The ninth Asian Games were held in New Delhi from 19 November to 4 December 1982, with India hosting the continental multi-sport event for the second time.
On home soil, India produced a remarkable improvement over its performance at Bangkok 1978.
India finished 5th in the medal table with:
13 Gold | 19 Silver | 25 Bronze | 57 Medals
The 57-medal haul was more than double India’s 28 medals at the 1978 Asian Games. It was also India’s best overall performance since the inaugural Asian Games in 1951.
Athletics Leads the Way
Athletics remained the foundation of India’s Asian Games campaign, contributing 21 of the country’s 57 medals.
India won four athletics gold medals:
- Charles Borromeo — Men’s 800m
- Bahadur Singh Chouhan — Men’s Shot Put
- Chand Ram — Men’s 20km Walk
- M. D. Valsamma — Women’s 400m Hurdles
The campaign also featured strong performances from P. T. Usha, who won silver in both the 100m and 200m, while Geeta Zutshi added silver in the 800m and 1500m.
Equestrian and Golf Make a Major Impact
One of the most striking features of India’s 1982 campaign was its success in equestrian.
India won three gold medals, with Raghubir Singh taking individual eventing gold, the Indian team winning team eventing, and Rupinder Singh Brar winning individual tent pegging.
Golf also made its Asian Games debut in 1982, and India immediately won both the individual and team gold medals. Laxman Singh won the individual title, while the team of Amit Luthra, Rajiv Mohta, Rishi Narain and Laxman Singh won team gold.
Gold Medals Across Six Other Sports
India’s 13 gold medals came from a broad range of sports.
Kaur Singh won boxing’s heavyweight title, while Satpal Singh won gold in wrestling.
The Indian women’s hockey team won gold, with the men’s team taking silver.
India also won gold in sailing through Farokh Tarapore and Zarir Karanjia in the Fireball class.
Together, these performances showed that India’s success was no longer confined almost entirely to athletics.
1978 vs 1982
| Edition | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bangkok 1978 | 11 | 11 | 6 | 28 | 6th |
| New Delhi 1982 | 13 | 19 | 25 | 57 | 5th |
The improvement was substantial.
India added 29 medals to its previous total, increased its gold-medal tally from 11 to 13, and moved from sixth to fifth in the medal table.
Athletics produced 21 of the 57 medals, while India also won medals in badminton, boxing, equestrian, golf, hockey, rowing, sailing, shooting, tennis, water polo, weightlifting and wrestling.
Complete List of India’s 57 Medal Winners
Gold Medals — 13
| Athlete / Team | Sport | Event |
|---|---|---|
| Charles Borromeo | Athletics | Men’s 800m |
| Bahadur Singh Chouhan | Athletics | Men’s Shot Put |
| Chand Ram | Athletics | Men’s 20km Walk |
| M. D. Valsamma | Athletics | Women’s 400m Hurdles |
| Kaur Singh | Boxing | Men’s 91kg |
| Raghubir Singh | Equestrian | Men’s Individual Eventing |
| Raghubir Singh, Ghulam Mohammed Khan, Bishal Singh, Milkha Singh | Equestrian | Men’s Team Eventing |
| Rupinder Singh Brar | Equestrian | Men’s Individual Tent Pegging |
| Farokh Tarapore & Zarir Karanjia | Sailing | Men’s Fireball |
| Laxman Singh | Golf | Men’s Individual |
| Amit Luthra, Rajiv Mohta, Rishi Narain, Laxman Singh | Golf | Men’s Team |
| Satpal Singh | Wrestling | Men’s 100kg |
| Indian Women’s Hockey Team | Hockey | Women’s Hockey |
Silver Medals — 19
