Published: | Updated:
Written by Akash Saha | Edited and fact-checked by Amit Saha | Editorial policy
India’s women’s 4x400m relay team won gold on the final day of athletics at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. Kiran Pahal, Poovamma Machettira, Prachi and Vithya Ramraj ran 3:29.69, finishing ahead of Bahrain and China.
That gold came at the last possible moment, in the penultimate event of the athletics programme. It was India’s only athletics gold in Nagoya. It also kept alive a streak going back to 1998: India has won at least one athletics gold at every Asian Games since then. It was India’s sixth Asian Games title in the women’s 4x400m relay, and the first since Jakarta 2018.
India finished the athletics programme with 24 medals: 1 gold, 9 silver and 14 bronze. That is five fewer than the 29 athletics medals India won at Hangzhou 2023. Gulveer Singh and Vithya Ramraj won three medals each. Vithya also broke a national record that PT Usha had held for 42 years.
India’s athletics medal winners (1 gold, 9 silver, 14 bronze)
These tables cover athletics (track and field) only, where India won one gold. Across all sports, India finished the Games with 21 golds and 85 medals. See the full list of India’s 21 gold medals below.
Gold (1)
| Event | Athlete(s) | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Women’s 4x400m relay | Kiran Pahal, Poovamma Machettira, Prachi, Vithya Ramraj (3:29.69) | Sep 29 |
Silver (9)
| Event | Athlete(s) | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Mixed 4x400m relay | Poovamma Machettira, Vishal Thennarasu Kayalvizhi, Vithya Ramraj, Manu Thekkinalil | Sep 24 |
| Men’s 10,000m | Gulveer Singh | Sep 25 |
| Men’s marathon | Sawan Barwal | Sep 26 |
| Men’s shot put | Tajinderpal Singh Toor | Sep 26 |
| Women’s long jump | Ancy Sojan | Sep 27 |
| Men’s high jump | Sarvesh Kushare | Sep 27 |
| Men’s 1,500m | Gulveer Singh | Sep 28 |
| Men’s long jump | Murali Sreeshankar | Sep 28 |
| Men’s javelin throw | Yash Vir Singh | Sep 28 |
Bronze (14)
| Event | Athlete(s) | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Women’s 10,000m | Seema Kumari | Sep 24 |
| Women’s shot put | Manpreet Kaur | Sep 25 |
| Women’s pole vault | Baranica Elangovan | Sep 25 |
| Women’s 400m | Prachi Choudhary | Sep 26 |
| Women’s 200m | Harita Bhadra | Sep 27 |
| Men’s decathlon | Tejaswin Shankar | Sep 27 |
| Women’s 3,000m steeplechase | Parul Chaudhary | Sep 27 |
| Women’s 400m hurdles | Vithya Ramraj | Sep 28 |
| Women’s 5,000m | Parul Chaudhary | Sep 28 |
| Men’s javelin throw | Rohit Yadav | Sep 28 |
| Men’s 5,000m | Gulveer Singh | Sep 29 |
| Women’s high jump | Pooja Singh | Sep 29 |
| Mixed 4x100m relay | Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur, Sneha Sathyanarayana, Harita Bhadra | Sep 29 |
| Men’s 4x400m relay | Dharamveer Choudhary, Manu Thekkinalil, Jay Kumar, Vishal Thennarasu Kayalvizhi | Sep 29 |
India’s final position on the Asian Games 2026 medal table
India ended the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games fourth on the final medal table with 85 medals: 21 gold, 27 silver and 37 bronze. India’s last medals came on Saturday, October 3 (Day 14), and the count did not change before the Games closed on October 4. India and Uzbekistan both finished on 21 golds, with India ahead on silvers. The total falls short of India’s record haul from Hangzhou 2023. Athletics contributed 24 of India’s 85 medals. The men’s hockey team, who reached the final after a 4-3 semi-final win over Pakistan, beat Malaysia 5-1 to keep the title they won at Hangzhou. That was one of five Indian golds on October 3: 17-year-old Kumkum Mohod became the first Indian woman to win the individual recurve archery title, Pranavi Urs won the women’s individual golf gold, Aman Sehrawat beat North Korea’s Han Chong Song 11-7 in the men’s freestyle 57kg wrestling final, and the men’s cricket team beat Pakistan by 19 runs. Antim Panghal took silver in the women’s 53kg wrestling, and the women’s golf team (Pranavi Urs, Aditi Ashok and Diksha Dagar) also won silver. Deepak Punia won bronze in the men’s freestyle 97kg, India’s first medal in that weight class in 60 years, and Neeraj Chauhan beat Dhiraj Bommadevara for bronze in the men’s individual recurve.
