Aspiring to host the Olympic Games in 2036, India faced a harsh reality check at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. Compared with the previous Hangzhou Games, where it won 106 medals with a 650-plus contingent, the country won 85 medals from around 500 athletes. The aggregate fell short of an internally projected figure of around 100 medals. It is likely to invite a thorough postmortem, given the hundreds of crores of public money spent on the athletes’ preparation. India laboured to 21 gold medals, seven fewer than in Hangzhou, after a late surge of 11 top honours in the last two days, driven by the exploits of archers, boxers, wrestlers, and hockey and cricket players. It tied with Uzbekistan but managed to retain its fourth spot on the strength of a bigger haul of silver. Thirteen of the gold medals came from team events, with cricket, kabaddi and hockey making a clean sweep of titles. It underscored a stark reality: the country needs to raise its bar in medal-fetching individual sports, such as athletics, swimming, gymnastics, fencing and cycling, which determine success in multi-disciplinary Games. China, the runaway winner with a massive aggregate of 341 medals, including 169 gold, secured 54 medals in swimming alone. Barring athletics, India stood nowhere.
On a brighter note, India fielded 310 debutants and recorded a marginal increase in its athlete-to-medal ratio ahead of Los Angeles 2028. Several historic performances provided reasons to rejoice. Seventeen-year-old rookie recurve archer Kumkum Mohod dismantling the Korean women’s hegemony to help the archery team contribute five gold medals was a defining moment. Trap shooter Neeru Dhanda, golfer Pranavi Urs, wrestler Sujeet Kalkal and the women’s hockey team, which upset Paris Olympics silver medallist China to clinch gold after 44 years, hogged the limelight. Lovlina Borgohain, Aman Sehrawat, Mirabai Chanu, Vithya Ramraj and Gulveer Singh lived up to their billing. Boxers, wrestlers and golfers registered noticeable improvement. Olympic quota places in archery and hockey added to the excitement. Indian women catching up with men — both genders delivered 38 medals apiece — was another encouraging sign. On the flip side, India’s two major contributors, athletics and shooting, which earned 24 and 15 medals, respectively, yielded 12 fewer medals than in 2023. The shuttlers slipped, while the tennis players returned empty-handed after 40 years. P.V. Sindhu and Manu Bhaker flopped. Stricter scrutiny of athletes’ funding and efficient implementation of the revamped Khelo India scheme, designed with a long-term vision, are essential for course correction. Without propelling India’s sporting standards, a bid to host the Olympics may become a countdown to international embarrassment.
Published – October 06, 2026 12:20 am IST
