jena and Men's Kabaddi teams' performances were marred by controversies during the 2023 Asian Games held in China's Hangzhou

The Asian Games 2023 have now come to an end, and it has been an enthralling experience for the Indian contingent, which achieved its best-ever finish in the quadrennial event’s history by claiming 28 Gold medals and 107 overall medals. They crossed the previous best haul of 70 and 16 Gold medals archived at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta-Palembang.

But along with the laurels, the Indian campaign was also marred with controversies at the Hangzhou Asian Games 2023.

Men’s Kabaddi Controversial Final

India and Iran were involved in an intense battle at the Kabaddi mat as they were hard to separate after the end of 38 minutes. In the last minute, Indian captain Pawan Sehwarat went in the do-and-die raid and claimed a no-touch before entering the lobby. The match was tied at 28 each, with less than 90 seconds remaining.

Pawan was pushed out of bounds, but four Irani defenders, including Amirhossein Bastami, who touched Pawan for the first time, went out of bounds.

According to the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) rule, if a raider goes into the Lobby without getting a touch from any defender, he is declared out, and the raid ends there. He could also be dashed out. But according to the International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) rule, if a raider, without getting touched, goes into the lobby but is not out of bounds and is touched by defenders, then the defenders who go out of bounds and the raider are declared out.

This became a major point of contention, which halted the match for more than one hour as the Indian team were not happy with the decision against them.

Before any big competition, the Games authority distributes a rule book for each sport. And here in Hangzhou, the Kabaddi events were played on IKF rules.

There have been intense discussions between the Indian coach and video referee, and finally, the matter was resolved by IKF and Asian Games authorities.

Since three Iranian defenders dashed Pawan out, India was awarded three points and Iran one point, which helped the Indian team claim Gold by a victory margin of 33-29.

Neeraj Chopra and Kishore Jena in Javelin Throw

Neeraj Chopra, India’s golden thrower the reigning World, Olympic and Asian Games champion, was the first to start the Javelin Throw final competition. He threw a great distance in the first throw, but that was not recorded. The reasons, which Neeraj later explained, were bizarre.

"One of the officials said the second athlete after me had taken his throw quickly. It was a bizarre situation. I think they lost my landing mark and kept looking for it," Neeraj quoted as saying by Economics Times.

"Our team should certainly look into why there are so many issues we are facing, I have never seen these kinds of things in big competitions. I, or some other athlete, could have been mentally down after the first throw," added the Olympic Gold winner.

"I am told that it was a very good throw, probably 87-88m. Mentally, you feel relieved if your first throw is very good. Later, they told me I would be given another throw for the first attempt," he added.

Another Indian thrower, Kishore Jena, who won the Silver in the event, was fouled for his second throw, but replays clearly showed that it was not a foul. Jena and Chopra both protested vehemently and forced the officials to card Jena’s attempt, which made no difference to the score but very much to the morale.

Neeraj, in an interview with Sony Sports Network, agreed that his morale was low after his first throw wasn’t recorded, but it was Jena’s personal best throw of 87.54 meters that helped him get into the competitive mode and throw his season’s best of 88.88 meters to clinch the Gold.

Jyothi Yarraji in the women’s 110m hurdles

It was a false start by China’s Yanni Wu, which halted the event. The officials also pulled up India’s Jyothi Yarraji, who was in the neighbouring lane as a false starter. Yarraji asked the officials to use technology and see the replays, which clearly suggested that she was not at fault. Surprisingly, Wu was allowed to run, and Jyiothi remained distracted to finish with a Bronze medal.  

Eventually, Wu was disqualified, and Jyothi’s Bronze was upgraded to Silver, but it was the lapse in concentration that caused her to get distracted; Indian national record holder and Asian games Silver medalist in Men’s Decathlon Tejashwin Shankar pointed out how the controversy robbed Jyoithi and India of probably a Gold.

Athletics Federation of India (AFI) Vice-President and an Asian Games medalist Anju Bobby George also pointed out how women’s Javelin Throw Gold winner Annu Rani’s first throw took an eternity to be measured and was an attempt by the officials to discard it. She also said that Indian Long Jumper Murli Sreeshankar’s best attempt was more than 8.19 meters. Sreeshankar missed out on a Gold by a whisker as the Gold winner, China’s  Wang Jianan’s best jump was 8.22 meters.