Kavita Bhagat,

“The first woman to have won the top honour at any national level and to have achieved the highest number of medals, I can only congratulate her mother. The first Indian woman to win a medal at the Asian Games, I give her a hearty thank you.”

Ishant Sharma, the second Indian, received applause for his Olympic gold medal.

“Congrats to Miss Poonam for winning Asian Cup gold,” a British official told her with a smile after the bronze medal was awarded during their opening ceremony. An Indian woman winner, she was among the last to address the podium after the event.

Ruchira Sharma, who won the 200 m hurdles, made a last-minute decision to skip the podium ceremony. “Today is for the other Indian women. I am going to do my good work. I will be proud of the Indian women,” she joked.

Sarmila Raut, a former Commonwealth Games medalist, won the women’s lightweight boxing gold medal for West Indies after beating Romania’s Julia Pajdaov-Mankura to take silver. A crowd of 3,000-4,000 attended the ceremony with some holding up signs with messages such as, “Thank you for giving us hope,” and “We miss you Swat”. The two-time silver medallist’s father and coach, Kajol, said his daughter “took her last breath in peace”.

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