The 20th Asian Games 2026 were held in Aichi Prefecture in Japan from 19 September to 4 October 2026. The 20th Asian Games 2026, also known as the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026, was a multi-sport event.
- This year’s Asian Games marked the 75th anniversary of the 1951 Asian Games, which were held in New Delhi, India.
Host Nation:
Aichi Prefecture and Nagoya hosted the 20th Asian Games in 2026, in which athletes from 46 countries (including the ART team) participated across 43 sports. Nagoya is the capital and largest city of Aichi Prefecture, and the fourth-largest city in Japan.
- Japan hosted the Asian Games for the third time; previously, they were held in Tokyo in 1958 and in Hiroshima in 1994.
- The opening and closing ceremony were held at Paloma Mizuho Stadium (Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium), Nagoya, Japan.
- Approximately 11,000 athletes from 45 countries and regions participated in the 20th Asian Games, competing across 43 sports, 71 disciplines, and 469 events. During these Games, a total of 1,407 medals were awarded across 469 exciting events.
Key Points of the 20th Asian Games 2026:
Emblem:
The color and design of the official emblem combine local and cultural significance with dynamics of sports.
- While the curves represent liveliness, the purple, gold, and green centre lines evoke the image of people uniting and advancing towards a bright red sun-the official symbol of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).
- Purple represents Aichi’s prefectural flower, the iris.
- Gold symbolizes Kinshachi, the iconic golden tiger-fish roof ornaments of Nagoya Castle.
- Green reflects the strong environmental consciousness of Aichi-Nagoya.
- The emblem contains the first letters of Asia, Aichi and Nagoya initials: “A” is depicted in the purple curve and centre line, “N” in purple and gold.
Mascot:
The mascot for the 20th Asian Games 2026, “HONOHON,” represents the fiery passion of athletes.
- The name is derived from the Japanese word ‘honoho’, connected to the origin of the Japanese word for flame.
- Its design is inspired by the Shachihoko, one of the distinctive symbols of the Nagoya Castle and guarding deity of Aichi-Nagoya.
Motto:
The official motto of the 20th Asian Games was “Imagine One Asia.” It was announced on April 1, 2020.
Music:
The official theme songs for the Asian Games were “Beyond the Sky” and “Love Beat.”
Design Concept of Medals:
Its design was inspired by the Games slogan, “Imagine One Asia.”
The medal expresses the idea of coming together again through sport, represented through both its surface finish and form.
Ceramic discs were broken during the ideation process till a “naturally appealing shape” emerged to form the medal’s design. The designer envisioned that athletes, too, have endured countless hardships and challenges on their journey to this moment.
Medals Ribbon:
The ribbon carries the silhouette of the kakitsubata (Japanese iris), the official flower of Aichi Prefecture, along with sweeping arcs inspired by its leaves.
20th Asian Games: Introduction of New Sports
- The 20th Asian Games featured 469 medal events across 43 sports, 12 fewer than the 19th edition.
- Freestyle BMX, Mixed martial arts, Padel, Surfing, Teqball, and Virtual Taekwondo debuted at the Asian Games.
- In April 2025, the Organizing Committee approved the inclusion of Cricket and Mixed martial arts in the programme.
- In June 2026, the OCA approved the inclusion of Virtual Taekwondo in the programme, making it the first-ever virtual sports event.
20th Asian Games 2026: Medal Table- Top Four
China topped the medal tally for the twelfth consecutive time. China dominated the medal tally with 341 medals (169 gold, 89 silver and 83 bronze), ahead of Japan (269 medals, 83 gold, 95 silver and 91 bronze) and the Republic of Korea (150 medals, 39 gold, 43 silver and 68 bronze).
India finished fourth in the medal table with 85 medals.
20th Asian Games 2026: Performance of India
» India sent one of its largest ever multi-sport delegations to the Asian Games 2026, comprising 501 athletes across 36 sporting disciplines. More than 300 athletes in the contingent were making their Asian Games debut.
Indian contingent:
Indian flag bearer:
Two-time Olympic medallist shooter Manu Bhaker and kabaddi star Pawan Sehrawat were India’s flag bearers at the opening ceremony of the Asian Games 2026.
Shooter Neeru Dhanda was India’s flag-bearer at the closing ceremony of the 2026 Asian Games.
Medals won by India:
» India won a total of 85 medals (21 gold, 27 silver, and 37 bronze) in the Asian Games 2026.
- Archery led the gold tally with 5 titles, supported by Shooting and Boxing, which each won 3 gold medals.
