India’s Asian Games 2026 Medal Count So Far: Where the Campaign Actually Stands

We previewed India’s broad Asian Games campaign before the opening ceremony, covering the athletes and defending titles to watch. Nearly a week into the Games, here’s where things actually stand — the real medal count, the standout performances, and one notable absence that’s shaped the campaign so far.

The numbers as of September 24

India has won 15 medals at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, 1 gold, 6 silver, and 8 bronze, and India is now 15th in the overall rankings as competition continues until October 4. Just to give the scale of this massive event in context: it is the 20th edition of the Asian Games, which consists of 469 events across 43 sports and 71 disciplines, the host nation China is the leader at 127 total medals, 78 golds among them, and behind Japan and South Korea.

Let’s face it: 15th place early this Games is not exactly a good sign. Because there will be plenty more changes, especially when the competition in athletics, the Indian team’s most significant single medal-producing category, gets going. Comparing today’s medal count straight-up to the Hangzhou 2023 total of 106 (4th place overall) won’t give an accurate image because the lion’s share of the competition program is still ahead.

Where have the medals actually come from?

Shooting has been India’s strongest discipline so far, contributing the largest share of the tally to date. The campaign got off to a strong start with a silver medal in the women’s 10m air rifle team event, and the women’s skeet team of Raiza Dhillon, Parinaaz Dhaliwal, and Maheshwari Chauhan added a bronze with a total of 331 — continuing shooting’s reputation as one of India’s most consistently productive Asian Games disciplines.

A couple of individual results stand out for reasons beyond just the medal itself. Roshibina Devi won silver in wushu’s women’s 60kg sanda category, losing the final to China’s Zhang Xiaoyu — genuinely notable because it’s her third consecutive Asian Games medal, following bronze in 2018 and silver in 2023, a rare run of sustained podium finishes across three separate Games in a sport that doesn’t always get the spotlight in Indian sports coverage.

Satnam Singh and Salman Khan scooped a bronze medal for India in the men’s double sculls rowing race which they completed in 6:13.25, also marking the country’s first medal in that particular category at the Asian Games, a real achievement considering how infrequently India makes headlines in this sport at the top level. And then, in the sport itself that was history-making for India, Suchika Tariyal bagged the country’s very first medal at the Asian Games in the category of mixed martial arts, winning with a bronze in the women’s traditional -60kg class.

The notable absence: no Neeraj Chopra this time

One thing worth flagging directly, since it’s a real shift from how India’s recent Asian Games campaigns have typically been framed: Neeraj Chopra, India’s reigning javelin throw champion and one of the country’s most recognizable Olympic medallists, opted not to defend his title this year due to injury. His absence removes a near-certain gold medal contender from India’s tally, and it’s a useful reminder of how much a single athlete’s fitness can shape a country’s overall campaign narrative, even when the broader squad remains strong.

That said, India’s contingent isn’t short on star power elsewhere. The squad still features five individual Olympic medallists competing across the Games: PV Sindhu in badminton, Manu Bhaker in shooting, Lovlina Borgohain in boxing, Aman Sehrawat in wrestling, and Mirabai Chanu in weightlifting — all events still to fully play out as the Games continue.

What’s still ahead, and why it matters more than the current standings?

The competition schedule still has real weight left to come. Athletics — the discipline that delivered 29 of India’s 106 total medals at Hangzhou 2023, including six golds — is still largely ahead on the calendar, and given how disproportionately that single discipline has historically contributed to India’s final tally, the current 15th-place standing is likely to shift meaningfully once track and field events are fully underway.

India’s title defenses in cricket, kabaddi, and hockey also remain in progress, each carrying genuine pressure given the defending-champion status attached to them. A loss in any of these team events would represent a real step back from Hangzhou’s results, not just a missed opportunity, given the psychological weight of defending rather than simply chasing a medal.

There’s also a genuinely interesting structural detail attached to several sports at these Games: archery, hockey, sailing, squash, surfing, tennis, and triathlon are all offering direct qualification quotas for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics as part of competing at Aichi-Nagoya. That gives several of India’s campaigns in those specific sports a stake beyond just this event’s medal table — a strong showing here has direct consequences for Olympic qualification two years out.

The honest read on the campaign so far

It is too soon to judge accurately based on the competition calendar at this stage whether India matches or lags behind the Hangzhou 2023 benchmark. However, the shooting discipline has undoubtedly revealed once again the most effective way India could gain medals at the very beginning of the Games. A few genuine historic individual milestones (the first-ever medals in rowing and mixed martial arts) had already taken place, no matter the final outcome of the entire campaign, and in addition, due to the absence of a gold-medal hopeful at javelin, there is certainly a quantifiable shortfall in what originally was an even stronger start.

With athletics, the cricket and kabaddi title defenses, and badminton’s medal rounds still largely ahead, the next ten days of competition will likely do far more to shape India’s final standing than anything that’s happened so far.

Medal counts and standings update continuously as the Games progress through October 4. Check the Indian Olympic Association’s official tracker for the latest confirmed results.