A reality check on the podium: What Asiad results mean for India's Olympic dream

Though the final tally of medals that India bagged in the Asian Games held at Aichi-Nagoya, which concluded on 4 October, showed that the country retained the fourth position it bagged four years ago, it would be apparent to any discerning observer that the overall performance of the contingent was below par and fell much short of what was expected from them. A tally of 85 medals, including 21 gold, pales in comparison with the tally of the top 3- China (341 with 169 gold), Japan (269 with 83 gold) and South Korea (150 with 39 gold). In fact, India tied with Uzbekistan with respect to the number of gold medals won, but managed to finish higher than them thanks to the total tally, where the Central Asian Republic had only 70 podium finishes.

Further, even amongst the medals that India won, a substantial percentage came from team sports such as cricket, field hockey and kabaddi, where, except in women’s hockey, the teams barely broke a sweat in their path to the pole position. The women’s field hockey team did the nation proud by defeating China 1-0 in the finals, thus breaking a 44-year-long drought. In Men’s hockey, the team clinched the gold by defeating Malaysia 5-1, with the margin indicating the one-sided nature of the contest. In cricket, both men and women, as well as in kabaddi, no team even came close to challenging the Indian sides.

Other events where India did well were Archery, Boxing and Wrestling. In Archery, India won 5 golds, the same tally as at Hangzhou, but history was created at Aichi- Nagoya, when the contingent breached the South Korean fortress in “recurve” archery, considered to be the most challenging item in this sport. The star for India in this event was Kumkum Mohod, a 17-year-old girl hailing from Amravati in Maharashtra, who won the gold in both the individual and team events. This victory here not only ended South Korea’s superiority in this event but also helped India to qualify for the 2028 Olympics.

The tale of Kumkum Mohod should be an inspiration for all budding athletes. Hailing from a very ordinary family, she overcame difficulties on account of a lack of resources and infrastructure and gained national recognition through the dint of sheer hard work. She gained entry to the national squad in 2025 and has been on a gold medal-winning streak since then. After winning the gold medal in the Asia Cup, she followed by reaching the top position in the Shanghai and Antalya legs of the World Cup. The win in Nagoya places her firmly in the top bracket amongst the recurve archers in the world and also makes her a medal prospect at the Los Angeles Olympics of 2028.

Boxing was a success story in Aichi- Nagoya as the Indian boxers did the nation proud by winning three gold medals to finish at the top position. Lovlina Borgohain, who had won a bronze at the Tokyo Olympics of 2020, regained top form to win the gold in the Women’s 75 kg category, while Parveen Hooda won a tightly fought final to clinch the top position in the 65 kg category. In the Men’s 80 kg category, Ankush Panchal outclassed his South Korean opponent to win the third gold for India in this sport. The three bronze medals added further lustre to the show and the contingent could return from Japan with their heads held high.

Wrestling was another event where India met with better success in the 2026 edition. After a poor show at Hangzhou, Indian wrestlers bounced back to win two gold medals at Aichi- Nagoya. Aman Sherawat and Sujeet Kalkal won the gold in the men's 57 and 65 kg categories, respectively, with the latter putting up a stirring performance in the last 100 seconds to overcome a huge deficit and win the finals. Indian wrestlers also won medals- one silver and one bronze- in the Greco- Roman style for the first time. Since this is an event where India has performed well in the Olympics, the good performance and form shown by the wrestlers augur well for the country in the run-up to the Los Angeles Olympiad.

However, the good stories end here. Sports lovers across the country had expected medals in shooting, given the performances in the past. However, the shooters proved to be flatterers to deceive as the contingent returned with only 15 medals (3 gold) as opposed to 22 (7 gold) four years before. Manu Bhaker, who had won two medals in the 2024 Paris Olympics, was completely off colour and failed to win even a single medal. The sole bright spot was the stellar show by Neeru Dhanda, who won one gold medal in the individual event and a gold and silver each in the team sport.

Many reasons have been trotted out for the poor performance of the shooting contingent. The most interesting one pertains to a shortage of match-grade ammunition required for the training of the contingent. It has been pointed out that there was an unprecedented delay in the import of ammunition from Europe and the USA, which hampered the preparation of the contingent. Fatigue of top shooters due to participation in too many events has also been cited as a reason. However, these cannot be treated as valid excuses, as the dates of major international events are known in advance and it is the duty of the Association and officials to ensure that adequate stocks of match ammunition are available and the shooters are provided proper facilities to ensure that they hit peak form at the correct time. These lame reasons only highlight the lack of professionalism in the approach of the officials and the shooters.

Athletics was another segment where the Indian contingent disappointed. Despite reaching Aichi-Nagoya with a larger contingent than the one sent to Hangzhou, India could bag only one gold and a total of 24 medals. This was a steep slump from the tally of 29 medals, with 6 gold, won in the Hangzhou Asiad. It was left to the women's 1600 metre relay team to salvage some pride for the country by winning the solitary gold. There was a lone bright spot in Vithya Ramraj, a lanky 28-year-old lady from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, who anchored the 1600 metres relay with a brilliant run. She also won the bronze medal in women’s 400 metres hurdles, finishing with a time of 54.75 seconds, breaking the record set by the legendary PT Usha at Los Angeles (55.42 seconds) in 1984. In the long jump, the silver medals won by Murali Sreeshankar and Ancy Sojan respectively in the men’s and women’s events brought some solace.

The absence of Neeraj Chopra, who pulled out from the Asian Games due to an ankle injury, was felt as the country failed to win a gold medal in Javelin Throw. Annu Rani, who had won the gold in the Women’s javelin at Hangzhou, was dropped from the squad as her best throw this season did not meet the benchmark fixed by the Athletics Federation of India. Small nagging injuries and a shift to a foreign coach are reportedly the reasons behind her lacklustre performances of late. Even Murali Sreeshankar had to battle an injury during the finals and could take only four of the allowed six jumps.

Recurring injuries to top athletes is not a good sign as it indicates poor training and preparation. While top athletes need to compete in the various championships held around the globe, it is as much their duty as the responsibility of the sports body to ensure that they are in peak fitness and form in the period before events such as Asiad, Commonwealth games and Olympics, where national pride is at stake.

There are unconfirmed news reports to the effect that India is seriously thinking about bidding for the conduct of the 2036 Olympics at Ahmedabad. A country which is on the path to become the third largest economy in the world by the turn of this decade can certainly aspire to host an Olympics. But it will be highly embarrassing if the host nation is not in a position to have their sportspersons on the podium on at least 10 occasions.

Hence, a final decision in this regard may be taken only after scrutinising the performance of our contingent in the next Olympiad at Los Angeles in 2028. There is no point in spending billions of Rupees on the infrastructure required for hosting this extravaganza if the nation is not in a position to bag at least 10-12 medals, as constructing stadia and developing other facilities will turn out to be an exercise in real estate development when we do not have the sportspersons to utilise them and bring laurels to the country.

The performance of our sportspersons at Aichi- Nagoya Asiad should be treated as a wake-up call by the authorities. The message conveyed that we still have miles to go before we can aspire to be a powerhouse in the sports arena, even in Asia, though disquieting, is very sobering and warrants urgent corrective measures.