PM Modi Felicitates India’s 85-Medal Asian Games Contingent

Prime Minister Narendra Modi felicitated India’s Asian Games 2026 contingent at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium in Delhi on October 15, congratulating the medal winners after the country finished fourth with 85 medals.

Addressing the athletes, Modi said their achievements had made the country proud and linked their success to the wider significance of representing India. “You have made 140 crore Indians proud. The biggest success is to make the tri-colour fly high. That’s why your success is not just yours but it belongs to crores of our countrymen. I congratulate you on behalf of the entire country,” he said.

India’s final tally was 21 gold, 27 silver and 37 bronze medals. The fourth-place finish marked a second consecutive top-five result for India at the Asian Games, although the total was below the record 106 medals won at the 2023 Hangzhou edition.

Women athletes and hockey teams recognised

Modi specifically highlighted the contribution from women athletes, who won 38 of India’s 85 medals. Eleven of those medals were gold.

“Out of the 85 medals won by the Indian contingent at the Asian Games, 38 are brought by the women athletes. 11 of them were gold and it is a very special moment for India. I would like to congratulate all the women athletes for their performance,” Modi said.

The Prime Minister also recognised India’s men’s and women’s hockey teams, both of whom won gold medals. He noted the significance of the women’s team claiming gold for the first time in 44 years.

“Today, both men’s and women’s hockey teams are here. Both of them have won the gold medals for India, especially the women’s team, who clinched the gold for the first time in 44 years. It’s a big moment for the entire country,” he said.

The ceremony brought together members of the Indian contingent, along with coaches, support staff, Indian Olympic Association officials, National Sports Federation representatives and officials from the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

Visuals from the event showed India’s women’s cricket team meeting the Prime Minister. Former captain Harmanpreet Kaur presented him with an Indian cricket team jersey. Shreyas Iyer was also present, while the hockey team gave a special gift during the gathering.

Campaign featured several landmark results

India’s 2026 Asian Games campaign included a series of notable results across sports. The contingent recorded historic performances in recurve archery, while the men’s and women’s hockey teams won gold in the same edition.

India also secured maiden medals in soft tennis and mixed martial arts. Other milestones cited from the campaign included the country’s first gold medal in the women’s trap event, a weightlifting silver after a gap of 28 years, and a Greco-Roman wrestling silver that ended a 64-year wait for an Indian finalist in that discipline.

The felicitation in Delhi closed with Modi’s message directed at the medal winners: their results, he said, belonged not only to the athletes but to people across the country. For India, the 85-medal haul and the fourth-place finish provided the central markers of another top-five Asian Games campaign.