China finished well clear at the top of the final table with 169 golds and 341 medals in all. Hosts Japan were second with 83 golds, South Korea third with 39, and India fourth, just ahead of Uzbekistan.
| India’s position | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| End of Day 10 (Sep 29) | 6 | 21 | 26 | 53 | 10th |
| End of Day 11 (Sep 30) | 10 | 21 | 29 | 60 | 8th |
| End of Day 12 (Oct 1) | 10 | 22 | 32 | 64 | 8th |
| End of Day 13 (Oct 2) | 16 | 25 | 35 | 76 | 5th |
| Day 14 (Oct 3, about 4 pm IST) | 20 | 26 | 36 | 82 | 5th |
| Day 14 (Oct 3, after men’s hockey final, about 5:30 pm IST) | 21 | 27 | 37 | 85 | 4th |
| Final (Games closed Oct 4) | 21 | 27 | 37 | 85 | 4th |
Rankings are decided by gold medals first, then silver, then bronze. The last row shows India’s final position after the Games closed on October 4. India and Uzbekistan both finished with 21 golds, and India took fourth place because they won more silvers. October 2 was India’s best day of the Games, with six golds: the women’s recurve archery team, boxers Lovlina Borgohain, Parveen Hooda and Ankush Panghal, wrestler Sujeet Kalkal and the women’s hockey team. Earlier, India had swept all three compound archery team golds.
All 21 of India’s gold medals at the 2026 Asian Games (all sports)
| # | Sport | Event | Gold medallist(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cricket | Women’s T20 | India women’s team |
| 2 | Shooting | 10m air pistol mixed team | Suruchi Singh, Kamaljeet |
| 3 | Shooting | Women’s trap | Neeru Dhanda |
| 4 | Kabaddi | Men’s team | India (beat Iran 40-34) |
| 5 | Kabaddi | Women’s team | India |
| 6 | Athletics | Women’s 4x400m relay | Kiran Pahal, Poovamma Machettira, Prachi, Vithya Ramraj |
| 7 | Archery | Compound women’s team | Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Prithika Pradeep, Chikitha Taniparthi |
| 8 | Archery | Compound men’s team | Sahil Jadhav, Kushal Dalal, Ganesh Mani Ratnam Thirumuru |
| 9 | Archery | Compound mixed team | Sahil Jadhav, Chikitha Taniparthi |
| 10 | Shooting | Trap mixed team | Neeru Dhanda, Kynan Chenai |
| 11 | Archery | Recurve women’s team | Ankita Bhakat, Kirti Sharma, Kumkum Mohod |
| 12 | Boxing | Women’s 75kg | Lovlina Borgohain |
| 13 | Boxing | Women’s 65kg | Parveen Hooda |
| 14 | Boxing | Men’s 80kg | Ankush Panghal |
| 15 | Wrestling | Men’s freestyle 65kg | Sujeet Kalkal |
| 16 | Hockey | Women’s team | India (beat China 1-0) |
| 17 | Archery | Recurve women’s individual | Kumkum Mohod |
| 18 | Golf | Women’s individual | Pranavi Urs |
| 19 | Wrestling | Men’s freestyle 57kg | Aman Sehrawat |
| 20 | Cricket | Men’s T20 | India (beat Pakistan by 19 runs) |
| 21 | Hockey | Men’s team | India (beat Malaysia 5-1) |
Gulveer Singh: three events, three medals
Few distance runners even try to race the 1,500m, 5,000m and 10,000m at one championship. Gulveer Singh won a medal in all three. He now has the most individual medals of any Indian athlete at these Games. He is only the fourth Indian, and the second Indian man, to win three track and field medals at a single Asian Games, after Lavy Pinto (1951), PT Usha (1986) and KM Beenamol (2002).
He started with silver in the 10,000m, running 28:29.38 behind Bahrain’s Birhanu Balew. Gulveer had won bronze in the same event at Hangzhou 2023, so this silver made him the first Indian to win two Asian Games medals in the men’s 10,000m.
