Hangzhou Asian Games was India’s best ever

October 8, 2023 | 2 min read

India won a record 107 medals at the Hangzhou Asian Games, its highest ever. The previous highest was 70 at the last edition in Jakarta. The contingent’s commitment of ‘Iss bar sau paar’ (‘this time it will be over 100’) turned out to be a reality.

Not just reaching 107, on the last day, which was Saturday, India won as many as 12 medals, a huge high by the country’s standards. Of these, six were golds—two in archery, two in kabaddi and one each in badminton and cricket.

The total number of gold medals was 28, which propelled India to the fourth place in the medal standings, the top three being the traditional Asian powerhouses of China, with 187 golds, Japan, with 47 golds, and South Korea, with 36 golds.

India’s first medal came on the very first day—silver in women’s 10m air rifle team, won by the trio of Ashi Chouksey, Mehuli Ghosh and Ramita Jindal, while its last medal (107th) came on the concluding day—also a silver, in women’s team chess, won by Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli, Vaishali Rameshbabu, Vantika Agrawal and Savitha Shri B.

Both the number of golds and the total number of medals were well above those of the next nation in the medal standings, Uzbekistan. It won 20 golds and 64 medals in total.

Athletics brought India the most medals—29, followed by shooting, which brought 22. Incidentally, these were the only two sports which brought medals in double digits.

The highest number of gold medals came in shooting (seven), closely followed by athletics (six) and archery (five).

India’s medal break-up by sport

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