The other side of India’s Asian Games success: 201 athletes win just 6 bronzes, 137 return empty-handed

NEW DELHI: India’s haul of 85 medals at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games was its second-best finish, but the headline numbers don’t tell the whole story.A sport-by-sport audit by TOI shows that 137 Indian athletes in 16 disciplines returned empty-handed, revealing lingering gaps in the country’s medal ambitions.India’s limited 495-member contingent competed in 36 sports and finished fourth with 21 gold, 27 silver and 37 bronze medals.Nevertheless, 137 athletes in 16 disciplines did not win anything.A further 64 athletes achieved six bronze medals in six sports – one each in kurash, mixed martial arts, rowing, sepaktakraw, soft tennis and wushu. The list of zero medals included canoeing (19 athletes), cycling (14), equestrian (7), esports (15), fencing (20), gymnastics (1), judo (3), karate (2), rugby sevens (13), sport climbing (2), surfing (4), swimming (12), taekwondo (12 and tennis (3), volleyball (7), volleyball (7), volleyball (7). The six bronze group consisted of kurash (6 athletes), MMA (2), rowing (22), sepaktakraw (21), soft tennis (6) and wushu (7).A total of 201 athletes had only six bronze medals in the 22 mentioned disciplines. In other prominent sports with a significant number of athletes, table tennis sent 10 athletes and returned with one bronze and the 20-member badminton contingent managed one bronze in the men’s team competition. Together, the two sent 37 athletes and produced only two bronze medals.India participated in 259 medal events in AichiNagoya and won medals in just 20, a 7.7% podium conversion rate. Of the 356 available medals in which India appeared, the nation collected 85, a conversion rate of just 23.9%.

Distribution of expenses

The government spent Rs 259.69 crore on 19 sports as part of the overall total expenditure during the current Asian Games cycle (Nov 2023-Aug 2026), led by badminton (Rs 49.26 cr), track cycling (Rs 35.9 cr, fencing (Rs 28.2 cr, Rs 5 cr), table tennis 22.4 cr) and canoe/kayak (Rs 20.1 cr). Other allocations included rowing (13.8 cr, swimming (10.8 cr), gymnastics (10.49 cr), judo (8.05 cr), wushu (7.8 cr), volleyball (6.5 cr), sepaktakraw (7. 5, questegrian cr). (Rs 3.63 cr), surfing (Rs 2.9 cr), karate (Rs 1.99 cr), soft tennis (Rs 1.6 cr) and kurash (Rs 1.6 cr).The government did not spend any money on three sports – MMA, eSports and sport climbing. According to the government’s own estimates, it spent around Rs 703 crore in 30 disciplines during the preparatory cycle from November 2023 to August 2026. The Rs 703 cr cost included around Rs 118 cr for domestic training and national coaching camps, Rs 40 cr for overseas training, Rs 252 cr for international competition exposure, Rs 89 cr for equipment, Rs 86 cr for foreign coaches/support staff and Rs 118 cr for other development competitions including Indian experts, grass and coaches.A total of 427 athletes who were part of various government programs and schemes including 77 athletes from Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), 78 from TOPS Development 78, 48 from Target Asian Games Group (TAGG), 65 Khelo India Athlete (KIA) and 25 National Center of Excellence (KIA), 25 Coaching Camps (NCC) also participated in the Games.The Glasgow comparison is revealing, though not similar. India had 122 athletes and para-athletes in 10 sports at the shortened 2026 Commonwealth Games and won 39 medals – 13 gold, 17 silver and nine bronze – also finishing fourth. The Asian Games contingent was 4.06 times larger, but its haul of 85 medals was only 2.18 times that of Glasgow. The medal efficiency was 17.2 per 100 athletes in Aichi-Nagoya against 32 in Glasgow.The message is that at this level the medal base remains concentrated.For a country investing Rs 703 crore over a multi-year cycle, the next challenge is clear: to translate wider participation, exposure and support into wider conversion to the podium.