India Finishes Fourth at the 2026 Asian Games With 85 Medals, 21 Gold

India finished fourth in the medal table at the 2026 Asian Games with 85 medals: 21 gold, 27 silver and 37 bronze. The Games ran from 19 September to 4 October, and India sent 495 athletes across 36 sports.

The total is India's second-highest at the Asian Games. Only the Hangzhou Games were higher, with 107 medals according to All India Radio or 106 according to Wikipedia, and India also finished fourth there. China led the 2026 table with 341 medals, followed by Japan with 269.

How the Haul Compares With Hangzhou and Jakarta

All India Radio reported India's Hangzhou campaign on 7 October 2023 as 107 medals: 28 gold, 38 silver and 41 bronze. The 2026 count is 22 medals lower, with seven fewer golds, 11 fewer silvers and four fewer bronzes. Wikipedia gives Hangzhou as 106 medals (28 gold, 38 silver, 40 bronze), which would make the 2026 count 21 medals lower, with three fewer bronzes.

Both campaigns ended with India fourth overall, so the difference lies in the number of medals rather than the position.

Modi applauded the athletes for a 'historic achievement' after the Hangzhou result.

At the Jakarta-Palembang Games in 2018, India won 70 medals: 16 gold, 23 silver and 31 bronze, and finished eighth. The 2026 haul is 15 medals higher, with five more golds, four more silvers and six more bronzes, and the rank rose from eighth to fourth.

Athletics was the largest source of medals in 2018, with 20, eight of them gold. Shooting followed with nine. That Games also brought firsts. Rahi Sarnobat became the first Indian woman to win gold in a shooting event, Vinesh Phogat the first Indian woman wrestler to win an Asian Games gold, and Neeraj Chopra won India's first javelin gold.

In the 2026 table, China led with 169 gold and Japan had 83. South Korea finished with 39 gold. Uzbekistan was fifth with 70 medals and 21 gold, level with India on gold.

Team Golds in Cricket, Hockey and Kabaddi

Cricket produced two gold medals, one in the women's tournament on 22 September and one in the men's on 3 October, eleven days later. A year-in-review page for Indian sport names archery, boxing, cricket, hockey and kabaddi as the disciplines in which India topped.

Hockey also gave India two titles, with the women's final on 2 October and the men's on 3 October. Both came in the last days of the Games, which closed on 4 October.

India won both kabaddi tournaments, men's and women's, on 26 September. Across cricket, hockey and kabaddi, that makes six golds, just under three in ten of India's 21.

Three of the six went to women's teams and three to men's teams, so the team sports were split evenly between the two.

Archery, Shooting, Boxing and Wrestling

Archery produced five gold medals, the most of any sport on India's list. Three came in compound team events on 30 September, covering the women's, mixed and men's competitions. The women's recurve team won on 2 October, and the women's individual recurve title was decided on 3 October.

Shooting contributed three golds: the mixed 10m air pistol team on 25 September, the women's trap on 29 September and the mixed trap team on 30 September. The women's trap was the only individual title among them.

Boxing's three golds came in the women's 65kg and 75kg and the men's 80kg, all decided on 2 October. Wrestling added two golds in men's freestyle, at 65kg on 2 October and at 57kg on 3 October.

The remaining two golds were the women's 4x400m relay in athletics, on 29 September, and the women's individual title in golf, on 3 October. These six sports account for 15 of the 21 golds, and cricket, hockey and kabaddi for the other six.

Gold Medals by Date

India's golds fell on seven separate days, from 22 September to 3 October. Between 22 and 30 September, India won ten. The 22 September gold was the women's cricket title, and the 25 September gold was the mixed 10m air pistol team. The two kabaddi titles were decided on 26 September, and the 29 September golds were the women's 4x400m relay and the women's trap.

The 30 September golds were three archery team events and the mixed trap team, making four on one day.

The last two days of India's gold list, 2 and 3 October, carried 11 of the 21. On 2 October, the six were three boxing titles, the women's hockey title, the women's recurve team event and the men's 65kg freestyle wrestling title.

On 3 October, the five golds were men's cricket, men's hockey, women's golf, the women's individual recurve title and the men's 57kg freestyle wrestling title. The Games closed on 4 October, a day after India's last gold on the list was decided.

Both campaigns ended with India fourth overall, so the difference lies in the number of medals rather than the position.

Women, Teenagers and Veterans

Women athletes won 11 of India's 21 golds, just over half of the total.

The women's golds came in cricket, hockey and kabaddi, three archery events, the women's trap, two boxing weight classes, the women's 4x400m relay and the women's golf title. The seven men's golds came from kabaddi, cricket, hockey, a men's team compound archery event, two wrestling classes and one boxing class. The remaining three golds were mixed events.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, aged 15, was part of the men's cricket team that won gold on 3 October. KhelNow describes him as India's youngest-ever Games gold medallist.

At the other end of the age range, KhelNow names Mairaj Ahmad Khan, aged 50, as the oldest Indian medallist. He was part of the bronze-winning men's skeet team, which KhelNow describes as his first Games medal, and it describes him as a two-time Olympian.

What Comes Next on the Sporting Calendar

The Asian Games closed on 4 October, and the Asian Para Games are scheduled for 18 to 24 October, two weeks later.

Sri Lanka's tour of India is scheduled for 13 to 17 December, a bilateral series of T20I and ODI matches between the two teams.

The December series falls eight weeks after the Asian Para Games open.