A lookback at India's performance in Asian Games 2018

India won a total of 70 medals and finished 8th in the medals tally.

The Asian Games 2018 held in Jakarta and Palembang; Indonesia marked a historic moment for India in the realm of sports. India's performance at these Games transcended all expectations with the country eclipsing its previous best medal count, achieved eight years earlier in Guangzhou, China.

This extraordinary achievement saw India secure a total of 70 medals (16 gold, 23 silver and 31 bronze). A remarkable feat that not only surpassed India's medal count from the 2010 Games but also equaled the gold medal tally from India's first-ever participation in the Asian Games in 1951.

With immense pride, Neeraj Chopra led the Indian contingent as the flag bearer during the opening ceremony setting the stage for a memorable sporting event while Rani Rampal from the Indian women's hockey team was bestowed with the honor of carrying the national flag during the closing ceremony.

As the countdown begins to the opening ceremony of the Hangzhou Asian Games, this article takes a retrospective glance at the previous edition – a milestone that still stands as India's most triumphant performance in the history of the games.

List of medalists in Asian Games 2018

Medal	Name	Sport	Event
Gold	Bajrang Punia	Wrestling	Men's freestyle 65kg
Gold	Vinesh Phogat	Wrestling	Women's freestyle 50kg
Gold	Saurabh Chaudhary	Shooting	Men's 10m air pistol
Gold	Rahi Sarnobat	Shooting	Women's 25m pistol
Gold	Sawarn Singh, Dattu Baban Bhokanal, Om Prakash, Sukhmeet Singh	Rowing	Men's quadruple sculls
Gold	Rohan Bopanna, Divij Sharan	Lawn tennis	Men's doubles
Gold	Tajinderpal Singh Toor	Athletics	Men's shot put
Gold	Neeraj Chopra	Athletics	Men's javelin throw
Gold	Manjit Singh	Athletics	Men's 800m
Gold	Rajiv Arokia, Muhammed Anas, Hima Das, M. R. Poovamma	Athletics	Mixed 4x400m relay
Gold	Arpinder Singh	Athletics	Men's triple jump
Gold	Swapna Barman	Athletics	Women's heptathlon
Gold	Jinson Johnson	Athletics	Men's 1500m
Gold	M. R. Poovamma, Saritaben Gaikwad, Hima Das, V. K. Vismaya	Athletics	Women's 4×400m relay
Gold	Amit Panghal	Boxing	Men's 49kg
Gold	Pranab Bardhan, Shibhnath Sarkar	Bridge	Men's pair
Silver	Deepak Kumar	Shooting	Men's 10m air rifle
Silver	Lakshay Sheoran	Shooting	Men's trap
Silver	Sanjeev Rajput	Shooting	Men's 50m rifle three position
Silver	Shardul Vihan	Shooting	Men's double trap
Silver	India women's national kabaddi team	Kabaddi	Women's tournament
Silver	Fouaad Mirza	Equestrian	Individual eventing
Silver	Fouaad Mirza, Rakesh Kumar, Ashish Malik, Jitender Singh	Equestrian	Team eventing
Silver	Hima Das	Athletics	Women's 400m
Silver	Muhammed Anas	Athletics	Men's 400m
Silver	Dutee Chand	Athletics	Women's 100m
Silver	Dharun Ayyasamy	Athletics	Men's 400mhurdles
Silver	Sudha Singh	Athletics	Women's 3000m steeplechase
Silver	Neena Varakil	Athletics	Women's long jump
Silver	Muskan Kirar, Madhumita Kumari, Jyothi Surekha Vennam	Archery	Women's team compound
Silver	Abhishek Verma, Rajat Chauhan, Aman Saini	Archery	Men's team compound
Silver	P. V. Sindhu	Badminton	Women's singles
Silver	Jinson Johnson	Athletics	Men's 800m
Silver	Pincky Balhara	Kurash	Women's 52 kg
Silver	Dutee Chand	Athletics	Women's 200m
Silver	Dharun Ayyasamy, Kunhu Mohammed, Rajiv Arokia, Muhammed Anas	Athletics	Men's 4 × 400 m relay
Silver	Shweta Shervegar, Varsha Gautham	Sailing	Women's 49er FX
Silver	India women's national field hockey team	Field hockey	Women's tournament
Silver	Dipika Pallikal, Joshna Chinappa, Tanvi Khanna, Sunayna Kuruvilla	Squash	Women's team
Bronze	Ravi Kumar, Apurvi Chandela	Shooting	10m air rifle mixed team
Bronze	Abhishek Verma	Shooting	Men's 10m air pistol
Bronze	India men's national sepak takraw team	Sepak takraw	Men's team regu
Bronze	Divya Kakran	Wrestling	Women's freestyle 68kg
Bronze	Roshibina Naorem	Wushu	Women's sanda 60kg
Bronze	Santhosh Kumar	Wushu	Men's sanda 56kg
Bronze	Surya Bhanu Pratap Singh	Wushu	Men's sanda 60kg
Bronze	Narender Grewal	Wushu	Men's sanda 65kg
Bronze	Ankita Raina	Lawn tennis	Women's singles
Bronze	India men's national kabaddi team	Kabaddi	Men's tournament
Bronze	Dushyant Chauhan	Rowing	Men's lightweight single sculls
Bronze	Rohit Kumar, Bhagwan Singh	Rowing	Men's lightweight double sculls
Bronze	Heena Sidhu	Shooting	Women's 10m air pistol
Bronze	Prajnesh Gunneswaran	Lawn tennis	Men's singles
Bronze	Dipika Pallikal	Squash	Women's singles
Bronze	Joshna Chinappa	Squash	Women's singles
Bronze	Saurav Ghosal	Squash	Men's singles
Bronze	Sumit Mukherjee, Debabrata Majumder, Jaggy Shivdasani, Rajeshwar Tewari, Ajay Khare, Raju Tolani	Bridge	Men's team
Bronze	Bachiraju Satyanarayana, Rajeev Khandelwal, Gopinath Manna, Himani Khandelwal, Hema Deora, Kiran Nadar	Bridge	Mixed team
Bronze	Saina Nehwal	Badminton	Women's singles
Bronze	Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Sharath Kamal, Anthony Amalraj, Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkar	Table tennis	Men's team
Bronze	Malaprabha Jadhav	Kurash	Women's 52kg
Bronze	Sharath Kamal, Manika Batra	Table tennis	Mixed doubles
Bronze	P. U. Chitra	Athletics	Women's 1500m
Bronze	Seema Punia	Athletics	Women's discus throw
Bronze	Harshita Tomar	Sailing	Laser 4.7
Bronze	Anu Raghavan	Athletics	Women's 400m hurdles
Bronze	Varun Thakkar, Ganapathy Chengappa	Sailing	Men's 49er
Bronze	Saurav Ghosal, Harinder Pal Sandhu, Ramit Tandon, Mahesh Mangaonkar	Squash	Men's team
Bronze	Vikas Krishan Yadav	Boxing	Men's 75 kg
Bronze	India men's national field hockey team	Field hockey	Men's

