Golden Friday: India’s Six-Gold Surge Lights Up Asian Games
India achieves a massive six-gold haul at the Asian Games, including historic wins in women's hockey and archery, lifting the tally to 76 medals.
SLUG: india-six-gold-asian-games-surge FOCUS: India's six gold medals Asian Games SEO_TITLE: India Wins Six Gold Medals at Asian Games SEO_DESC: India achieves a massive six-gold haul at the Asian Games, including historic wins in women's hockey and archery, lifting the tally to 76 medals. TAGS: India Sports News, India, Asian Games 2026, India News SLUG: india-six-gold-asian-games-surge
India produced a stunning six-gold haul on the penultimate day of the Asian Games on Friday, with the women’s hockey team, three boxers, an archer and wrestler Sujeet Kalkal powering the country’s late surge up the medal table. This massive performance lifted India to fifth place in the standings, swelling the total medal tally to 76.
The country's haul now consists of 16 gold, 25 silver, and 35 bronze medals. While India has secured more medals overall than fourth-placed Uzbekistan, who sit on 65, they currently trail them by four gold medals.
Historic Triumph for Women’s Hockey
The biggest moment of the day came on the hockey field, where the Indian women’s team defeated defending champions China 1-0 to claim their first Asian Games gold in the sport since 1982. The decisive goal was scored in the 10th minute by Lalremsiami with a superb reverse-stick strike.
Following the goal, India had to withstand relentless pressure from the Chinese side. Goalkeeper Bichu Devi and a determined Indian defence repeatedly threw themselves into the line of fire to preserve the slender advantage and deny China an equaliser. This victory also secured direct qualification for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, a primary goal for coach Sjoerd Marijne and his squad.
Boxing Dominance: A Golden Hat-trick
Indian boxing enjoyed its most successful Asian Games campaign in terms of gold medals. Three athletes finished on top of the podium: Lovlina Borgohain, Parveen Hooda, and Ankush Panghal.
Lovlina marked her 29th birthday in spectacular fashion by defeating China’s Ziyi Bao 5-0** in the women’s 75kg final, improving on her silver medal from the previous edition. Parveen Hooda secured gold after a hard-fought 3-2 split-decision victory over China’s Taipei Olympic bronze medallist Chen Nien-chin in the women’s 65kg final. Ankush Panghal completed the golden hat-trick in the men’s 80kg final, becoming the first Indian male boxer to win Asian Games gold since Amit Panghal in 2018.
The boxing successes brought India's total boxing gold tally to six. Additional bronze medals were added by Priya Ghanghas (60kg), Kapil Pokhariya (90kg), and Narender Berwal (+90kg). Notably, Lovlina and Parveen have joined MC Mary Kom as Indian women boxers to have won Asian Games gold.
Dramatic Comeback in Wrestling and Archery Glory
Wrestler Sujeet Kalkal produced one of the most dramatic comebacks of the Games to clinch gold in the men’s 65kg category. Trailing 2-9 in the final against Tajikistan’s Abdulmazhid Kudiev, Sujeet launched a remarkable fightback, scoring eight unanswered points to secure a 10-9 victory.
In archery, the Indian women’s recurve team kick-started the day’s gold rush with a historic 5-3 victory over 10-time Olympic champions South Korea. Ankita Bhakat, Kirti Sharma, and 17-year-old Kumkum Mohod showed immense composure in challenging, windy conditions to secure India's maiden Asian Games gold in the women’s recurve team event.
India also added more silverware through sailing and sepaktakraw, with Nethra Kumanan, Harshita Tomar, and Shital Verma securing bronze medals in sailing, and the men’s quadrant team claiming bronze in sepaktakraw.