Asian Games 2026: India failed to win an individual badminton medal after 12 years

A disappointing campaign for the Indian badminton contingent came to an end at the Asian Games on 27 September. The power-packed Indian team, which came into the competition with medal hopes, ended the tournament without a single individual medal.

PV Sindhu, Unnati Hooda, Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand and Dhruv Kapila-Tanisha Crasto lost their respective quarterfinals and crashed out of the campaign. The losses were heart-wrenching, especially considering that India played higher opponents in all the back-to-back matches and at least three of those matches could have gone either way.

Asian Games Live: Update 27 September

The losses meant that a star-studded line-up led by PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen failed to bring home an individual medal for the first time in 12 years. India last returned without an individual medal in 2014. Kidambi Srikanth, Parupalli Kashyap and Saina Nehwal were among the leading names in that campaign.

INDIVIDUAL MEDAL FROM ASIAD 2014

• 2014 – No individual medal
• 2018 – PV Sindhu – Silver, Saina Nehwal – Bronze
• 2022 – HS Prannoy – Bronze
• 2026 – No individual medal

The saving grace for the Indian team this year was the men’s team, which won the bronze medal. Against defending champions China and India, they lost 1–3 in the semi-finals on 23 September.

More to follow…

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