Asian Games 2026: India’s greatest hits and flops – from historic golf gold to tennis medal drought

India signed off from the Asian Games 2026 in fourth place with 85 medals — 21 gold, 27 silver and 37 bronze. The closing tally was beneath the file 106 medals received at Hangzhou, however a robust end within the closing days modified the complexion of the marketing campaign.From Kumkum Mohod’s historic archery gold and Aman Sehrawat’s wrestling triumph to disappointing campaigns in tennis and a few historically sturdy disciplines, India’s Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games journey had its share of hovering highs and onerous misses.Here are India’s greatest hits and flops from Aichi-Nagoya.

The Hits

1. Archery: The greatest gold-medal success

Archery was arguably India’s greatest success story when it got here to gold medals.India received 5 gold medals, with the ladies’s and males’s compound groups, blended compound group, girls’s recurve group and Kumkum Mohod’s particular person recurve triumph offering the highlights.The greatest second got here from 17-year-old Kumkum Mohod, who grew to become the primary Indian girl to win a person recurve gold on the Asian Games.

Her success, together with the ladies’s recurve group’s gold, gave Indian archery a memorable Games. Kumkum additionally added a silver within the blended recurve group occasion with Dhiraj Bommadevara.

2. Hockey: Two golds and Olympic qualification

Indian hockey delivered when it mattered most.The girls’s group ended a 44-year look ahead to an Asian Games gold, whereas Harmanpreet Singh’s males’s group defeated Malaysia 5-1 within the closing to retain the title.

The two victories additionally had an Olympic dimension, with India’s performances securing qualification alternatives for Los Angeles 2028.The males’s closing was the proper technique to shut India’s medal marketing campaign, with the 5-1 victory delivering the nation’s twenty first gold.

3. Cricket: Both groups defend their titles

India’s cricket groups delivered two extra gold medals.The girls’s group retained its title, whereas the boys’s facet defeated Pakistan by 19 runs within the closing to efficiently defend India’s Asian Games crown. Abhishek Sharma’s explosive batting and Tilak Varma’s unbeaten 51 have been among the many highlights of the boys’s closing.

The males’s closing additionally grew to become one of the talked-about sporting moments of the Games, due to the India-Pakistan rivalry.

4. Boxing: Three golds

India’s boxers produced one of many strongest late surges of the Games, profitable three gold medals.Lovlina Borgohain, Parveen Hooda and Ankush Panghal emerged as champions of their respective classes.For Lovlina, the victory was notably important: she grew to become solely the second Indian girl after Mary Kom to win an Asian Games boxing gold.

5. Wrestling: Aman Sehrawat’s comeback

Aman Sehrawat’s gold was one of many extra compelling particular person tales of the Games.The wrestler had endured a troublesome interval involving sickness, absences and a lack of motivation following the Paris Olympics. His return to the highest at Aichi-Nagoya turned the marketing campaign into a private comeback story in addition to a medal-winning one.India completed with two wrestling golds, together with silver and bronze medals.

6. Pranavi Urs makes golf historical past

Pranavi Urs created historical past by profitable India’s first girls’s particular person golf gold on the Asian Games.

India additionally took silver within the girls’s group occasion, making golf one of many nation’s notable success tales in Aichi-Nagoya.

7. Kabaddi: India hold its Asian Games dominance

Kabaddi remained one among India’s most reliable gold-medal sports activities at Aichi-Nagoya.Both the boys’s and ladies’s groups received gold, permitting India to retain its titles and reinforce its dominance within the sport on the Asian Games.The double triumph was one other sturdy efficiency from a self-discipline the place India continues to set the continental benchmark.

8. Athletics: India’s greatest medal contributor

Athletics was India’s greatest contributor by total medal rely, producing 24 medals.The medal haul included silver medals for Ancy Sojan, Sarvesh Kushare, Sawan Berwal, Gulveer Singh and others, together with a number of bronze medals throughout monitor and discipline.The sport additionally produced historic moments, together with Baranica Elangovan’s first-ever Asian Games pole-vault medal for India and Vithya Ramraj’s national-record bronze within the 400m hurdles.The caveat is the gold rely. Athletics produced an enormous quantity of medals however just one gold, which means the game’s conversion into top-of-the-podium finishes stays an space India will need to enhance.Asian Games Full Coverage | Schedule | Medal Tally

The Flops

1. Tennis: A historic medal drought

Tennis was arguably India’s greatest disappointment.For the primary time in 4 a long time, India did not win a single Asian Games tennis medal. The marketing campaign ended and not using a podium end regardless of the nation’s traditionally sturdy file within the sport on the continental occasion.The outcome was notably hanging as a result of tennis has historically been one among India’s dependable Asian Games medal sports activities.

2. Shooting: Too many close to misses earlier than the turnaround

Shooting finally contributed 15 medals, together with three golds, making it one among India’s greatest medal-producing sports activities.But the marketing campaign started with appreciable disappointment.India endured a number of fourth-place finishes and missed alternatives earlier than Suruchi Singh and Kamaljeet lastly ended the look ahead to a taking pictures gold.Tilottama Sen and Vidarsa Vinod, for instance, completed fourth and fifth respectively within the girls’s 50m rifle 3P particular person closing.The closing medal rely was spectacular, however expectations round India’s shooters have been even larger.

3. Badminton: Below expectations

Badminton managed just one medal — a bronze within the males’s group occasion.The outcome was underwhelming for a sport that has produced a few of India’s greatest Asian Games and Olympic stars.

The marketing campaign was additionally overshadowed by criticism of the Games’ scheduling and organisation. H.S. Prannoy, who received the boys’s group bronze, described the expertise as “unhappy” for athletes and criticised the lodging and scheduling preparations.

4. Equestrian: A quiet disappointment

Equestrian was one other self-discipline that did not make a mark for India at Aichi-Nagoya.Despite India’s pedigree within the sport and its sturdy performances at earlier Asian Games, the contingent returned and not using a medal.The outcome added to a listing of disciplines the place India was unable to transform participation and expertise into podium finishes, making equestrian a comparatively disappointing marketing campaign.

5. Table tennis, fencing, esports, rowing all disappoint

Several disciplines did not make a major affect for India on the Asian Games 2026. Esports was among the many clearest disappointments, with India failing to win a medal throughout its occasions, whereas fencing and volleyball additionally ended and not using a podium end regardless of sizeable contingents and expectations.Table tennis managed just one bronze, a modest return for a sport with India’s rising global stature, making it one other underwhelming marketing campaign.Rowing produced a solitary bronze, leaving the self-discipline with a comparatively restricted medal haul. Taken collectively, these outcomes spotlight the gaps India nonetheless wants to deal with past its stronger medal-producing sports activities.