Athletics Review: Hits and big misses as track and field put up mid show in Nagoya

The problem with promising things that are beyond your control is that there is no way you can fulfill them. The Indian Sports Ministry perhaps learnt that the hard way at the Asian Games 2026.

The sports ministry set up steep selection criteria for the Asian Games to ensure that Indian athletes who were genuine contenders for medals could fly to Nagoya. As the minister himself put it, "Asian Games is not an exposure tour."

And yet, the Indian athletics contingent, 74 members strong, failed to break the medal haul of the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou.

Three years back in China, India brought home 29 medals: 6 gold, 14 silver, and 9 bronze. India finished with 24 medals this time around, winning only 1 gold, 9 silver, and 14 bronze medals.

We upgraded on the bronze, won fewer silvers than last time, and the less we talk about gold medals, the better. Gulveer Singh is only the second Indian male athlete to win three athletics medals at a single Asian Games, after Lavy Pinto. (Reuters Photo) There is of course more nuance to the conversation than simply comparing the colors of the medals, but why should a review be kind to the ministry when their whole pitch was about only sending 'genuine contenders' for medals?

In athletics, things change almost every minute. Ranging from a misstep to not being able to complete a warm-up routine, things can and do go wrong at any given point.

And it is perhaps a lesson that Mansukh Mandaviya and Co. will learn from the Games this year.GULVEER, VITHYA STAND OUT IN ATHLETICS

First things first, the biggest wins from the Indian athletics contingent are middle-distance runner Gulveer Singh and sprinter Vithya Ramraj.

We will come to Gulveer in a moment, because Vithya Ramraj might be the out-and-out best performer from the Indian contingent at the Asian Games.

Vithya first broke PT Usha's longstanding record in the women's 400m hurdles.

On a rain-soaked track in Nagoya, where athletes constantly fell short of their personal and season bests, Vithya made a scintillating run to take home the bronze, and the national record with it. Vithya Ramraj helped India win the women's 4x400m relay gold. Courtesy: PTI

To think that she nearly missed out on the Asian Games.

Just weeks before the competition, Vithya Ramraj took a nasty fall at the Indian Athletics series final. She stumbled on one of the hurdles and had to be carried off the track.

She was attended to by the medical staff for a good 15 minutes as she lay beside the track, but eventually was able to walk out, assisted by stadium staff.

To conquer the fear of the hurdle and the conditions, and put in two performances that brought her a national record and a gold (women's 4x400m), is indeed commendable.

On the men's side, Gulveer Singh once again proved why he is leaps and bounds ahead of the rest in the Indian athletics scene. The middle-distance runner, who trains with Scott Simmons in Colorado Springs, won three medals in individual events.

He is the first ever Indian athlete to achieve this feat. Keep this in mind because it is important.

Gulveer could have had a gold medal too in these Games if not for Bahrain's Birhanu Balew, who dropped an otherworldly sprint in the final lap to overtake everyone in the 10,000m race.

In the 1,500m, Gulveer lost to a Games record time by Iizawa Kazuto, but unlike Gulveer, Kazuto did not run three finals (plus heats) in five days.

ATHLETES WHO WON MEDALS WITH PERSONAL BESTSYashvir Singh - Javelin throw - Asian Games 2026: 85.72m (Silver)Sawan Barwal - Marathon - Asian Games 2026: 02:11:37 (Silver)Parul Chaudhary - 3,000m steeplechase - Asian Games 2026: 9:08.67 (Bronze)Vithya Ramraj - 400m hurdles - Asian Games 2026: 54.75s (Bronze)Gulveer Singh - 1500m - Asian Games 2026: 3:36.72 (Silver)CLUTCH RELAY GOLD SAVES THE CAMPAIGN

If there was one moment that saved the Indian athletics contingent from an outright gold medal drought, a feat India hadn't suffered since the 1994 Hiroshima Games, it was the women's 4x400m relay. On the penultimate day in Nagoya, the quartet of Kiran Pahal, Machettira Poovamma, Prachi, and Vithya Ramraj delivered a tactical masterclass to cross the finish line in 3:29.69, edging out powerhouse teams from Bahrain (3:30.21) and China (3:31.02).

Kiran Pahal set a firm foundation out of the blocks before veteran Poovamma executed a brilliant second leg to push India into the lead. Prachi held firm under mounting pressure, leaving anchor runner Vithya Ramraj to complete the job. Ramraj held off a furious late charge from Bahrain's Salwa Eid Naser to seal India's only athletics gold of the Games, capping off her personal campaign with an incredible three-medal haul (Gold in 4x400m relay, Silver in mixed 4x400m relay, Bronze in 400m hurdles).advertisementINJURY FIASCO AND MISSED OPPORTUNITIESThe Asian Games athletics campaign will be remembered for its missed opportunities.

And here is the nuance behind the lack of gold medals in the athletics campaign this year.

India's best gold medal hope, Neeraj Chopra, was ruled out due to injury and did not make it to the Asian Games 2026. But considering the form that Rumesh Pathirage was in javelin, it would have been wishful thinking to hope that Neeraj would have brought home a gold.

