In late August, the Sports Ministry maintained that the qualification criteria for the Asian Games, put into place a year ago, would not change despite criticism. “The idea, from the very beginning, was to send a lean contingent. The criteria was announced a year ago, and everyone had the time to figure it out and qualify,” a Sports Ministry source told TimesofIndia.com back then. It was made clear that the objective was to have a contingent with only realistic medal contenders making the trip to Aichi-Nagoya.“Let’s take an example. If somebody has to run inside 10 seconds to be a contender for a medal in the 100m event, should we send an athlete who clocks 15 seconds? We have set the criteria that if an athlete is in the top six in Asia, we will select him or her, otherwise not. We have followed that,” the source had said.The tennis squad went from 12 to 7. Several judokas and wushu athletes were removed from the initial list. From 44 players in 2022, no footballers were sent this time. There was also no place for 20 hoopers and 16 handball players.India had sent a 661-athlete contingent to the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou. Three years later, the final contingent that travelled to Japan was trimmed to 495 athletes. After 14 days of competition, India accounted for 21 golds, 27 silvers and 37 bronzes for a combined 85 medals. For comparison, India had won 106 medals in China (28 golds, 38 silvers, and 40 bronze).As the contingent size dropped by 25.1%, the golds fell by nearly the same number (25%) and medals by 19.8%. India won 16 medals for every 100 athletes in Hangzhou. In Aichi-Nagoya, that figure rose to 17.2% — an improvement of about 7.3%.
Stripped to the bare bones, India won 0.172 medals per athlete in Nagoya, against 0.160 in Hangzhou. Golds per athlete were essentially unchanged at about 0.042. Crudely, it counts every athlete sent, including those who did not medal. At the same time, teams as big as cricket (30 athletes), hockey (40) and kabaddi (24) account for a single medal in a discipline.So while India did not match its record 106-medal haul, its smaller contingent produced a slightly better medal return per athlete.The more complicated part of the comparison comes when gold medals are brought into the mix.
India’s gold medal tally fell from 28 to 21, a 25% decline — exactly in line with the reduction in the size of the contingent. The gold-medal yield was therefore virtually unchanged: 4.24 golds per 100 athletes in Hangzhou and 4.24 in Aichi-Nagoya.That suggests the smaller contingent was not, by itself, the reason India’s gold tally fell. Rather, the composition of the medal haul changed.
Where did the golds go?
India’s 2022 golds came heavily from three sports: shooting (seven), athletics (six), and archery (five), which is 18 of 28 (64%). In Nagoya, archery again delivered five, but shooting produced three and athletics one. Boxing, which won no gold in Hangzhou, won three, and wrestling won two after none. Golf added a gold courtesy Pranavi Urs. Squash, which won two golds in 2022, won none, despite the expectations from Anahat Singh, though the overall count of five medals did not change.The team sports carried more of the load. Cricket, hockey and kabaddi won six of India’s 21 golds, up from five of 28. India completed a double title finish in all three. In 2022, hockey had produced one gold and one bronze.Athletics’ podium shifted down a step. In 2022, it returned six golds, 14 silvers and nine bronzes. Now, despite a massive 75-plus-member contingent, it produced one gold, nine silvers and 14 bronzes.
Shooting, athletics behind the decline
Shooting (4) and athletics (5) were the biggest reasons behind the drop in gold medals. Squash (2), Badminton (1), Tennis (1) and Equestrian (1) all also witnessed a drop in the yellow metal. Tennis, in fact, didn’t produce a medal at all – a first in 40 years.In Hangzhou, shooting and athletics were the two biggest contributors to India’s gold medal tally, producing seven and six gold medals, respectively. Together, they accounted for 13 of India’s 28 golds. In Aichi-Nagoya, that combined figure collapsed to four. Shooting contributed three golds, while athletics produced one. India therefore lost nine gold medals from these two sports alone.
The sub-par show from the athletes was made murkier by the withdrawals of 100m hurdler Jyothi Yarraji and triple jumper Praveen Chithravel. Both national record holders had skipped the Indian Athletics Series Final in prelude to the Asian Games, citing knee stress and a calf muscle pull, respectively.When it came to the Asian Games, Yarraji pulled out of the women’s 100m hurdles first-round heats after “feeling pain” during the warm-up under rainy conditions.Chithravel, meanwhile, attempted his first jump but could not complete it, exiting the competition area clutching his calf in apparent pain. He was later taken away in a wheelchair. Men’s 400m hurdler Yashas P., too, pulled out after starting his Heat.
Coming to the shooters.India’s 2026 shooting tally of 15 medals (3 golds, 8 silvers and 4 bronzes) was a 32% drop in total medal tally when compared to 22 in the previous continental showpiece. The gold haul took a 57% hit. Broken further, seven were team medals, five individual and three in mixed team events.The gold medals came in one individual (Neeru Dhanda in women’s trap) and two mixed team events (Neeru and Kynan Chenai in mixed trap and Suruchi Phogat and Kamaljeet in mixed 10m air pistol).
Late surge takes India to 85 medals and fourth spot
If the final medal tally tells one story, the daily trajectory tells another. Through the first 12 days of competition, India had won 10 gold medals in Aichi-Nagoya. In Hangzhou, India had already accumulated 21 golds by the same point.Then came the late surge in Japan.India won 11 gold medals over the final two days of its 2026 campaign — six on Day 13 and five on Day 14. That means 52.4% of India’s entire gold haul came in the final two days. The equivalent figure in Hangzhou was 25%: seven of India’s 28 golds came during the final two days.India had 13 golds by Day 8 in Hangzhou. At the same stage in Aichi-Nagoya, it had four. By Day 11, the gap was still eight golds — 18 to 10.But the final stretch changed the picture dramatically. India collected 18 golds across Days 13 and 14 in the two editions combined, but the distribution was very different: seven in Hangzhou and 11 in Aichi-Nagoya.
On October 2, the women’s recurve team of Ankita Bhakat, Kirti Sharma and Kumkum Mohod picked a gold. As did boxer Lovlina Borgohain on her birthday. Parveen Hooda also joined the party alongside wrestler Sujeet Kalkal’s remarkable comeback, boxer Ankush Panghal’s drought-ending gold, and the women’s hockey team’s triumph over China to seal an LA 2028 spot.A day later, archer Kumkum Mohod, golfer Pranavi Urs, wrestler Aman Sehrawat, the men’s cricket team, and the men’s hockey team gave the country plenty to celebrate with golden flourishes.
The overall medal gap never disappeared
The same late surge was visible in the total medal count, but it was not enough to close the gap with Hangzhou.After the first day, India had five medals in Hangzhou and two in Aichi-Nagoya.By Day 4, the difference had grown to 10 medals.By Day 8, it was 16.By Day 11, Hangzhou’s cumulative tally stood at 80 medals, compared with 60 in Aichi-Nagoya — a 20-medal gap.India narrowed that deficit slightly over the next two days, reaching 76 medals against Hangzhou’s 94 after Day 13.But the final day added nine medals in Aichi-Nagoya and 12 in Hangzhou, leaving the final difference to 21.
