India matches Hangzhou finish, wins 85 medals in Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games

PrashantNews

India signed off from its competitive campaign at the Asian Games with an impressive 85-medal haul — 21 gold, 27 silver and 37 bronze — to finish fourth, matching its position at the Hangzhou Games.

The final position matched India’s finish at the Hangzhou Asian Games, but the 2026 campaign fell short of the country’s record medal haul achieved three years ago. India had won 107 medals — 28 gold, 38 silver and 41 bronze — at Hangzhou, its best-ever Asian Games performance in terms of total medals.

India’s 85-medal haul in Aichi-Nagoya is nevertheless its second-highest ever, comfortably surpassing the previous record of 70 medals won at Jakarta-Palembang in 2018. The 21 gold medals are also India’s second-best gold-medal haul at an Asian Games, behind Hangzhou’s 28.

One of the defining features of India’s campaign was the outstanding performance of its women athletes. Women were directly involved in 47 of India’s 85 medal-winning entries, including 14 of the 21 gold medals, counting mixed-team events in which Indian women competed. The gold-medal winners included the women’s cricket and kabaddi teams, the women’s 4x400m relay quartet of Kiran Pahal, Poovamma Machettira, Prachi Choudhary and Vithya Ramraj, the women’s compound archery trio of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Prithika Pradeep and Chikitha Taniparthi, shooters Neeru Dhanda and Kamaljeet-Suruchi Singh, boxers Lovlina Borgohain and Parveen Hooda, the women’s hockey team, archer Kumkum Mohod and golfer Pranavi Urs.

Several women also produced multiple-medal performances. Kumkum Mohod emerged as one of India’s biggest stars, winning gold in the women’s recurve team event and individual recurve, besides a silver in the mixed recurve team event. Neeru Dhanda won gold in women’s trap and the mixed trap team event and also contributed to the women’s trap team silver. Chikitha Taniparthi won women’s compound team and mixed compound golds. Pranavi Urs created history by becoming the first Indian woman to win an individual Asian Games golf gold, while also taking silver in the women’s team event.

The late surge on Saturday lifted India into fourth place, with five gold medals coming on the final competition day, including titles in men’s cricket and men’s hockey. India’s cricket team defeated Pakistan by 19 runs in the final, while the men’s hockey team beat Malaysia 5-1 to retain its Asian Games title.

The numbers underline the consistency of India’s recent rise at the continental level:

Hangzhou 2022 (held in 2023): 107 medals — 28 gold, 38 silver, 41 bronze — fourth place.

Aichi-Nagoya 2026: 85 medals — 21 gold, 27 silver, 37 bronze — fourth place.

Jakarta-Palembang 2018: 70 medals — 16 gold, 23 silver, 31 bronze — eighth place.

India’s 2026 campaign therefore produced 15 more medals and five more golds than in 2018, while maintaining the fourth-place finish achieved at Hangzhou.

While Hangzhou remains India’s benchmark, the Aichi-Nagoya performance provides another strong medal haul, with Indian women playing a particularly prominent role. October 3 was the final competition day for India, while the Asian Games officially conclude on October 4 with the closing ceremony.