A late surge at Nagoya and a long way to Los Angeles

A repeat show two years from now at Los Angeles will be disappointing.

3 min readOct 5, 2026 06:05 AM IST First published on: Oct 5, 2026 at 06:05 AM IST

A shadow of despair hung over the early phase of India’s Asian Games campaign with the gold haul stuck at four for what seemed like ages. But within a week, thanks to a late surge and a few spectacular medals, the national anthem was played 21 times. The total gold count fell from 28 in Hangzhou, and so did the total medal tally, from 107 to 85. However, India finished fourth, the same position as the previous Asiad.

The standout performance came from the archery contingent, which humbled the mighty Koreans enroute to multiple gold medals. While compound archery was expected to make a mark, the mixed team winning gold and booking a quota for the LA Olympics was a shot in the arm. A truly world-class performance came from Kumkum Mohod, just 17, who ended the Korean dominance by winning gold in individual recurve — the first-ever Indian male or female to do so at the Asian Games. The women’s hockey team won the title after 44 years by beating China in the final. This after reports of infighting and a string of poor results had brought down the team morale. The turnaround after coach Sjoerd Marijne returned to the helm was commendable. The boxers with three gold medals and wrestlers with a haul of two, too, contributed to India’s late climb after athletes from both sports failed to finish atop the podium in the last edition. The comeback story from boxing belonged to Parveen Hooda — stripped of her 2023 bronze medal for an anti-doping whereabouts failure, she bounced back to win gold. On the penultimate day, golfer Pranavi Urs, little known outside the ranks of those who regularly follow the sport, added a surprise continental title.

But while India has defied the catastrophic forecasts, there is still a long way to go to catch up with the global superpowers. India must aspire to increase the gold medal count. China’s is 169, more than double the number won by host Japan. Some of the performances by Indian athletes give them little or no chance at the Olympics two years from now. India didn’t win a single gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics despite the government pumping in money for training. A repeat show two years from now at Los Angeles will be disappointing.