India and Pakistan have found an unusual venue to celebrate their vaunted rivalry, and the world is watching. Just yesterday (Friday), India’s young pistol sensations Palak Gulia and Esha Singh took the gold and silver in women’s 10m air pistol range with Pakistan’s Kishmala Talat for company in third. Less than 24 hours later, Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra was posed with the inevitable Arshad Nadeem question, and as the day wore on, the India-Pakistan chatter intensified with India’s men’s squash team beating Pakistan in a hotly contested final in Hangzhou Sports Park Gymnasium.

Less than 15 kilometres away in Gongshu Canal Sports Park Stadium, India’s men’s hockey team decimated the neighbours 10-2 in their pool match to round off a day of India’s dominance over the traditional rivals. While the storied rivalry between the two proud hockey nations is a thing of the past, success in squash in what was billed as a “grudge match” triggered wild celebration in the Indian camp.

“It was perhaps the most intense match I had seen,” said the seasoned Joshana Chinappa, watching the squash action unfold. Dipika Pallikal, among the torchbearers of squash in the country, concurred. “Our smart watches were consistently beeping high stress signals. It was quite a match.”

For Abhay Singh, the star of the evening who won the 64-minute decider against Noor Zaman, the match was a statement to the other side. “We don’t mix the India-Pakistan feud in sports, but if the other side decides to do it, it is their call,” he said without getting into the specifics.

“There was a lot of talk from the other side three nights ago, and quite a lot on social media… well, I am looking forward to some tonight. There was no banter but proper one-sided jabs. I am going to make some noise on social media tonight,” he seethed.

The match itself was ill-tempered with top seeds India coming off a 2-1 loss in the pool stage to fourth seeds Pakistan. Singh had then lost to Zaman and was waiting for his revenge. “You don’t get to beat the top seeds like that. Also, I couldn’t accept going down to a 19-year-old guy ranked outside top 100 when I am a top-70 player,” he said.

There was no love lost between Mahesh Mangaonkar and Nasir Iqbal either, the two continuing their needling from the previous match. Mangaonkar was animated throughout the match, gesticulating at his opponent, asking for penalties, and even mocking a dance routine to suggest Iqbal’s blocking. The arena, brimming with Pakistani supporters, had their fill.

“I am not friends with Iqbal and I would like to keep my distance,” he said after the match. The amount of pushing and shoving in the match was not really par for the course for a typical game of squash, but in high-intensity matches, “such things can happen,” said Chinnappa. “I think the referee handled the boys well though,” she added.

In the hockey field, a confident India steamrolled their opponents with ridiculous ease. Among the favourites to win the title, India scored in each quarter, going 2-0, 4-0, 7-2, and 10-2 in the four stanzas. Skipper Harmanpreet Singh led the way with four goals, followed by a brace from Varun Kumar. Lalit Upadhyay, Shamsher Singh, Sumit, and Mandeep Singh all struck once. For Pakistan, consolation strikes arrived from Muhammad Sufyan Khan and Abdul Rana.

The 12 goals scored in the match are the highest ever scored in an India-Pakistan game and also the most India have pumped in against Pakistan in a single match. The victory margin too is India’s highest against Pakistan.

While in squash, Mangaonkar had no qualms in accepting that beating Pakistan was a “special and different” feeling, Upadhyay played down the demolition by the hockey team. “It doesn’t matter if it is Pakistan or Japan. We are here to win the gold medal,” he said.

There was no shortage of drama in the table tennis arena too as the women’s pair of Sutirtha and Ayhika Mukherjee, ranked 16 in the world, stunned the reigning world champions Meng Chen and Yidi Wang of China. The Indian pair won 3-1 (11-5, 11-5, 5-11, 11-9) in 39 minutes to advance to the semi-finals, assuring India a first-ever women’s doubles medal in table tennis at the Asian Games.

“We were not scared of the world No.2 Chinese. They are amazing players, among the world’s very best, but we were at our best today. It’s always great to play China and playing them in China was even better. The level is so high here,” said Ayhika.

“It was our style that made a huge difference. Also, we have a great understanding between us. That is what worked for us.”

There was more cheer waiting from racquet sports as the mixed doubles pair of Rohan Bopanna and Rutuja Bhosale beat Chinese Taipei’s En-shuo Liang and Tsung-hao Huang to claim the gold medal.

Medals continued to come in the shooting range with the mixed team pair of Sarabjot Singh and Divya TS winning a silver as India’s rifle and pistol campaign ended on a high at the Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre Shooting range. The Indians went down 14-16 in the final to the world champion Chinese pairing of Jiang Ranxin and Zhang Bowen. This was India’s 19th medal in shooting in Hangzhou and eighth silver to go with six gold and five bronze medals.