21 golds: Asian Games show depth. Now fund the athletes who are next

India came home from Aichi-Nagoya with 85 medals, 21 of them gold. The total is short of Hangzhou’s record 107, but the way they were won is more encouraging than the number.

Pranavi Urs became the first Indian woman to win Asian Games golf gold. Kumkum Mohod, 17, became the first Indian woman to win an individual recurve archery medal, and she won gold by beating a South Korean in a shoot-off. Both hockey teams won gold and qualified directly for Los Angeles 2028. The cricketers kept both their titles. On the final Saturday alone, India won gold in five different sports.

Breadth is the real achievement

For decades, India’s medals came from a few sports and a few heroes. Breadth matters because it means more than one route to the podium, more role models in more states, and less dependence on any single athlete staying fit.

The money problem

The weakness in Indian sport funding has always been timing. Prize money, government jobs and sponsorships pour in after a medal. The years of coaching, travel to competitions and equipment that produce a medal are often paid for by families who can least afford it.

• Identify the next 200 athletes now, in the age group just below the medallists, and fund their international competition for the full four-year cycle.
• Give state-level coaches stable salaries and contracts linked to athlete development, not just medals.
• Protect the sports that just broke through. Golf and women’s archery need domestic tournaments and facilities, not only one star.
• Publish where national sports funding goes, by sport and by athlete tier, every year.

India is also bidding to host the 2036 Olympics. The athletes who would compete at a home Games are children today. The time to back them is now, not when they reach a podium.

The Rostrum View is The Daily Rostrum’s house editorial. Disagree? Send us a guest editorial.

Sources: Our Asian Games wrap, Khel Now.