Steeplechaser Avinash Sable participated in only his second race since coming back from an ACL injury and was not up to the mark. Neither the AFI nor the athlete ever really clarified if he was in his best shape, but it looked at the Games like he was not.

Hurdler Jyothi Yarraji and triple-jumper Praveen Chitravel did not even start their events. Yarraji had a DNS, while Chitravel pulled away from what could have been his first jump at the last moment.

This perhaps is the most criticized aspect in the athletics discourse this season: why were athletes flown to Japan when they clearly were below their best shape, especially when the ministry had explicitly said that they were only sending medal contenders this year?MISSING GOLD BY A WHISKER

High-jumper Sarvesh Kushare is perhaps the most heartbreaking example of this.

Chinese Taipei's Fu Chao-hsuan took home the gold medal with a season-best jump of 2.25m. Kushare had jumped 2.25m as well, but on his second attempt at the height. Fu took the gold home on countback, having cleared the bar on his first attempt.

Murali Sreeshankar is another case. The gold medal favorite slipped on a slippery board on his 4th attempt. He twisted his ankle and could not jump again, finishing in 2nd spot behind China's Shi Yuhao.

Ancy Sojan led the women's event for the longest time, only to be beaten by 0.02m on the final attempt from China's Huang Yingying, suffering a heartbreaking loss in the final moment.ATHLETES WHO WON MEDALS WITHOUT PBSSarvesh Anil Kushare - High jump - Asian Games 2026: 2.25m (Silver) - Personal Best: 2.28mGulveer Singh - 10,000m - Asian Games 2026: 28:29.38 (Silver) - Personal Best: 27:00.22Murali Sreeshankar - Long jump - Asian Games 2026: 8.07m (Silver) - Personal Best: 8.41mTajinderpal Singh Toor - Shot put - Asian Games 2026: 20.64m (Silver) - Personal Best: 21.77mAncy Edappilly Sojan - Long jump - Asian Games 2026: 6.53m (Silver) - Personal Best: 6.88mTejaswin Shankar - Decathlon - Asian Games 2026: 7934 points (Bronze) - Personal Best: 8057 pointsRohit Yadav - Javelin throw - Asian Games 2026: 84.35m (Bronze) - Personal Best: 87.68mSeema - 10,000m - Asian Games 2026: 32:50.05 (Bronze) - Personal Best: 32:02.43Harita Bhadra - 200m - Asian Games 2026: 23.20s (Bronze) - Personal Best: 23.14sPrachi Choudhary - 400m - Asian Games 2026: 53.21s (Bronze) - Personal Best: 52.57sParul Chaudhary - 5,000m - Asian Games 2026: 15:14.61 (Bronze) - Personal Best: 15:04.26Baranica Elangovan - Pole vault - Asian Games 2026: 4.15m (Bronze) - Personal Best: 4.23mManpreet Kaur - Shot put - Asian Games 2026: 17.17m (Bronze) - Personal Best: 18.06mPooja - Women high jump - Asian Games 2026: 1.84m (Bronze) - Personal Best: 1.93mGulveer Singh - Men's 5,000m - Asian Games 2026: 13:32.75 (Bronze) - Personal Best: 13:11.82MEN'S SPRINT CONTINGENT DISAPPOINTS

The much-hyped men's 100m sprint team, Gurindervir Singh and Animesh Kujur, disappointed in their individual events. Running much below their personal and season bests, both left medals out there on the track.

It is becoming a problem with both sprinters, especially Gurindervir, that performances are simply not coming on the bigger stages.

The duo stepped it up in the mixed relay event, clinching a bronze medal with a sensational run. Animesh Kujur was particularly impressive in the heats and the final, where he took on top runners and gave a safe baton exchange to Harita Bhadra, who finished the anchor leg for India in style.

Considering the fact that they had made a major blunder in a baton exchange in Botswana earlier this year, props must be given to the athletes and the coaches for fixing the issue and putting India into the medal places.PROMISE FOR THE FUTURE

The athletics campaign was sort of saved by the last two days in track and field, where India won multiple medals to get to a respectable position.

India finished 6th in athletics overall, trailing behind traditional powerhouses: China, Japan, Thailand, Bahrain, and this time, also Uzbekistan.

But in the last couple of days, the men's javelin contingent showed that the sport was ready to move out of Neeraj Chopra's shadow.

Vithya Ramraj and 19-year-old high jumper Pooja put in big performances to bring smiles to the fans, even setting records along the way. Pooja's bronze in the high jump was India's first since Bobby Aloysius's silver in 2002.

Yes, athletics might have missed the mark on several occasions, including big names like Tejaswin Shankar, the gold medal favorite who won bronze, and Priyanka Goswami who was disqualified from the marathon race walk, but there was enough evidence that young Indian athletes, far from their prime, have started to make a mark in their events.

And that sets India up for a bright future, one that perhaps will feature more realistic expectations, transparency and honesty from the administrators as well.- Ends

Kingshuk loves football, breathes cricket and lives to travel. He is in a love-hate relationship with Barcelona and Sunrisers Hyderabad and likes to bowl military medium.