Leander Paes is India’s most decorated Asian Games athlete
As India prepares to compete at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4, 2026, the nation’s most decorated Asian Games competitor is Leander Paes.
India has dispatched a 503-strong athlete contingent to Aichi-Nagoya, comprising 269 men and 234 women, supported by 246 support staff and 19 officials in the country’s twentieth appearance at the Games since first participating in 1951. Sahdev Yadav serves as Chef de Mission with table tennis player Sharath Kamal as his deputy, while athletics provides the largest single-sport delegation with 79 competitors, followed by field hockey (40) and cricket (30).
Paes, the former Indian tennis player who retired from professional tennis in 2020, amassed five gold medals and three bronze medals across his Asian Games career, a haul described in the source as making him the most decorated male tennis player in the Games’ history. His medals span singles, doubles, mixed doubles and team events.
His gold medals were won in 1994 Hiroshima (men’s doubles and men’s team), 2002 Busan (men’s doubles), and 2006 Doha (men’s doubles and mixed doubles). Paes’s bronze medals came in 1990 Beijing (men’s team), 1994 Hiroshima (men’s singles) and 2002 Busan (mixed doubles).
The combination of those results is noted in the source as giving Paes the highest Indian gold-medal tally across all sports in Asian Games history. Outside the Asian Games, the article records Paes’s 18 Grand Slam titles—eight in men’s doubles and 10 in mixed doubles—and states he is one of only three men in the Open Era to complete a career Grand Slam in both categories; it also cites a Davis Cup doubles wins record of 45.
PT Usha, who is identified in the source as president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), won four gold and seven silver medals across her Asian Games career, with four golds coming at the 1986 Seoul edition. The source notes Usha leads in total Asian Games medals with 11 (four gold, seven silver) compared with Paes’s eight (five gold, three bronze), while Paes has the greater number of gold medals, five to her four.
At Aichi-Nagoya, India will contest medals across archery, boxing, wrestling, shooting, badminton and dozens of other disciplines during the Games running from September 19 to October 4, 2026.