Then he dropped down to the 1,500m, a completely different kind of race. He ran a personal best of 3:36.72 and finished just 0.37 seconds behind Japan’s Kazuto Iizawa, who set a Games record.
On the final day he took bronze in the 5,000m in 13:32.75, less than two seconds behind Balew.
Vithya Ramraj breaks PT Usha’s 42-year-old record
PT Usha ran 55.42 seconds in the 400m hurdles at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Vithya equalled that time in 2023 but couldn’t go faster.
On September 28 in Nagoya, she finally did. She ran 54.75, taking 0.67 seconds off the national record, and won bronze. Usha, now President of the Indian Olympic Association, was in the stadium to watch her record fall. The UAE’s Mariam Kareem won gold in a Games record of 54.31, and Kazakhstan’s Adelina Zems took silver in 54.58.
The bronze was one of three medals for Vithya in Nagoya. She had already won silver in the mixed 4x400m relay, and the next day she ran the anchor leg for the women’s 4x400m team that won gold.
Sawan Barwal ends a 44-year marathon wait
Sawan Barwal won silver in the men’s marathon in 2:11:37. He finished 48 seconds behind Japan’s Ichitaka Yamashita.
That time broke the national record, which Barwal himself had set on his marathon debut in Rotterdam in April. His silver was India’s first men’s marathon medal at the Asian Games since 1982, and the first Asian Games marathon medal India has ever won outside the country.
Other firsts for India
- Seema Kumari won India’s first athletics medal of the Games, a bronze in the women’s 10,000m. It was India’s first medal in that event in 16 years.
- Baranica Elangovan won India’s first-ever Asian Games medal in pole vault, a shared bronze in the women’s event.
- Sarvesh Kushare won silver in the men’s high jump, India’s first Asian Games medal in the event since 1970.
- Pooja Singh won bronze in the women’s high jump, India’s first medal in the event since 2002.
- Tajinderpal Singh Toor won silver in the men’s shot put, his third straight Asian Games medal.
- Parul Chaudhary won two bronzes, in the 5,000m and the 3,000m steeplechase. She set a national record in the steeplechase.
- Tejaswin Shankar won bronze in the decathlon, adding to his silver from Hangzhou.
Heartbreak for Avinash Sable
Sable came to Nagoya as the defending 3,000m steeplechase champion, just back from knee surgery. He ran 8:21.67 and finished fourth. Japan’s Ryuji Miura won in a Games record of 8:17.36, and Qatar’s Zakaria Elahlaami took bronze in 8:18.13.
Sable had also been entered for the 5,000m on the final day but did not start.
India’s athletics squad in Nagoya
India sent an athletics team of more than 70 athletes to Aichi-Nagoya, and Indians competed in 41 of the 50 athletics medal events. The only events with no Indian entry were the men’s 110m hurdles, discus throw, 4x100m relay and both race walks, and the women’s 100m, marathon, javelin throw and half marathon race walk.
These are the key Indian athletes who competed, grouped by discipline, with their results in Nagoya:
| Discipline | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| Sprints and hurdles | Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur (100m, mixed 4x100m relay bronze) | Harita Bhadra (200m bronze), Sneha Sathyanarayana, Vithya Ramraj (400m hurdles bronze), Anu Raghavan (400m hurdles, fifth), Jyothi Yarraji (100m hurdles, did not start) |
| 400m and relays | Vishal Thennarasu Kayalvizhi, Manu Thekkinalil, Dharamveer Choudhary, Jay Kumar | Kiran Pahal, Prachi Choudhary (400m bronze), Poovamma Machettira |
| Middle and long distance | Gulveer Singh (two silvers, one bronze), Avinash Sable (steeplechase, fourth), Mohammed Afsal (800m, eighth) | Parul Chaudhary (two bronzes), Seema Kumari (10,000m bronze) |
| Marathon | Sawan Barwal (silver), Kartik Karkera | No entry |
| Jumps | Sarvesh Kushare (high jump silver), Aadarsh Ram (high jump), Murali Sreeshankar (long jump silver), Dev Meena (pole vault, national record), Praveen Chithravel (triple jump) | Ancy Sojan (long jump silver), Pooja Singh (high jump bronze), Baranica Elangovan (pole vault bronze) |
| Throws | Tajinderpal Singh Toor (shot put silver), Yash Vir Singh (javelin silver), Rohit Yadav (javelin bronze), Damneet Singh and Praveen Kumar (hammer) | Manpreet Kaur (shot put bronze), Tanya Chaudhary (hammer, fourth), Anushka Yadav (hammer, fifth) |
| Combined events | Tejaswin Shankar (decathlon bronze) | Pooja and Anamika Aneesh (heptathlon) |
Missing names and withdrawals
- Neeraj Chopra did not defend his javelin title because of injury. Yash Vir Singh took his place and won silver.
