After four days of competition, Indian athletes look to be struggling to peak in the ongoing Aichi 2026 Asian Games. Placed a poor 13th in the medal tally, India, except for gold in women’s cricket, has only 11 other medals—five silver and six bronze medals—a performance that fails to satiate the expectations of millions of sports lovers not only back home but overseas also.
And new sports like mixed martial arts, wushu, and soft tennis have put India on the medal tally.
For example, the country’s ace shooter, Manu Bhaker, who won two medals in the last Summer Olympic Games in Paris, finished in her favorite event, 10 m Air Pistol, with a score of 18.1 in the final round eliminations.
India, after winning the prestigious Thomas Cup for the first time, lost to China 1-3 in the men’s team competition. Except for the doubles pair of Rankireddy and Chirag, no other player or combination could get the better of the Chinese. So, India had to content with a bronze. In the women’s section, India failed to make the semis, though it has some of the bright young players like Tanvi and others. PV Sindhu, who recently won the Japanese Open, was beaten in a three-setter. The only consolation win came in women’s doubles.
Coming back to shooting, the Indian contingent, which has been hoping to reap a rich harvest of medals, has yet to reach the podium finish in any of the events held so far. Silver medals have been the best results till now, with bronze coming in Skeet team events, both for men and women.
India brought in one of its biggest contingents to the continental games. This time, India has 495 to 503 athletes competing in 36 sports, while in Hangzhou it had sent a contingent of 655 athletes. In the 2023 Asian Games, India had an impressive medal tally of more than 100 medals for the first time. Studded with 28 gold medals, 38 Silver and 40 bronze medals, India aggregated 106 medals. When the Indian squad left for Aichi early this month, it raised hopes of erasing Hangzhou’s previous record.
Hopes of better performances continue to rest on remaining members of the contingent. The Indian camp is brimming with confidence for rare doubles in team games like kabaddi, hockey, and cricket. Women’s cricket has already taken the lead.
In team games, India’s performance has been encouraging. In women’s hockey, India has been racing to huge wins. Its last game against Thailand saw the team notch its biggest win in international hockey with a score of 20-1, with Deepika, heroine of the first game, repeating her eight-goal performance for the second time in the tournament. She has already taken her personal tally to 20 goals in three games. Navneet contributed four, while Pisal Rutuja (3), Neha, Salima Tete, Sakshi Rana, Lalremsiami, and Neha contributed a goal each. For Thailand, the lone scorer was Supansa.
In Kabaddi, Indian women defeated Iran, the winners of the 2018 gold, 37-23, to keep their slate clean, while Indian men got the better of Bangladesh at 48-25. Interestingly, there was a surprise in the men’s section when Thailand beat Pakistan 48-45 in a nail-biting finish while Iran defeated Malaysia 67-33.
Indian pugilists have performed to expectations in the bouts held so far. Ankush scored a straight 5-0 win over Hamsa Vogell of Brunei in the 80 kg category.
Since India has a good track record in squash, Abhay Singh gave the country a good start with a straight 3-0 win over Akaradet. In the women’s section, Veer Chotrani and Tanvi Khanna also recorded comfortable 3-0 wins over their opponents in the preliminary rounds.
India got its first-ever medal in mixed martial arts, raising expectations of more surprise medals in other newly introduced sports like wushu, where Roshibina Devi in the 60 kg category has set up a summit clash with her Indonesian opponent. India is assured of at least a silver after the final on Wednesday.
Similarly, Indian singles player Meenu Joy was in line to podium finish in soft tennis, where he lost in the semis to his Japanese opponent, Kurosaka, to end with a bronze.
(Please carry Prabhjot’s author intro)
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