India retain women's kabaddi gold at Aichi-Nagoya 2026; full medal winners

India's women's kabaddi team, captained by Pushpa Rana, won the gold medal at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya in 2026, defeating Iran in the final. The reigning champions completed an unbeaten campaign en route to the title.

Women's kabaddi has been contested at the Asian Games since its introduction at Guangzhou 2010; India captured the inaugural gold there by beating Thailand in the final, with Bangladesh and Iran taking bronze. V. Tejaswini Bai led India to gold at both Guangzhou 2010 and Incheon 2014, Ritu Negi captained the side to victory in Hangzhou 2022, and Pushpa Rana was at the helm in Aichi-Nagoya 2026, giving India four gold medals overall in the event's five editions.

At Aichi-Nagoya India did not lose a match, edging past Bangladesh, Iran and hosts Japan in earlier rounds before meeting Nepal in the semi-finals. After a dominating win over Nepal, India faced the 2018 champions in the final and defeated them to retain the title.

Iran's 2018 triumph in Jakarta remains the only interruption to India's run of golds at the Asian Games; Iran beat India in that final to claim their maiden gold. India recovered at Hangzhou 2022, where they beat Chinese Taipei in the final by a one-point margin.

Ritu Negi, who captained India in Hangzhou, later described that victory as one of their most memorable comebacks; she was also part of the squad that finished with silver in Jakarta 2018. Pushpa Rana's 2026 captaincy joins the earlier successes under V. Tejaswini Bai (2010, 2014) and Ritu Negi (2022) among the event's winning captains.

Medalists at Aichi-Nagoya 2026 were: GOLD: India; SILVER: Iran; BRONZE: Nepal and Chinese Taipei. Across the five editions of the women's kabaddi tournament at the Asian Games, only India and Iran have won gold medals, with India holding four and Iran one.

The search for a new women's kabaddi champion at the Asian Games will continue, with no additional nations having claimed gold through the 2026 edition and the next opportunity appearing in 2030.