India’s 501-member contingent included 62 Army players who participated in 15 events and won six gold, eight silver and six bronze medals. India won a total of 85 medals which include 21 gold, 27 silver and 37 bronze medals. According to a release issued here, “23.52 percent of India’s total medals were won by Army players. He won 20 out of 85 medals in the country. His six gold medals are 29 percent of India’s 21 gold medals.
Among the army players who performed brilliantly is Naib Subedar Neeru Dhanda, who won two gold and one silver medal in trap shooting. Long distance runner Naib Subedar Gulveer Singh also won two silver and one bronze medals. Gulveer created history by becoming the first Indian male track and field athlete to win three individual medals in a single Asian Games.
Four shooters from the Army took part in the shooting, who won three gold and one silver medal. Indian Army players won three medals including one gold and two bronze medals in boxing.
Army players also made records in the National and Asian Games. Havildar Sawan Barwal created a national record in the men’s marathon with a timing of two hours, 11 minutes, 37 seconds. Subedar Dheeraj Bommadevara created a national record in men’s recurve archery with a score of 698.
Havildar Kamaljeet created a new Asian Games record with a score of 484.6 in the 10m air pistol mixed team event while Neeru created a new Asian Games record with a score of 118 points in women’s trap shooting.
In rowing, Naib Subedar Salman Khan won India’s first Asian Games medal in the men’s double sculls event. Women players contributed 15 percent to Army’s total medals and 33 percent to gold medals.
The release said, “The representation of the Army in the Asian Games 2026 has also increased significantly. The number of Army players in the Indian contingent was 12.6 percent, whereas in the 2023 Asian Games it was nine percent. According to this, among the 62 Army players, there were nine women players who won two gold and one silver medal.
Source: ndtv.in