- In team sports, India enjoyed a massive “gold rush” in Cricket, Hockey, and Kabaddi, winning two gold medals in each sport.
- Stellar performances included the men’s cricket team defeating Pakistan by 19 runs in the final, the men’s hockey team retaining their continental title with a resounding 5-1 victory over Malaysia, and double gold victories across both the men’s and women’s kabaddi competitions.
- Further gold medals were won in Wrestling (2), Athletics (1), and Golf (1), taking India’s total to 21.
20th Asian Games: India’s Achievement
- Kumkum Mohod (Archery) became the first Indian woman to win an individual recurve gold medal at the Asian Games.
- Pranavi Urs (Golf) became the first Indian woman to win an individual golf gold medal at the Asian Games.
- Neeru Dhanda (Shooting) became the first Indian woman to win an Asian Games shotgun gold medal, winning the women’s trap title with an Asian record.
- Suruchi Singh and Kamaljeet (Shooting) won India’s first Asian Games gold medal in the 10m air pistol mixed team event with an Asian record.
- Baranika Elangovan (Athletics) won a bronze medal, India’s first Asian Games pole vault medal.
- For the first time in history, both the men’s and women’s hockey teams won gold in the same year.
20th Asian Games 2026: Complete list of Indian Medal winners
Gold Medal Winners:
| S. No. | Athlete | Sport | Event |
| 1 | Kamaljeet Sahlot; Suruchi Singh | Shooting | Mixed 10 m air pistol team |
| 2 | Neeru Dhanda | Shooting | Women’s trap |
| 3 | Kynan Chenai; Neeru Dhanda | Shooting | Mixed trap team |
| 4 | Kiran Pahal; Poovamma Machettira; Prachi Choudhary; Vithya Ramraj | Athletics | Women’s 4 × 400 m relay |
| 5 | Chikitha Taniparthi; Jyothi Surekha Vennam; Prithika Pradeep | Archery | Women’s team compound |
| 6 | Chikitha Taniparthi; Sahil Jadhav | Archery | Mixed team compound |
| 7 | Kushal Dalal; Sahil Jadhav; T. G. Mani Ratnam | Archery | Men’s team compound |
| 8 | Ankita Bhakat; Kirti Sharma; Kumkum Mohod | Archery | Women’s team recurve |
| 9 | Kumkum Mohod | Archery | Women’s individual recurve |
| 10 | Lovlina Borgohain | Boxing | Women’s 75 kg |
| 11 | Parveen Hooda | Boxing | Women’s 65 kg |
| 12 | Ankush Panghal | Boxing | Men’s 80 kg |
| 13 | Sujeet Kalkal | Wrestling | Men’s freestyle 65 kg |
| 14 | Aman Sehrawat | Wrestling | Men’s freestyle 57 kg |
| 15 | Pranavi Urs | Golf | Women’s individual |
| 16 | India Women’s National Cricket Team Harmanpreet Kaur; Smriti Mandhana; Shafali Verma; Arundhati Reddy; Deepti Sharma; Richa Ghosh; Gunalan Kamalini; Bharti Fulmali; Kranti Gaud; Nandani Sharma; Pratika Rawal; Radha Yadav; Renuka Singh Thakur; Shree Charani; Shreyanka Patil | Cricket | Women’s tournament |
| 17 | India Men’s National Cricket Team Shreyas Iyer; Tilak Varma; Ravi Bishnoi; Jasprit Bumrah; Shivam Dube; Ishan Kishan; Vipraj Nigam; Axar Patel; Sanju Samson; Abhishek Sharma; Arshdeep Singh; Washington Sundar; Vaibhav Sooryavanshi; Yash Thakur | Cricket | Men’s tournament |
| 18 | India Women’s National Kabaddi Team Pushpa Rana; Bhavna Thakur; Jyoti Thakur; Manisha Kumari; Nikita Kumari; Pinki Roy; Pooja Hathwala; Raj Rani; Ritu Negi; Ritu Sheoran; Sanju Devi; Sonali Shingate | Kabaddi | Women’s tournament |
| 19 | India Men’s National Kabaddi Team Sunil Kumar; Ankit Jaglan; Arjun Deshwal; Ashu Malik; Aslam Inamdar; Ayan Lohchab; Devank Dalal; Gaurav Khatri; Jaideep Dahiya; Pawan Sehrawat; Rahul Sethpal; Sumit Sangwan | Kabaddi | Men’s tournament |