List of Firsts

This event, like none before, witnessed a multitude of firsts including the following:

• Sepaktakraw (Men’s Regu Event): India secured a historic bronze in Sepaktakraw marking the nation’s first medal in the discipline since its Asian Games debut in 1990.

• Swapna Barman (Heptathlon): Swapna Barman made history by winning a gold medal in heptathlon scoring 6026 points marking India’s first-ever gold in this discipline.

• Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu (Badminton): Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu delivered stunning performances and earned India’s first women’s medal in badminton at the Asiad. Saina won bronze, and Sindhu secured silver marking the first individual badminton medals for Indian shuttlers since Syed Modi in 1982. Sindhu also became the first Indian shuttler to reach the Asiad final in singles event.

• Pranab Bardhan and Shibnath Sarkar (Bridge): With bridge debuting as an Asiad sport, Pranab Bardhan and Shibnath Sarkar made history by winning the gold medal in the men’s pair event. India also secured bronze medals in the men’s team and mixed team events.

• Vikas Krishan Yadav (Boxing): Vikas Krishan Yadav clinched bronze in men’s 75kg and became the first Indian boxer to win a medal in three successive editions of the Asiad.

• Table Tennis: India secured its first-ever Asian Games medal in table tennis with bronze in men’s team and mixed doubles events.

• Rahi Sarnobat (Shooting): Rahi Sarnobat created history by becoming the first Indian woman to win a shooting medal at the Asian Games with her gold in 25m rapid-fire pistol event.

