NEW DEHLI – India heads into the 20th Asian Games determined to breach the 100-medal mark again in Aichi-Nagoya and cement its place behind the continent’s “big three” sporting superpowers.
The 107 medals India won in Hangzhou three years ago were a big jump from 70 in Jakarta-Palembang in 2018 and the first three-figure haul at an Asiad by any nation barring China, Japan and South Korea.
India’s ambition in Japan over the next few weeks is fueled by its hopes of emulating that trio of nations by becoming the fourth Asian country to host a Summer Olympics in 2036.
“Our target is 2036 —?by the time we host the Olympics, we need to be firmly established on the world stage,” Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said last week.
“I have complete faith that our contingent will perform well at the Asian Games and increase the pride of the country.”
A second consecutive 100-medal haul appears a reasonable goal despite the absence of star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, whose bid for a hat-trick of Asian Games golds has been scuppered by a torn ligament.
In Hangzhou, seven of India’s 28 gold medals came at the shooting range, while athletics supplied six — two sports India will expect to remain high-yielding in Nagoya.
India swept compound archery in Hangzhou and anything fewer than five golds will be a disappointment.
No disappointment would be bigger, however, than missing out on either of the two cricket golds it?scooped in Hangzhou.
India’s men are Twenty20 world champions, while the women’s team is basking in its?Asia Cup triumph in Dubai on Sunday.
India will also be confident of winning both field hockey golds after the women’s team finished fifth at the World Cup in August, the best showing by an Asian side.
Further podium boosts are expected from kabaddi, squash, wrestling and weightlifting but aquatics remains a weakness.
In weightlifting, Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Mirabai Chanu is on a mission to secure the only major accolade eluding her during a decorated career.
Despite her three Commonwealth Games golds, injuries and dips in form have left her without an Asian Games medal from two previous attempts.
Now fully fit, the 32-year-old is not taking a medal in the 49-kg category for granted in what she expects to be an Olympic-level competition.
“The strongest lifters in my weight category come from Asia and you will get a glimpse of the Olympics in Japan,” she said in the buildup to the Games.
Steeplechase champion Avinash Sable had no idea if he would ever compete again after a ?nasty fall resulted in 14 months on the sidelines and crippling self-doubt.
The 32-year-old won 3,000m steeplechase gold and silver in the 5,000m in Hangzhou three years ago but suffered a serious knee injury at the Monaco Diamond League meet last year and contemplated retirement when psychological issues complicated his recovery.
“Hurdles scared me,” he told reporters at the Sports Authority of ?India’s (SAI) Bengaluru centre earlier this month.
“I was worried hurdles could get me seriously injured again.
“It felt like I ?would ?never be able to return ... I had no confidence at all, didn’t know how I ?would be able to recover.”
Sable is no stranger to hardship, having grown up in a quiet farming community nearly 500 kilometers from Mumbai where he ran 6 km barefoot to school.
As a teenager he worked in brick kilns and ?on construction sites with his parents as his family struggled to make ends meet before finding a way out of the grinding ?poverty by joining the army.
His tough upbringing, however, was no preparation for a long period of inactivity and the slow fight back to fitness after surgery on the anterior cruciate ligament in ?his right knee.
“It’s a really dark time for ?an athlete when workouts that used to be easy make you feel like you don’t know what happened to you,” he recalled.
“I just couldn’t run, my fitness ?was gone ... at one point ?I thought my career was over.”
He started running again last November but ?a shin complaint forced him to stop training again in May.
“My weight had gone up by ?four to five ?kilos during the break,” he said.
“I couldn’t eat less because it would affect recovery ... I think the second injury happened because I tried to push through with extra body weight.”
Sable found reserves of determination and, with the support of fellow athletes and the staff at the SAI centre in Bengaluru, was able ?to conquer his fears and get back on track again.
“I had missed Commonwealth Games and I didn’t want to miss Asian Games too,” Sable said.
“My coaches made me believe that I would get my fitness back ... when I had pain, they motivated me to get through it.”
Sable ran a 5,000m race last month before clocking 8 minutes, 32.39 seconds in ?a ?steeplechase in New Delhi on Thursday, finishing 18 seconds ahead of the second-placed competitor.
That ?was still a long way shy of the Asian Games record of 8:19.50 he ran to win gold in Hangzhou, ?and the Indian national record of 8:09.91 he registered at the Paris Diamond League meet in 2024.
Sable then finished 11th in the Olympic steeplechase final in the French capital later that year, won gold at the Asian Championships in May 2025, and was aiming for a personal best in Monaco when a rival’s ?stumble sent him clattering to the deck at the water jump.
Now back in competitive shape after 14 months on the sidelines, Sable aims to defend his Asian Games steeplechase title and hopes to be selected to race in the 5,000m in Nagoya.
“The aim is to do better than the last Asian Games,” said Sable. “I want to show everyone who helped me that I can still do well.”
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