India win 85 medals at Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026, falls short of internal target
India won 85 medals from around 500 athletes at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026, falling short of an internally projected haul of about 100 medals and prompting calls for a post-event review given the public funds spent on preparation.
Aspirations to host the 2036 Olympic Games were framed against these results, which compared unfavorably with India’s performance in Hangzhou where the country returned with 106 medals from a contingent of more than 650. The Indian team secured 21 gold medals — seven fewer than in Hangzhou — after a late run that produced 11 golds in the final two days, largely driven by archery, boxing, wrestling and team disciplines such as hockey and cricket.
India ended level with Uzbekistan in the standings but retained fourth place on the basis of a larger number of silver medals, with 13 of its 21 golds coming from team events; cricket, kabaddi and hockey each completed clean sweeps. The contrast with the Games’ dominant nation was stark: China amassed 341 medals, including 169 golds, and took 54 medals in swimming alone.
There were notable individual and team highlights. Seventeen-year-old recurve archer Kumkum Mohod was instrumental in breaking South Korea’s grip on the women’s events as the archery team accounted for five gold medals. Trap shooter Neeru Dhanda, golfer Pranavi Urs and wrestler Sujeet Kalkal produced standout results, while the Indian women’s hockey team defeated Paris Olympics silver medallist China to claim gold for the first time in 44 years.
Several established names met expectations and some disciplines showed improvement: Lovlina Borgohain, Aman Sehrawat, Mirabai Chanu, Vithya Ramraj and Gulveer Singh all performed as anticipated, and boxers, wrestlers and golfers registered noticeable gains. India also secured Olympic quota places in archery and hockey, and fielded 310 debutants, with a marginal increase in its athlete-to-medal ratio noted in the build-up to Los Angeles 2028.
Shortcomings were concentrated in individual Olympic-style events. Athletics and shooting, which together contributed 24 and 15 medals respectively, produced 12 fewer medals than in 2023; shuttlers declined in form, tennis returned empty-handed for the first time in 40 years, and P.V. Sindhu and Manu Bhaker failed to deliver expected results.
The performance has prompted recommendations for tighter scrutiny of athlete funding and more effective execution of the revamped Khelo India scheme as measures to correct course. Given the scale of public investment, the outcome is likely to invite a thorough postmortem as attention turns to preparations for Los Angeles 2028 and India’s longer-term ambitions for Olympic hosting.