Asian Games 2026 is to be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. This competition will start from 19th September. India would like to further improve its performance this time. In the last edition, the Indian squad had won a record 107 medals. India crossed the 100 medal mark for the first time in the history of Asian Games.
India could win only 53 medals in the 2006 Asian Games held in Doha. That means, in the span of 3 editions, India more than doubled its number of medals. While India had finished eighth in Doha, it had finished fourth in the last Asian Games held in Hangzhou. China's dominance continues at number 1. Whereas Japan has been at second place in two consecutive editions.
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The amount of gold almost tripled
India had won 53 medals including 10 gold in Doha. After this, India won 65 medals in Guangzhou, which included 14 gold. India's medal tally dropped to 57 in the 2014 Incheon Games. Only 11 people got gold. India made a comeback in Jakarta and gave its best performance till then.
The Indian squad won a total of 70 medals including 16 gold in the 2018 Jakarta Games. After this, India created history in Hangzhou by winning 107 medals, out of which 28 were gold medals. Compared to the 2006 Doha Games, India's gold tally almost tripled.
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Where is India compared to China and Japan?
India still has a long way to go to catch up with Asian superpowers China and Japan. China has won an average of 350 medals in each edition of the last 5 Asian Games. This is the total number of medals won by India in the last five editions (352). Japan finished third in 2006, 2010 and 2014.
Japan has made a tremendous comeback in the last two editions and has captured the second position by defeating South Korea. However, his number of medals has fallen below 200. He had won 216, 200 and 205 medals in Guangzhou, Incheon and Jakarta respectively but could only reach 188 medals in Hangzhou.
Performance of China, Japan and India in the last 5 Asian Games
| Year | Country | Gold | silver | bronze | total medals |
| 2006 (Doha) | China | 165 | 88 | 63 | 316 (1st place) |
| Japan | 50 | 71 | 77 | 198 (3rd place) | |
| India | 10 | 17 | 26 | 53 (eighth place) | |
| 2010 (Guangzhou) | China | 199 | 119 | 98 | 416 (1st place) |
| Japan | 48 | 74 | 94 | 216 (3rd place) | |
| India | 14 | 17 | 34 | 65 (sixth place) | |
| 2014 (Incheon) | China | 151 | 109 | 85 | 345 (1st place |
| Japan | 47 | 77 | 76 | 200 (3rd place) | |
| India | 11 | 10 | 36 | 57 (eighth place) | |
| 2018 (Jakarta) | China | 132 | 92 | 65 | 289 (1st place) |
| Japan | 75 | 56 | 74 | 205 (2nd place) | |
| India | 16 | 23 | 31 | 70 (eighth place) | |
| 2022 (held in Hangzhou, 2023) | China | 201 | 111 | 71 | 383 (1st place) |
| Japan | 52 | 67 | 69 | 188 (2nd place) | |
| India | 28 | 38 | 41 | 107 (fourth place) |