Five Sports Where India Led the Asian Games 2026 Medal Tables

India finished fourth in the overall medal standings at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, but its campaign featured clear leadership across five sports. India won 21 gold, 27 silver and 37 bronze medals for a total of 85, while China topped the overall table with 169 golds.

The wider medal picture, however, showed India’s strength in kabaddi, cricket, hockey, archery and boxing. Cricket, kabaddi and hockey each delivered two gold medals, archery returned five golds and boxing added three in India’s best Asian Games boxing campaign by gold-medal count.

Kabaddi, cricket and hockey deliver team gold doubles

Kabaddi continued to underline India’s long-standing continental record. India won both the men’s and women’s titles, beating Iran 40-34 in the men’s final and 37-34 in the women’s final. The men’s result brought India a ninth Asian Games gold in the sport, while the women claimed their fourth title.

India had won every men’s and women’s kabaddi title apart from the 2018 edition, when Iran won both gold medals. By the end of the Aichi-Nagoya Games, India had collected 14 kabaddi medals overall, including 12 golds.

Cricket also produced a second consecutive Asian Games clean sweep for India. The men’s and women’s teams defended the titles they had won at Hangzhou. India’s women defeated Sri Lanka by 147 runs in the final, while the men beat Pakistan to secure another gold.

Those results mean India have won all four cricket gold medals available since the sport returned to the Asian Games at Hangzhou, having not competed in the 2010 and 2014 editions.

Hockey supplied another significant double. India won the men’s and women’s gold medals at the same Asian Games for the first time. The men beat Malaysia 5-1 to retain the title, while the women defeated defending champions China 1-0 to end a 44-year wait for Asian Games gold.

The men’s victory was India’s fifth Asian Games hockey gold, following wins in 1966, 1998, 2014 and 2023. For the women, it was a first title since 1982. Lalremsiami scored the winner against China, while Savita Punia’s penalty-stroke save became a defining moment of the campaign. Both Indian hockey teams also earned direct qualification for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

Archery and boxing drive India’s biggest individual-sport returns

Archery produced India’s largest gold-medal haul from a single sport, with five golds, two silvers and two bronzes. The total matched India’s five-gold return from Hangzhou, with success across compound and recurve events.

India’s women’s recurve team secured its first Asian Games gold, ending South Korea’s sequence of seven consecutive titles in the event. Kumkum Mohod then became the first Indian to win individual women’s recurve gold at the Asian Games. The 17-year-old trailed Oh Yejin 3-5 before the final end, shot X, X and 10 to force a shoot-off, and won 6-5 with a 10-8. Her victory also secured a quota place for the Los Angeles Olympics.

Boxing completed the five-sport picture after India had failed to win a gold at Hangzhou. Lovlina Borgohain won the women’s 75kg title on her 29th birthday, Parveen Hooda took the 65kg gold and Ankush Panghal won the men’s 80kg category.

India also won three boxing bronzes, taking its total to six medals from 11 entries. The three gold medals made it India’s most successful Asian Games boxing campaign by gold-medal tally and highlighted how sport-by-sport success shaped the country’s Aichi-Nagoya performance.