India’s Asian Games crown changed hands: Just 8 of 28 golds were defended, while 13 new champions emerged in Aichi-Nagoya
Of the 28 golds India defended in Japan this time, only eight came back.
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At the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023, India scripted its best-ever show — 106 medals, with 28 golds and a lot of chatter about the arrival of a sporting nation. Three years hence, India capped off the Aichi-Nagoya edition with 85 medals — their second-best performance at the Asiad — comprising 21 golds. That's fewer in number, and strikingly, with a new cast of champions. Of the 28 golds India defended in Japan this time, only eight came back.
The Indian cricket and kabaddi teams — men and women — the men's hockey team, and three compound team events — men's, women's, and mixed — successfully defended India's gold at the 2026 Asian Games. And those eight golds were rather routine wins for India, anything less than which would have been an absolute shocker.
India is the Asian champion in cricket across both categories and returned with a second consecutive gold. In fact, in the men's division, India were the only side to land in the Japanese city with a full-strength T20 squad. In hockey, the Indian men's team finished top of the podium in two of the previous three editions, and with the overall standard of hockey in Asia falling well behind the world level, as seen in the recent World Cup, Harmanpreet Singh's side cruised to a comfortable win, without a drop of sweat — albeit in the semifinal against Pakistan, when defensive lapses allowed their rivals to storm back and level at 3-3 in the third quarter.
In kabaddi, India has been the undisputed champion in both the men's and women's events in Asia. And in compound archery, India looked at home defending the men's, women's and mixed team golds, having been a dominant force in the events since their introduction at the 2014 Games.
Asian Games 2022 → 2026
The Great Gold Exchange, at a glance
8 / 28
Golds defended
21
Total golds, 2026 (vs 28 in 2022)
0 / 13
Solo & pair golds defended
29%
defended
8 retained
Cricket (M & W), hockey (M), kabaddi (M & W), compound archery's three team formats
20 lost
Across shooting, athletics, tennis, badminton, squash and archery's individual events
Team-format events (15 of 2022's 28 golds)8/15 · 53%
Cricket, hockey, kabaddi, archery team events, squash men's team, equestrian team, shooting team events
Solo & pair events (13 of 2022's 28 golds)0/13 · 0%
Shooting individuals, track & field, tennis, badminton and squash's doubles/pairs, archery's individual compound
Every gold India won was won by a team in which even personnel rotation did not affect the core unit. In fact, India won 15 team golds in 2023, of which eight were retained. What remains are solo or pair events — 13 in all — where India could not defend the crown. Neeraj Chopra's javelin, Avinash Sable's steeplechase, Tajinderpal Singh Toor's hat-trick bid, both individual shooting golds, the badminton and tennis and squash pairs, and both individual compound archery crowns — all gone, every one of them.
Of the total 20 gold medals India could not defend, nine were near misses. Tajinderpal lost out on a gold hat-trick by 17 centimetres to a Games-record Iranian shot-put throw. The men's 10m air rifle and 50m rifle 3-position teams were beaten by close margins to finish with silver. In men's javelin, Neeraj did not travel to Japan owing to an injury, but Yashvir Singh, who won the Commonwealth Games bronze in July, led India's hopes. His first attempt of 83.56m kept him in the gold-medal spot until eventual champion Rumesh Pathirage hurled an 88.33m throw on his third attempt, before bettering it to 88.56m on his final throw.
| Event | 2022 gold medallist(s) | Defended? | 2026 team members |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shooting — M 10m air rifle team | Panwar, Tomar, Patil | No | Rudrankksh Patil, Himanshu Dhillon, Parth Mane |
| Cricket — Women's T20 | Team India | Yes | Team India |
| Equestrian — Team dressage | Agarwalla, D. Singh, Chheda, Hajela | No | Shruti Vora, Hriday Chheda, Jai Sud |
| Shooting — W 25m pistol team | E. Singh, Sangwan, Bhaker | No | Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh, Rahi Sarnobat |
| Shooting — W 50m rifle 3P individual | Sift Kaur Samra | No | Tilottama Sen |
| Shooting — M 10m air pistol team | Cheema, Sarabjot, Narwal | No | Kamaljeet, Kedarling Balakrishna, Aakash Bhardwaj |
| Shooting — M 50m rifle 3P team | Tomar, Kusale, Sheoran | No | Rudrankksh Patil, Aishwary Tomar, Niraj Kumar |
| Shooting — W 10m air pistol individual | Palak Gulia | No | Manu Bhaker |
| Tennis — Mixed doubles | Bopanna, Bhosale | No | Yuki Bhambri, Rutuja Bhosale |
| Squash — Men's team | Ghosal, Mangaonkar, A. Singh, Sandhu | No | Abhay Singh, Veer Chotrani, Velavan Senthilkumar |
| Shooting — M trap team | Chenai, Z. Singh, Tondaiman | No | Kynan Chenai, Shapath Bharadwaj, Ahvar Rizvi |
| Athletics — M 3000m steeplechase | Avinash Sable | No | Avinash Sable |
| Athletics — M shot put | Tajinderpal Singh Toor | No | Tajinderpal Singh Toor |
| Athletics — W 5000m | Parul Chaudhary | No | Parul Chaudhary |