| 20 | India Women’s National Field Hockey Team Salima Tete; Lalremsiami Hmarzote; Navneet Kaur; Deepika Sehrawat; Ishika Chaudhary; Baljeet Kaur; Beauty Dungdung; Nikki Pradhan; Sakshi Rana; Sunelita Toppo; Neha Goyal; Ishika; Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam; Lalthantluangi; Jyoti Rumavat; Shilpi Dabas; Savita Punia; Bichu Devi Kharibam | Field Hockey | Women’s tournament |
| 21 | India Men’s National Field Hockey Team Harmanpreet Singh; Dilpreet Singh; Shilanand Lakra; Sukhjeet Singh; Mandeep Singh; Abhishek Nain; Rajinder Singh; Raj Kumar Pal; Hardik Singh; Manpreet Singh; Nilakanta Sharma; Vivek Prasad; Jarmanpreet Singh; Amit Rohidas; Jugraj Singh; Sanjay Rana; Sumit Kumar; Yashdeep Siwach; Mohith H. S.; Suraj Karkera | Field Hockey | Men’s tournament |
Silver Medal Winners:
| S. No. | Athlete | Sport | Event |
| 1 | Kumkum Mohod; Dhiraj Bommadevara | Archery | Mixed team recurve |
| 2 | Dhiraj Bommadevara; Neeraj Chauhan; Yashdeep Bhoge | Archery | Men’s team recurve |
| 3 | Gulveer Singh | Athletics | Men’s 10,000 m |
| 4 | Sawan Barwal | Athletics | Men’s marathon |
| 5 | Tajinderpal Singh Toor | Athletics | Men’s shot put |
| 6 | Ancy Sojan | Athletics | Women’s long jump |
| 7 | Sarvesh Kushare | Athletics | Men’s high jump |
| 8 | Gulveer Singh | Athletics | Men’s 1500 m |
| 9 | Murali Sreeshankar | Athletics | Men’s Long jump |
| 10 | Yashvir Singh | Athletics | Men’s Javelin throw |
| 11 | Manu T. S.; Poovamma Machettira; Vishal T. K.; Vithya Ramraj; Jay Kumar; Kiran Pahal | Athletics | Mixed 4 × 400 m relay |
| 12 | Pranavi Urs; Aditi Ashok; Diksha Dagar | Golf | Women’s team |
| 13 | Manu Francis; Prince Noble | Sailing | Men’s 49er |
| 14 | Elavenil Valarivan | Shooting | Women’s 10 m air rifle |
| 15 | Elavenil Valarivan; Sonam Maskar; Vidarsa Vinod | Shooting | Women’s 10 m air rifle team |
| 16 | Himanshu Dhillon | Shooting | Men’s 10 m air rifle |
| 17 | Himanshu Dhillon; Parth Mane; Rudrankksh Patil | Shooting | Men’s 10 m air rifle team |
| 18 | Aishwary Singh Tomar; Niraj Kumar; Rudrankksh Patil | Shooting | Men’s 50 m rifle three positions team |
| 19 | Ashi Chouksey; Tilottama Sen; Vidarsa Vinod | Shooting | Women’s 50 m rifle three positions |
| 20 | Esha Singh | Shooting | Women’s 25 m pistol |
| 21 | Aashima Ahlawat; Manisha Keer; Neeru Dhanda | Shooting | Women’s trap team |
| 22 | Abhay Singh | Squash | Men’s singles |
| 23 | Anahat Singh | Squash | Women’s singles |
| 24 | Mirabai Chanu | Weightlifting | Women’s 49 kg |
| 25 | Nitesh Siwach | Wrestling | Men’s Greco-Roman 97 kg |
| 26 | Antim Panghal | Wrestling | Women’s Freestyle 53 kg |
| 27 | Naorem Roshibina Devi Wushu | Wushu | Women’s sanda 60 kg |
Bronze Medal Winners:
| S. No. | Athlete | Sport | Event |
| 1 | T. G. Mani Ratnam | Archery | Men’s individual compound |
| 2 | Neeraj Chauhan | Archery | Men’s individual recurve |
| 3 | Seema Kumari | Athletics | Women’s 10,000 m |
| 4 | Manpreet Kaur | Athletics | Women’s shot put |
| 5 | Baranica Elangovan | Athletics | Women’s pole vault |
| 6 | Parul Chaudhary | Athletics | Women’s 3000 m steeplechase |
| 7 | Tejaswin Shankar | Athletics | Men’s decathlon |
| 8 | Harita Bhadra | Athletics | Women’s 200 m |
| 9 | Prachi Choudhary | Athletics | Women’s 400 m |
| 10 | Vithya Ramraj | Athletics | Women’s 400 m hurdles |
| 11 | Parul Chaudhary | Athletics | Women’s 5000 m |
| 12 | Rohit Yadav | Athletics | Men’s Javelin throw |
| 13 | Gulveer Singh | Athletics | Men’s 5000 m |
| 14 | Pooja Singh | Athletics | Women’s high jump |
