India is a member of the South Asian Zone of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), and has participated in the Asian Games since their inception in 1951. The Indian Olympic Association, established in 1927, and recognised in the same year by the International Olympic Committee, is the National Olympic Committee for India.

India was one of the first five founding members of the Asian Games Federation on 13th February 1949, in New Delhi. The organisation was disbanded on 26th November 1981 and replaced by the Olympic Council of Asia.

India is one of the only seven countries that have competed in all the editions of the Asian Games. The other six are Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Thailand. India has won at least one gold medal at every Asian Games, and ranked within the top 10 nations of the medals table except in the 1990 Asian Games.

New Delhi, has hosted the Asian Games on two occasions: the inaugural 1951 Asian Games and the 1982 Asian Games.

If we go through the performances of India then we will see that in almost every Asian Games, athletics have brought the maximum gold medals for India. From 1951 to 2010 Asian Games, India has won 128 medals, out of which 70 were won in athletics.

1951 Asian Games:

In the inaugural Asian Games in 1951 at Delhi, India finished second behind Japan. In this edition the significant performance was shown by Sachin Nag, who won gold medal in swimming. India won 10 gold medals in athletics, followed by two in diving and one each in football, swimming and waterpolo.

1954 to 1970 - domination of athletics

In the second Asian Games at Manila, India won four gold medals and all the medals were won by athletics. In the third Asian Games at Tokyo, India finished seventh in medals table with five gold medals and again all the gold medals came from athletics. In Jakarta, 1962, India bagged 10 gold medals and finished third in medals table. It was again the dominance of athletics in which India won five gold medals.

The fifth Asian Games, held in the Bangkok, Thailand from 9th to 20th December, 1966. Indian athletes won total 21 medals with seven gold and ranked fifth in a medals table. India won five gold in athletics, one each in boxing and hockey.

In the sixth Asian Games at Bangkok in 1970, India won 25 medals including 6 gold medals, out of which four came from athletics and one each from boxing and wrestling. The significant thing was that Kamaljeet Sandhu brought the first gold medal for India in women’s athletics.

Following are the gold medal winners for India in Asian Games from 1951 to 1970

In 1974 Asian Games at Tehran, India won 28 medals including four gold medals and finished seventh in medals table. Again in 1978 at Bangkok, India won 28 medals including 11 gold medals and finished sixth in the medals table.

In the year 1982, The Asian game was back to India as New Delhi hosted the mega event. In this edition, India won 13 gold medals, 19 silver medals and 25 bronze medals with a total of 57 over-all medals and finished fifth in the medals table.

The winners of 1982 Gold Medals for India are as follows

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Karanja

In the 1986 Asian Games held in Seoul, India finished 5th with 5 gold medals, 9 silver medals and 23 bronze medals with a total of 37 medals.

1990 Asian Games - a disappointment

However, 1990 Asian Games has been the worst ever games for India as per performances. India won only one gold medal in kabaddi (first time introduced at Asian Games), and for the first time ranked outside top 10 in the medals table. India finished 12th with one gold, eight silver and 14 bronze medals.

In 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games, India won four gold medals, three silver medals and 15 bronze medals with a total of 22 medals and finished eighth in the medals table.

In 1998 Asian Games at Bangkok, India won seven gold medals, 11 silver medals and 17 bronze medals and finished ninth in the medals table.

Following are the gold medalists of 1998 Asian Games for India

In 2002 Busan Asian Games, India won 10 gold medals, 12 silvers and 13 bronze medals, thus finishing eigth in medals table. In this edition, the gold medal domination was from athletics as India grabbed six golds. The consistent performance in kabaddi was also shown as India won their 4th gold medal.

Following are the gold medal winners at Busan Asian Games:

Manjeet Kaur,

Soma Biswas,

K. M. Beenamol

Mahesh bhupati

Rafat habib

In the year 2006 Asian Games, we saw a major transform in India’s performance. Till 2002 India’s majority of Gold came from Athletics, but in 2006 we saw that shooting brought the maximum gold, i.e, three, while athletics grabbed only one gold medal.

Following are the gold medal winners in Busan Asian Games:

Kaur Manjeet

Kulathummuriyil Chitra

Paramanik Pinki

Kumar Vijay

Rana Jaspal

Krishnan Sasikiran

Pentyala Harikrishna

2010 Asian Games – the best for India

In the 2010 Asian Games at Guangzhou, India put up its best ever performance at Asian Games. India finished with 64 medals including 14 gold, which is India’s second best performance ever since inception of Asian Games in 1951. These Games also witnessed first ever medals in gymnastics and roller sports.

Following are India’s Medal Summary and Ranking in Asian Games

Following are the Medal Details for India by Sports

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