India enjoyed a six-medal haul on a packed Friday at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, but the surge was not enough to improve its position in the overall medal standings as the competition at the top intensified.India added one gold, two silver and three bronze medals to take its tally to 23 — two gold, nine silver and 12 bronze. Yet India remained 12th in the medal table after Day 6.The reason is simple: medal-table positions are primarily determined by gold-medal counts, and several countries ahead of India continued to add golds at a faster rate.
Six medals but India remain 12th
India’s gold came from shooting, where Suruchi Singh and Kamaljeet combined to win the 10m air pistol mixed team title. Gulveer Singh claimed silver in the men’s 10,000m, while India’s men’s 50m rifle 3-position team also finished second.Manpreet Kaur won bronze in the women’s shot put, while table tennis pair Manush Shah and Diya Chitale also secured bronze. Baranica Elangovan’s historic bronze in women’s pole vault completed India’s six-medal haul.Asian Games Full Coverage | Medal Tally | ScheduleBaranica became India’s first-ever Asian Games medallist in pole vault across both the men’s and women’s events.Despite the haul, India remained behind Kazakhstan, which had eight golds compared with India’s two. South Korea occupied third place with 13 golds, while Japan had 28.
China closing in on 100 gold medals
At the top, China continued to pull away from the field, reaching 98 gold medals, along with 37 silver and 24 bronze, for a total of 159 medals.One of the biggest contributors to that dominance has been swimming, where China finished with 30 golds from 41 events.Teenage sensation Zhang Zhanshuo played a major role in that haul, becoming the first swimmer to win seven gold medals at a single Asian Games. The 19-year-old won the 400m freestyle in 3:41.28 on Friday, adding to titles in the 200m, 800m and 1,500m freestyle as well as three relay golds.His seven-gold haul surpassed the previous Asian Games swimming benchmark of six golds, set by China’s Zhang Yufei at Hangzhou 2022 and Japan’s Rikako Ikee at Jakarta 2018.Only North Korean shooter So Gil San, with seven golds and a silver at the 1982 New Delhi Games, has won more medals at a single Asian Games.China’s dominance was not confined to swimming, with the country continuing to collect gold medals across disciplines. Its 98 golds leave it just two short of the landmark 100-gold mark, while Japan is a distant second with 28.
Asian Games 2026 Medal Tally after Day 6
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | 98 | 37 | 24 | 159 | |
| 2 | Japan | 28 | 43 | 44 | 115 |
| 3 | South Korea | 13 | 17 | 34 | 64 |
| 4 | Kazakhstan | 8 | 8 | 14 | 30 |
| 5 | Uzbekistan | 7 | 15 | 9 | 31 |
| 6 | Thailand | 7 | 6 | 8 | 21 |
| 7 | Iran | 6 | 11 | 7 | 24 |
| 8 | Hong Kong, China | 4 | 11 | 11 | 26 |
| 9 | North Korea | 4 | 4 | 3 | 11 |
| 10 | Bahrain | 4 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| 11 | Malaysia | 4 | 1 | 5 | 10 |
| 12 | INDIA | 2 | 9 | 12 | 23 |