| 15 | Gurindervir Singh; Abinaya Rajarajan; Sneha Gowda; Animesh Kujur; Harita Bhadra | Athletics | Mixed 4 × 100 m relay |
| 16 | Vishal T. K.; Dharmveer Choudhary; Rajesh Ramesh; Manu T. S.; Jay Kumar | Athletics | Men’s 4 × 400 m relay |
| 17 | Arjun M. R.; Ayush Shetty; Chirag Shetty; Dhruv Kapila; Hariharan Amsakarunan; Lakshya Sen; Prannoy H. S.; Satwiksairaj Rankireddy; Srikanth Kidambi; Tharun Mannepalli | Badminton | Men’s team |
| 18 | Narender Berwal | Boxing | Men’s +90 kg |
| 19 | Kapil Pokhariya | Boxing | Men’s 90 kg |
| 20 | Priya Ghanghas | Boxing | Women’s 60 kg |
| 21 | Pincky Balhara | Kurash | Women’s 78 kg |
| 22 | Suchika Tariyal | Mixed martial arts | Women’s 60 kg |
| 23 | Satnam Singh; Salman Khan | Rowing | Men’s double sculls |
| 24 | Harshita Tomar; Shital Verma | Sailing | Women’s 49erFX |
| 25 | Nethra Kumanan | Sailing | Women’s ILCA 6 |
| 26 | Arun Raju; Bobby Kumar; Amarjit Singha; Malemnganba Singh Sorokhaibam; Lokhon Singh Elangbam; Akash Yumnam | Sepak takraw | Men’s quadrant |
| 27 | Rudrankksh Patil | Shooting | Men’s 10 m air rifle |
| 28 | Maheshwari Chauhan; Parinaaz Dhaliwal; Raiza Dhillon | Shooting | Women’s skeet team |
| 29 | Anantjeet Singh Naruka; Bhavtegh Singh Gill; Mairaj Ahmed Khan | Shooting | Men’s skeet team |
| 30 | Anantjeet Singh Naruka; Parinaaz Dhaliwal | Shooting | Mixed skeet team |
| 31 | Jay Meena | Soft Tennis | Men’s Singles |
| 32 | Abhay Singh; Veer Chotrani; Velavan Senthilkumar; Suraj Chand | Squash | Men’s team |
| 33 | Anahat Singh; Tanvi Khanna; Joshna Chinappa; Shameena Riaz | Squash | Women’s team |
| 34 | Velavan Senthilkumar; Joshna Chinappa | Squash | Mixed doubles |
| 35 | Diya Chitale; Manush Shah | Table tennis | Mixed doubles |
| 36 | Deepak Punia | Wrestling | Men’s Freestyle 97kg |
| 37 | Sunil Kumar | Wrestling | Men’s Greco-Roman 87kg |
Background:
The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, are the biggest sports competition in Asia, held once every four years.
- They are organized by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and currently have 45 participating countries or regions.
History of India’s participation in the Asian Games:
- In the year 1949, the Asian Games Federation was inaugurated in New Delhi where the first Asian Games were held in 1951.
- In 1981, the Asian Games Federation was renamed as the Olympic Council of Asia to strengthen its association with the International Olympic Committee, relocating its base from India to Kuwait where it currently resides.
- The ninth edition of the Asian Games was held again in New Delhi in November and December 1982.
- At the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, the 570-member Indian contingent won 70 medals – 16 gold, 23 silver, and 31 bronze.
- India has won 863 medals (204 gold, 265 silver, and 394 bronze) medals at the Asian Games since the inaugural edition in 1951.
- India achieved its highest medal count at the Asian Games in 2023, held in China. At the conclusion of the 2023 Asian Games, India had officially won 107 medals, but this total was later officially revised down to 106. The bronze medal won by Indian boxer Parveen Hooda in the women’s 57kg boxing category has been revoked. Following this, India’s revised total medal count has decreased to 106 (28 gold, 38 silver, 40 bronze).
Next Asian Games:
The next and 21st edition of the Games, taking place in 2030, will be held in Doha, Qatar, from November 4 to 19, 2030, followed by an edition in Riyadh in 2034.