India finished the 2026 Asian Games in fourth place in the medal table with 85 medals. The Games, held in Aichi prefecture and the city of Nagoya in Japan, closed on Sunday, 4 October.
The numbers
- Gold: 21
- Silver: 27
- Bronze: 37
- Total: 85
- Rank: fourth, behind China, Japan and South Korea
India and fifth-placed Uzbekistan each won 21 golds; India ranked higher because of more silver medals.
How it compares
At Hangzhou in 2023 India won 107 medals, including 28 golds, its best ever. The total in Japan is lower, but India’s 21 golds remain its second-highest tally at any Asian Games.
The highlights
- Team doubles: India won both the men’s and women’s titles in cricket, hockey and kabaddi.
- Hockey: The men retained their title, beating Malaysia 5-1; the women beat China 1-0 for their first gold since 1982. Both qualified for the 2028 Olympics.
- Cricket: The men beat Pakistan in the final.
- Archery: Kumkum Mohod, 17, became the first Indian woman to win the individual recurve gold, and finished with two golds and a silver.
- Shooting: Neeru Dhanda also won two golds and a silver.
- Athletics: Gulveer Singh won two silvers and a bronze in distance running; Vithya Ramraj won a medal of each colour.
Olympic places
Several results carried places at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, including both hockey titles and Mohod’s archery gold.
What next
The next Asian Games will be held in Doha in 2030. Before then, attention turns to qualification for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, to the 2030 Commonwealth Games in Ahmedabad and to India’s bid to host the Olympics in 2036.
Medal figures are as published by Olympics.com and Business Standard.
Image: The main stadium in Nagoya during the 2026 Asian Games, September 2026. Photo by Aspere, licensed under CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.