| Athlete / Team | Sport | Event |
|---|---|---|
| K. K. Premachandran | Athletics | Men’s 400m |
| Kuldip Singh | Athletics | Men’s Discus Throw |
| Gopal Saini | Athletics | Men’s 3000m Steeplechase |
| P. T. Usha | Athletics | Women’s 100m |
| P. T. Usha | Athletics | Women’s 200m |
| Geeta Zutshi | Athletics | Women’s 800m |
| Geeta Zutshi | Athletics | Women’s 1500m |
| Mercy Kuttan | Athletics | Women’s Long Jump |
| Rita Sen, Hamida Banu, M. D. Valsamma, Padmini Thomas | Athletics | Women’s 4×400m Relay |
| Girwar Singh | Boxing | Men’s 81kg |
| Rajendra Kumar Puneda | Boxing | Men’s 75kg |
| Ghulam Mohammed Khan | Equestrian | Men’s Individual Eventing |
| Jeejee Unwalla & Fali Unwalla | Sailing | Open Enterprise |
| Rajiv Mohta | Golf | Men’s Individual |
| Indian Men’s Hockey Team | Hockey | Men’s Hockey |
| Sharad Chauhan | Shooting | Men’s 25m Standard Pistol |
| Pranab Kumar Roy, Gurbir Singh, Karni Singh, Randhir Singh | Shooting | Men’s Trap Team |
| Nandan Bal, Enrico Piperno, Jayant Rikhye, Srinivasan, Vasudevan | Tennis | Men’s Team |
| Kartar Singh | Wrestling | Men’s 90kg |
Bronze Medals — 25
| Athlete / Team | Sport | Event |
|---|---|---|
| Suresh Yadav | Athletics | Men’s 1500m |
| Raj Kumar | Athletics | Men’s 5000m |
| Praveen Jolly | Athletics | Men’s 110m Hurdles |
| Hosur Kukkappa Seetharan | Athletics | Men’s Marathon |
| Sammudi Balasubramaniam | Athletics | Men’s Triple Jump |
| Balwinder Singh | Athletics | Men’s Shot Put |
| Gurtej Singh | Athletics | Men’s Javelin Throw |
| Padmini Thomas | Athletics | Women’s 400m |
| Syed Modi | Badminton | Men’s Singles |
| Leroy D’Sa & Pradeep Gandhe | Badminton | Men’s Doubles |
| Leroy D’Sa, Pradeep Gandhe, Partho Ganguli, Syed Modi, Uday Pawar, Vikram Singh | Badminton | Men’s Team |
| Vandana Chiplunkar, Ami Ghia, Madhumita Goswami, Amita Kulkarni, Hufrish Nariman, Kanwal Thakur Singh | Badminton | Women’s Team |
| Leroy D’Sa & Kanwal Thakur Singh | Badminton | Mixed Doubles |
| Jas Lal Pradhan | Boxing | Men’s 60kg |
| C. C. Machaiah | Boxing | Men’s 67kg |
| Muluk Singh | Boxing | Men’s 71kg |
| Prahlad Singh | Equestrian | Men’s Individual Eventing |
| C. S. Pradipak | Sailing | Men’s OK Dinghy |
| Randhir Singh | Shooting | Men’s Trap |
| Gian Singh Cheema | Weightlifting | Men’s 100kg |
| Tara Singh | Weightlifting | Men’s 110kg |
| Ashok Kumar | Wrestling | Men’s 57kg |
| Rajinder Singh | Wrestling | Men’s 100+kg |
| Indian Rowing Team | Rowing | Men’s Coxed Pair |
| Indian Men’s Water Polo Team | Water Polo | Men’s Water Polo |
The official Indian Olympic Association records India’s final tally as 13 gold, 19 silver and 25 bronze medals, placing India fifth.
Why New Delhi 1982 Matters
The 1982 Asian Games marked a major turning point.
India moved from 28 medals in 1978 to 57 in 1982, while the number of gold medals increased from 11 to 13. The country also expanded its medal-winning presence across a much wider range of sports.
Hosting the Games gave Indian sport a major platform, while the performances of athletes such as P. T. Usha, Charles Borromeo, M. D. Valsamma, Kaur Singh, Satpal Singh and Raghubir Singh became part of an important new chapter in India’s sporting history.
New Delhi 1982 was not simply India’s home Games. It was the beginning of a new era in which India began to demonstrate greater depth across multiple sports.
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