- Annu Rani, the 2023 women’s javelin champion, was left out after missing the qualifying standard, so India had no entry in the event.
- Tejas Shirse missed the men’s 110m hurdles with a foot stress fracture.
- Jyothi Yarraji pulled out of her 100m hurdles heat on September 26 after feeling pain during her warm-up.
- Praveen Chithravel withdrew from the men’s triple jump final on September 26 after his first attempt. The Athletics Federation of India said it would look into both withdrawals.
Records set in Nagoya
- Vithya Ramraj (India), women’s 400m hurdles, 54.75: national record
- Sawan Barwal (India), men’s marathon, 2:11:37: national record
- Parul Chaudhary (India), women’s 3,000m steeplechase, 9:08.67: national record
- India, mixed 4x100m relay, 41.06: national record
- Dev Meena (India), men’s pole vault, 5.50m: national record (finished seventh)
- Puripol Boonson (Thailand), men’s 200m, 19.88: equalled the Asian record. Boonson also won the 100m in a Games record of 9.90.
Asian Games 2026 athletics schedule
Athletics ran for seven days, from September 23 to September 29. Track and field and the marathons were held at Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium. The race walks used a loop course around the Aichi Prefectural Government office and Nagoya City Hall.
| Date | What was on |
|---|---|
| September 23 | Athletics opens with the men’s and women’s half marathon race walks |
| September 24 | Track and field begins at Mizuho Park |
| September 24 to 28 | Track, field and relay finals every day |
| September 26 | Men’s and women’s marathons |
| September 29 | Final day: relays, men’s 5,000m, women’s high jump and the last field finals |
| October 4 | The wider Asian Games close |
India’s day-by-day athletics results
September 24: Seema Kumari won bronze in the women’s 10,000m. India won silver in the mixed 4x400m relay.
September 25: Gulveer Singh won silver in the men’s 10,000m. Manpreet Kaur (shot put) and Baranica Elangovan (pole vault) won bronze.
September 26: Sawan Barwal won silver in the marathon, and Tajinderpal Singh Toor won silver in the shot put. Prachi Choudhary won bronze in the women’s 400m. Jyothi Yarraji and Praveen Chithravel both withdrew from their events.
September 27: Ancy Sojan (long jump) and Sarvesh Kushare (high jump) won silver. Harita Bhadra (200m), Tejaswin Shankar (decathlon) and Parul Chaudhary (3,000m steeplechase) won bronze.
September 28: Gulveer Singh (1,500m), Murali Sreeshankar (long jump) and Yash Vir Singh (javelin) won silver. Vithya Ramraj (400m hurdles), Rohit Yadav (javelin) and Parul Chaudhary (5,000m) won bronze. Avinash Sable finished fourth in the steeplechase.
September 29: India won gold in the women’s 4x400m relay. Bronze went to Gulveer Singh (5,000m) and Pooja Singh (high jump, 1.84m), and to India’s teams in the mixed 4x100m and men’s 4x400m relays. The men’s 4x400m team clocked 3:01.61, behind Japan and Qatar. Dev Meena set a pole vault national record, and Mohammed Afsal finished eighth in the men’s 800m.
More from Skyblogs Sports
- Latest Olympics & athletics news
- India beat Pakistan by 19 runs to win Asian Games 2026 cricket gold
- India’s women’s hockey team beat China 1-0 for Asian Games gold
- Asian Games 2026 cricket: results and medal winners
- 22 interesting facts about Milkha Singh, India’s four-time Asian Games gold medallist
- Talk about India’s Asian Games campaign in the Skyblogs Fan Forum
How many athletics medals did India win at the 2026 Asian Games?
India won 24: 1 gold, 9 silver and 14 bronze.
Where does India stand on the Asian Games 2026 medal table?
India finished fourth with 85 medals: 21 gold, 27 silver and 37 bronze. Uzbekistan also won 21 golds, but India stayed ahead on silver medals. China topped the table, followed by Japan and South Korea.
