Context: India’s performance at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games has renewed debate over whether the country’s sporting ecosystem is strong enough to support its aspiration to host the 2036 Olympics.
- India won 85 medals from around 500 athletes, compared with 106 medals at Hangzhou with a contingent of over 650 athletes.
- The performance fell short of the internally projected target of around 100 medals, despite substantial public expenditure on athlete preparation.
- India won 21 gold medals, seven fewer than at Hangzhou, and retained fourth position on the strength of its larger silver-medal haul.
Key Performance Trends
- India’s 21 gold medals came after a late surge of 11 golds in the final two days, driven mainly by archery, boxing, wrestling, hockey and cricket.
- 13 of India’s gold medals came from team events, particularly cricket, kabaddi and hockey, highlighting the relatively strong performance of team-based disciplines.
- India needs greater medal production in individual Olympic sports such as athletics, swimming, gymnastics, fencing and cycling, which have a major influence on overall performance at multi-disciplinary Games.
- China dominated the Games with 341 medals, including 169 gold, and won 54 medals in swimming alone, illustrating the depth required across Olympic disciplines.
- India remained competitive in athletics but lagged considerably behind leading sporting nations in several other individual disciplines.
Positive Developments
- India fielded 310 debutants, indicating a significant influx of younger athletes into the elite sporting pipeline.
- The athlete-to-medal ratio improved marginally, providing some encouragement ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
- Archery produced a major breakthrough, with 17-year-old debutant Kumkum Mohod contributing to the team’s success and India winning five gold medals in archery.
- Neeru Dhanda (shooting), Pranavi Urs (golf), Sujeet Kalkal (wrestling) and the Indian women’s hockey team were among the notable performers.
- The women’s hockey team defeated China, the Paris Olympics silver medallist, to win gold after a gap of 44 years.
- Established athletes including Lovlina Borgohain, Aman Sehrawat, Mirabai Chanu, Vithya Ramraj and Gulveer Singh delivered notable performances.
- Boxing, wrestling and golf showed improvement, while India also secured Olympic quota places in archery and hockey.
- Gender parity in medal contribution was encouraging, with men and women each winning 38 medals.
Areas of Concern
- Two of India’s major medal contributors, athletics and shooting, recorded significant declines: they won 24 and 15 medals respectively, together 12 fewer than in 2023.
- Indian badminton witnessed a decline, while the tennis contingent returned without a medal after four decades.
- High-profile athletes such as P.V. Sindhu and Manu Bhaker failed to replicate their expected performances.
- The overall medal decline indicates that India’s sporting progress remains uneven across disciplines, with excessive dependence on a limited number of sports.
Why Individual Sports Matter for the Olympics
- The Olympics involve a much wider range of disciplines than Asian Games success in team sports alone.
- Strong performance therefore requires a broad-based sporting ecosystem, particularly in athletics, swimming, gymnastics, cycling, fencing and other medal-rich individual sports.
- Dominance in a few team events cannot by itself translate into a high overall Olympic medal tally.
Reforms Required
- Stricter scrutiny of sports funding is necessary to ensure that public resources reach athletes, training systems and infrastructure effectively.
- The revamped Khelo India scheme needs efficient implementation with a long-term focus on talent identification, athlete development and sporting excellence.
- India needs greater emphasis on grassroots talent development, scientific training, coaching, sports science and high-quality competition exposure.
- Funding and preparation should increasingly be linked to measurable sporting outcomes, while avoiding excessive short-term focus on medal counts.
- Greater diversification across Olympic disciplines is essential to create a deeper and more sustainable medal pipeline.
Olympics 2036: The Broader Issue
- Hosting the Olympics requires capabilities extending beyond infrastructure, including sporting excellence, athlete development systems, sports governance, logistics and long-term financial planning.
- A strong domestic sporting ecosystem would allow India to use the Olympics not merely as a hosting opportunity but also as a catalyst for sports development and youth participation.
- The Asian Games performance therefore highlights the need to strengthen sporting standards alongside preparations for any future Olympic bid.
Khelo India
- Khelo India is a Government of India initiative aimed at developing sports at the grassroots level and identifying and nurturing sporting talent.
- Its approach encompasses talent identification, sports infrastructure, competitions and athlete development, making effective implementation important for creating a long-term sporting pipeline.
- For India, the challenge is to move from isolated elite performances to a broad-based sports ecosystem capable of consistently producing athletes across multiple Olympic disciplines.
