India’s 495-strong contingent competing in 36 sporting disciplines has delivered a highly creditable performance at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya. Although the overall medal haul is below the highest-ever tally of 106 at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou in 2023, the performance is the second best ever in all editions of this event since 1951. This winning spree could trigger a sporting renaissance in the country. Yet there is angst among the commentariat that our performance – especially during the early phases of this Asiad — was below par. Serious questions were raised regarding our solitary gold in athletics and inability to defend the six secured in Hangzhou. The basic problem was not reaching the podium but finishing at the top. Nothing could be further from the truth.
There is no doubt that track and field is the core discipline in such sporting events. Any nation’s prowess is measured by the success of its athletes in sprinting faster, excelling in middle and long-distance running, besides leaping, jumping and hurling the discus and javelin to record-breaking levels. At Hangzhou, India got a gold medal for the men’s 4x400m relay that was matched by women’s 4x400m relay team in Aichi-Nagoya. Admittedly, India could not defend its gains in Hangzhou in the men’s 3000m steeplechase, men’s shot put, men’s and women’s javelin and women’s 5000 m. But the slightly lower tally of 24 medals than 29 at Hangzhou indicates a much broader and deeper achievement. After a gap of several decades, the envelope was pushed in certain track and field disciplines where our participation was hardly noteworthy.
For the first time since 1982, India secured a silver medal in the men’s marathon event. India’s 56-year wait ended with a silver medal in the men’s high jump event. Our first-ever medal in women’s pole vault was a rare bronze by an athlete from Tamil Nadu. In Aichi-Nagoya, our big hero in track and field was Gulveer Singh, an army man from Uttar Pradesh, who underwent high altitude training in Colorado Springs in 2024 under the guidance of Scott Simmons, and won silvers in the 10,000 m and 1500 m and a bronze in the 5,000 m. After 1951 and 2018, this achievement makes him the third Indian male athlete to win three medals in a single Asiad. To be sure, there were Indian women athletes who, too, achieved this feat in 1986, 2002 and at Aichi-Nagoya.
With athletics contributing only a solitary gold, India’s golds came from team events like women’s and men’s cricket and kabaddi. India has regained its erstwhile supremacy in its traditional bastion of hockey as it won in both the men’s and women’s events. The latter’s triumph against a strong Chinese side was truly remarkable as it ended a 44-year long wait. The country’s shooters and archers grabbed a rich haul. Perhaps the biggest disappointment was badminton, in which our world-class contingent secured only a bronze in the men’s team event. In tennis, too, there was no medal for the first time in 40 years. But the pugilists did us proud by bettering their performance not only when compared to Hangzhou but also Guangzhou in 2010. The three golds included two by women boxers which was a first since Incheon in 2014.
The creditable performance at Aichi-Nagoya clearly triggers questions as to how this can be taken forward. As Indian athletics is at an inflection point, the ruling dispensation must do whatever it takes to ensure that our athletes excel to world-class standards. To be sure, a mission-mode is in place with the flagship Khelo India scheme. The Union Cabinet has already recently approved an expanded Khelo India Scheme and assistance for National Sports Federations entailing a combined outlay of Rs 36,441 crore for the period 2026-27 to 2030-31. This must ensure that sporting talent is harnessed from the nooks and crannies of rural and small-town India and developed into stars of tomorrow. The outcomes must be triumphs at world-class events. Not just podium finishes but also converting these to striking gold.
If necessary, allocations must be stepped up manifold to provide state-of-the-art training and coaching, including in facilities abroad. India Inc must be incentivised to contribute in a much bigger way to ensure that the country produces sporting champions, perhaps as part of its corporate social responsibility. There is a warrant for taking best practices like the lottery-funded UK Sport which works with partner sporting organisations to lead sport in the country to world-class success. There must be stretch objectives like developing sprinters – like those from Thailand at Aichi-Nagoya — who can claim the bragging rights of being the fastest in sporting tournaments. Post-Asiad, India must ensure that its sportspersons keep up the momentum in winning more glory in future events.
The writer is an economics & business commentator based in New Delhi.
Disclaimer: The views expressed are the author’s own and do not reflect the official policy or position of Financial Express.