Who won India’s only athletics gold?
The women’s 4x400m relay team of Kiran Pahal, Poovamma Machettira, Prachi and Vithya Ramraj. They won in 3:29.69 on September 29.
Which Indian athletes won the most medals?
Gulveer Singh and Vithya Ramraj won three each. All three of Gulveer’s were individual medals.
Who broke PT Usha’s national record?
Vithya Ramraj. She ran 54.75 seconds in the women’s 400m hurdles on September 28, beating Usha’s 55.42 from 1984.
Where and when was athletics held?
From September 23 to 29, 2026. Track and field and the marathon were at Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium, and the race walks were on a loop course around the Aichi Prefectural Government office and Nagoya City Hall.
Did Neeraj Chopra compete?
No. He missed the Games through injury. Yash Vir Singh replaced him and won silver in the men’s javelin.
How big was India’s athletics squad?
India sent more than 70 athletes and competed in 41 of the 50 athletics medal events in Nagoya.
Sources
Results, times and records in this article were checked against these official and news sources:
- Olympics.com: Asian Games 2026 athletics, India’s medal winners and results
- Olympics.com: India’s women’s 4x400m relay gold and final-day results
- Olympics.com: Asian Games 2026 India medal tally
- World Athletics: Boonson completes Asian Games sprint double
- Athletics Federation of India: Team India at the Asian Games 2026
- Business Standard (PTI): Vithya Ramraj breaks PT Usha’s record
- The Statesman: Sawan Barwal’s marathon silver and national record
- The Tribune (ANI): Gulveer Singh’s 10,000m silver
- Outlook: Jyothi Yarraji and Praveen Chithravel withdrawals
- All India Radio News: India’s medal tally rises to 60 after archery and shooting golds
- Asianet Newsable (ANI): India reach 10 golds and climb to eighth
- ANI: Manu Francis and Prince Noble win sailing silver
- The Tribune (ANI): Ganesh Mani Ratnam’s compound bronze; India’s tally reaches 63
- Business Today: India beat Pakistan 4-3 in the men’s hockey semi-final
- Outlook: India’s medal tally at the end of October 1
- The Tribune: India beat South Korea for women’s recurve team gold
- Business Standard (PTI): India win three boxing golds; Sujeet claims wrestling gold
- ANI: Sujeet Kalkal wins men’s 65kg freestyle gold; India reach 75 medals
- Business Standard: Asian Games 2026 live updates, Day 14 (October 3 medal tally)
- myKhel: India medal tally, full list of medals won till October 3
- India TV: Kumkum Mohod wins gold in women’s individual recurve archery
- The Tribune: President Murmu, Sports Minister hail Kumkum after recurve gold
- Business Today: Pranavi Sharath Urs becomes first Indian woman golfer to win gold
- Deccan Herald: Pranavi Urs strikes golf gold, team wins silver
- The Tribune: Aman Sehrawat clinches men’s freestyle 57kg wrestling gold
- ANI: Aman Sehrawat clinches Asian Games 57kg wrestling gold
- Deccan Herald: Neeraj Chauhan wins individual recurve bronze
- Business Standard: Full list of India’s medal winners in Aichi-Nagoya
- ANI: Suruchi-Kamaljeet win 10m air pistol mixed team gold
- Deccan Herald: Kynan Chenai and Neeru Dhanda clinch mixed trap gold
- Outlook: India beat Iran for men’s kabaddi gold
- Outlook: Ankita, Kirti and Kumkum win women’s recurve team gold
- Outlook: India beat Malaysia 5-1 in the men’s hockey final
- The Tribune: Deepak Punia wins men’s 97kg freestyle bronze
- Deccan Herald: Deepak Punia adds Asian Games bronze
- Outlook: October 3 live updates (Antim Panghal’s 53kg silver)
- Outlook: India’s final medal tally, fourth with 85 medals
- The Statesman: India sign off Asian Games 2026 with 85 medals and a fourth-place finish
- The Sunday Guardian: Final country-wise medal table
Correction (September 30, 2026): An earlier version of this article said athletics at the Asian Games ran until October 4. Athletics was held from September 23 to 29; October 4 is the closing date of the wider Games. See our editorial policy for how we handle corrections.
Discover more from Skyblogs Sports
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
