After a poor start to Asian Games 2026, India made a brilliant improvement, especially in the final few days, to end the event on a high. The nation finished in fourth place in the medal tally with a total of 85 medals to its name, including 21 gold, 27 silver and 37 bronze. The early setbacks in shooting and athletics were offset by a timely gold rush in boxing, archery, wrestling and hockey, as India’s late surge helped them secure fourth position, the same as at the previous edition in Hangzhou.
Asian Games 2026 Medal Tally:
The first week of the Asian Games was a forgettable one as shooters, who had pocketed seven gold medals in China, drew a blank in the individual rifle and pistol events.
The performance here was enough for a respectable fourth-place finish, albeit far behind the likes of China (in a league of their own), Japan and South Korea.
Have a look at India’s detailed medal tally:
Where did Pakistan finish in Asian Games 2026?
Pakistan ended the 2026 Asian Games in Japan in 29th place. The nation could clinch only 10 medals, including two silver and eight bronze. They failed to win a single gold medal at the event.
Have a look at Pakistan’s detailed medal tally:
For India, there were some exceptional performances in athletics, including long-distance runner Gulveer Singh’s three medals, but the contingent’s gold count dropped to one from the six secured in Hangzhou, pushing India out of the top 10 in the athletics medals tally.
But the doom and gloom of the first 10 days made way for unexpected joy in the Indian contingent. A major source of those smiles in the Indian camp came via shooter Neeru Dhanda, who became the first Indian woman to win a trap gold in the Games’ history.
That joy was doubled when Neeru teamed up with Kynan Chenai to strike gold in the trap mixed team event.
Compound archery won a bagful of medals for India at the Asian Games, but this time the recurve archers too made a significant contribution.
The women’s recurve team downed the mighty South Koreans to step onto the top of the podium for the very first time before Kumkum Mohod added to that historic run with a gold in the individual event.
In terms of gold medals won, boxing too tasted unprecedented success via Lovlina Borgohain (women’s 75kg), Parveen (women’s 65kg), and Ankush (men’s 80kg).
From no gold medals in Hangzhou, wrestling added two to the Aichi-Nagoya Games tally via Aman Sehrawat (men’s freestyle 57kg) and Sujeet Kalkal (men’s freestyle 65kg) towards the end of the competition.
The performances on Saturday saw India match Uzbekistan in the number of gold medals, largely due to the efforts of women’s golfer Pranavi Urs, who became the first Indian woman to win an individual gold at the Asian Games, before the men’s cricket team beat Pakistan in a high-pressure final.
The men’s hockey team won gold as expected, but the women too struck gold to make it a memorable first for the hockey contingent. It was the first time both the men’s and women’s teams finished with gold medals at the Asian Games.
The script went as per plan in cricket and kabaddi, with Indian athletes contributing four gold medals to the tally.
(With PTI Inputs)