Sports Ministry To Review Asian Games 2026 Performance, Shooting And Badminton Under Scanner

The Sports Ministry will review India's performance in the recently-concluded Asian Games in a one-day meet with national federations on October 13 with the underwhelming show of "experienced" athletes in badminton, shooting and athletics set to be in focus.

Even the release of funds through the government's flagship Target Olympics Podium Scheme (TOPS) will be reassessed amid concerns that "the returns are not matching up in certain disciplines".

India won 85 medals, including 21 gold, in the Aichi-Nagoya Games that ended on October 4, a significantly lower count than the record haul of 106 medals achieved in the previous edition in Hangzhou.

"Some experienced athletes were clearly in a comfort zone and it reflected in their performance. The National federations will be involved in the review process and a meeting will be held on October 13, which will be a day-long affair with the Sports Minister (Mansukh Mandaviya) leading the proceedings," a Sports Ministry source said on Thursday.

"In all, 89 experienced athletes, who are being supported through TOPS failed to be on the podium across 23 disciplines. This can't be simply ignored. We have failed to defend gold medals in seven disciplines," the source said.

The Ministry source said that more than Rs 27 crore had been spent on 34 Elite athletes in nine disciplines, none of whom could medal at the Games and performed well below expectations.

Eleven of India's 21 gold medals in Aichi-Nagoya came on the last two days of the competition with archers, the men's and women's hockey teams, boxers and women golfers being the star performers.

In contrast, badminton yielded one men's team bronze, while the performance of shooters, especially in pistol, was relatively poor with double Olympic-medallist Manu Bhaker ending medal-less.

Among the shuttlers, the defending champion men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty was knocked out in the opening round itself. The seasoned P V Sindhu also crashed out early.

In athletics, the gold count was down from six to one and injuries to key stars such as hurdler Jyothi Yarraji, and triple jumper Praveen Chithravel were stunningly revealed during the competition.

Even steeplechaser Avinash Sable did not start in the 5000m event, raising concerns about his fitness levels at the Games. He had been initially ruled out of the Games but was included in the squad following a fitness assessment by the Athletics Federation of India.

"Players were declaring injuries after reaching the Games venues, how is that fair? Crores have been spent in preparing them and to say that 'I am injured' just before you are supposed to compete is embarrassing and this will be thoroughly reviewed in consultation with the national concerned federation," the ministry source said.

The Sports Ministry, before the Games, had stated that over Rs 700 crore had gone into preparing the athletes in a three-year cycle. India had sent a 501-strong contingent of athletes to the Games.

Pleased with debutants

The Ministry is, however, quite impressed with the 310 debutants, who took part in the Games and contributed 41 medals to the tally.

"The likes of Kumkum Mohod, golfer Pranavi Urs and even trap shooter Neeru Dhanda. It was woman power all the way. The archers deserve credit for the way they outperformed Korea," the ministry source said.

The 17-year-old Kumkum was the star of the archery show, that yielded nine medals, including five gold. The youngster clinched two gold (individual and women's team) and a silver (mixed team).

She also claimed an Olympic quota place for the country with her individual gold that came after beating a stellar field.

"It only shows that perhaps we need to reassess how we should be going about funding the athletes. Just spending money on demand does not make sense. The results have to reflect the investment. It is after all public money," the source said.

"The performance of our debutants is definitely a good sign for the future," he added.

The core group of TOPS athletes are entitled to a monthly stipend of Rs 50,000 and other financial support for training and injury management.