• Vinesh Phogat (Wrestling): Vinesh Phogat made history by winning gold in women's freestyle 50kg category becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to clinch gold at the Asiad.

• Neeraj Chopra (Athletics): Neeraj Chopra set a new national record and secured India’s first javelin gold medal at the Asian Games with an impressive throw of 88.06m.

Top 3 sports

In the 2018 Asian Games, India achieved remarkable success primarily in Athletics, Shooting and Wrestling.

Athletics

In the field of Athletics, India secured a total of 20 medals including an impressive haul of eight gold medals. Among these triumphs, Neeraj Chopra emerged as India's shining star by breaking national record and claiming India's first javelin gold with an astounding throw of 88.06 meters.

Further adding to India's glory, Jinson Johnson's gold medal in the 1500m event marked India's first medal in the discipline in two decades. Arpinder Singh's remarkable leap of 16.77 meters earned India its first triple jump gold in 48 years while Tajinderpal Singh Toor made headlines by shattering both the national and Asian Games records with a throw of 20.75 meters in Shot put.

Wrestling

In the realm of wrestling, Vinesh Phogat made history by clinching a gold medal in women's freestyle 50kg category and becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to achieve this remarkable feat. Adding to the familial triumph, Babita Kumari Phogat secured gold in the women's freestyle 53 kg category.

Shooting

Rahi Sarnobat etched her name in history by becoming the first Indian woman to secure a shooting medal at the Asian Games and winning gold in the 25m rapid-fire pistol event and 16-year-old Saurabh Chaudhary, delivered a new Asian Games record with a remarkable score of 240.7 to secure the gold medal in the Men's 10m Air Pistol final during the 2018 Asian Games.

Top 5 performers

Amidst the array of talent showcased at the 2018 Asian Games, there are five individuals who truly made an indelible mark with their exceptional performances.

Dutee Chand

Dutee Chand, who overcame a prolonged gender dispute secured a silver medal in women's 100m dash. Her achievement marked the first Indian medal in this event in two decades, a remarkable feat for the 22-year-old Odisha native in her debut Asian Games appearance.

Quadruple sculls

Indian rowers initially faced disappointment at the 2018 Asian Games, but they made a remarkable comeback. Sawarn Singh, Dattu Bhokanal, Om Prakash and Sukhmeet Singh redeemed the team's performance by securing a gold medal in the men's quadruple sculls category.

Their impressive time of 6 minutes and 17.13 seconds not only secured victory but also marked only the second gold for India in rowing since their participation in the sport at the Asian Games.

Shardul Vihan

In a remarkable feat by a young Indian talent, 15-year-old Shardul Vihan from Uttar Pradesh secured a silver medal in men's double trap shooting event at the Asian Games. He impressively scored 73 points and finished just one point behind Korean gold medalist Shin Hyunwoo, who achieved a score of 74.

Rahi Sarnobat

Rahi Sarnobat made history as the first Indian female shooter to secure gold at the Asian Games. In a thrilling 25m air pistol final, she faced off against Thailand's Naphaswan Yangpaiboon. After tying at 34 points, they were engaged in a tense shoot-off with Rahi displaying exceptional composure to secure the gold medal for India.

Vinesh Phogat

Vinesh's gold marked a historic moment in Indian sports history, as she became the first Indian woman to secure an Asian Games gold in wrestling. The 23-year-old wrestler from Haryana dominated her competition in the 50kg category and ultimately triumphed by defeating Japan's Yuki Irie 6-2 in the final.

Disappointments

India experienced its most significant disappointments in various sporting events at the 2018 Asian Games. Firstly, in Kabaddi, both the Indian men's and women's teams failed to secure gold medals which is a stark departure from their previous dominance in this event.

Following this, in hockey despite high expectations, the men's team had to settle for bronze while the women's team managed to secure silver medal. This outcome was particularly disheartening considering their status as favorites for the titles.

In squash, the Indian men's team which had clinched gold in the previous Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, could only manage to secure a bronze medal and failed to advance to the final.

Moreover, several star Indian athletes who were expected to shine at the event such as shooters Manu Bhaker and Manavjit Singh Sandhu, accomplished wrestlers Sakshi Malik and Sushil Kumar, World No. 7 Kidambi Srikanth and Gymnast Dipa Karmakar, all fell short of bringing home any medals.