| Athletics — W javelin | Annu Rani | No | No Indian entrant |
| Archery — Mixed team compound | India's compound pair | Yes | Chikitha Taniparthi, Sahil Jadhav |
| Athletics — M javelin | Neeraj Chopra | No | Yashvir Singh, Rohit Yadav (Chopra injured, did not compete) |
| Athletics — M 4x400m relay | Jacob, Anas, Ramesh, Ajmal | No | Dharmveer Choudhary, Manu Thekkinalil, Jay Kumar, Vishal Thennarasu |
| Archery — W team compound | Surekha, Swami, Kaur | Yes | Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Prithika Pradeep, Chikitha Taniparthi |
| Squash — Mixed doubles | Sandhu, Pallikal | No | Joshna Chinappa, Velavan Senthilkumar |
| Archery — M team compound | Verma, Jawkar, Deotale | Yes | Sahil Jadhav, Ganesh Mani Ratnam, Kushal Dalal |
| Hockey — Men's team | Team India | Yes | Team India |
| Archery — W compound individual | Jyothi Surekha | No | Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Chikitha Taniparthi |
| Archery — M compound individual | Ojas Deotale | No | Ganesh Mani Ratnam, Sahil Jadhav |
| Kabaddi — Women's team | Team India | Yes | Team India |
| Badminton — M doubles | Satwik-Chirag | No | Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty |
| Cricket — Men's T20 | Team India | Yes | Team India |
| Kabaddi — Men's team | Team India | Yes | Team India |
Among the collapses, the most shocking was Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty being bounced out in the first round of men's doubles, losing to a pair ranked 36 places below them. The other came in archery, where defending champion Jyothi Surekha Vennam lost to a 14-year-old South Korean in the Round of 16 of the individual compound archery event.
What's next: the 13 new golds
Of the 21 gold medals that India won in Aichi-Nagoya, 13 came from fresh champions, leaving India with hope as it looks towards the Los Angeles-adjacent cycles and the next Asian Games.
| New 2026 gold | Athlete(s) |
|---|---|
| Boxing, women's 75kg | Lovlina Borgohain |
| Wrestling, men's 57kg freestyle | Aman Sehrawat |
| Athletics, women's 4x400m relay | Pahal, Poovamma, Choudhary, Ramraj |
| Hockey, women's team | Team India |
| Archery, women's team recurve | Bhakat, Mohod, Sharma |
| Archery, women's individual recurve | Kumkum Mohod |
| Wrestling, men's 65kg freestyle | Sujeet Kalkal |
| Boxing, women's 65kg | Parveen Hooda |
| Boxing, men's 80kg | Ankush Panghal |
| Shooting, mixed team 10m air pistol | Kamaljeet, Suruchi Singh |
| Shooting, mixed team trap | Kynan Chenai, Neeru Dhanda |
| Shooting, women's trap (individual) | Neeru Dhanda |
| Golf, women's individual | Pranavi Urs |
Eight of them were individual hauls — the most notable of those being 17-year-old Kumkum Mohod ending South Korea's reign in women's recurve individual. Neeru Dhanda — the first individual gold medallist for India at these Asian Games — was also the first Indian woman ever to win the women's trap gold.
Aratrick Mondal is a senior sports journalist based in New Delhi. In his eight years as a sports writer, Aratrick has worked at leading media organisations, including The Times of India, Times Now, Zee, India TV and currently works at a senior position at Hindustan Times Digital. He writes on cricket, football, pickleball and tennis, among other sports. He has extensively covered India's evolving cricket landscape, the country's new-found love for private leagues such as Indian Pickleball League (IPBL), Ultimate Kho Kho League (UKK), Rugby Premier League (RPL) and several tennis leagues. He has closely covered emerging sports such as pickleball. His coverage of major franchise events lends an atmospheric flavor to his ground reports. His recent story on how SA20 (the domestic cricket league of South Africa) had opened up its grounds to create a carnival-like fan experience garnered major international attention, including appreciation from major cricketers. Tennis holds a special place in his heart. Aratrick has built a strong niche in analytical tennis stories—ranging from Grand Slam narratives and player profiles to tactical breakdowns and ranking trends. His long-form features often decode grand slams, career highs and lows of tennis greats and the upward trajectory of emerging stars. He also closely follows India's tennis landscape, having covered the Davis Cup, Bengaluru Open and Tata Open, among others. His reporting is backed by strong data capabilities, with hands-on experience using tools like Python, Tableau, and Excel to produce visually rich, insight-led stories. This data-first approach enhances accuracy, transparency, and trust. In leadership roles, he has managed editorial shifts, overseen homepage strategy, optimised SEO workflows, and mentored peers to deliver consistent, high-traffic journalism. He recently won the HT DigiStar award for the third quarter of financial year 2025-26. Aratrick is trusted for his balanced reportage, sound sourcing, and ability to translate complex sporting events into engaging narratives that speak to a wide audience. He believes sports is for everyone, not just for the enthusiasts and has a unique ability to bring people together - just like the sumptuous meals you'll often find him cooking on a weekend evening.Read More
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