The 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, marked a major milestone in India’s sporting history.

After winning 53 medals in Doha in 2006, India produced an even stronger performance in Guangzhou, finishing 6th in the medal table with:

14 Gold | 17 Silver | 34 Bronze | 65 Medals

The 65-medal haul surpassed India’s previous record of 57 medals at the 1982 Asian Games and, at the time, became India’s best-ever performance at the Asian Games.

India’s success was not dependent on one sport.

Athletics produced 12 medals, boxing nine, shooting eight, tennis five and rowing five. India also won medals in archery, cue sports, squash, wushu, chess, roller sports, swimming and gymnastics.

Guangzhou therefore represented something bigger than a record medal tally.

It showed that Indian sport was becoming deeper and more diverse.

Athletics Leads Another Strong Campaign

Athletics once again played a central role in India’s Asian Games campaign, producing 12 medals — five gold, two silver and five bronze.

The gold medals came from:

• Preeja Sreedharan — 10,000m
• Sudha Singh — 3000m steeplechase
• Ashwini Akkunji — 400m hurdles
• Joseph Abraham — 400m hurdles
• Women’s 4×400m relay

Ashwini Akkunji’s Golden Double

One of the defining stories of Guangzhou was Ashwini Akkunji.

She won the women’s 400m hurdles, setting a personal best of 56.15 seconds, and then returned to the track as part of India’s victorious 4×400m relay team.

In the relay, Akkunji joined Manjeet Kaur, Sini Jose and Mandeep Kaur.

The quartet clocked 3:29.02 to win gold.

It was India’s third consecutive Asian Games gold in the women’s 4×400m relay, following victories in 2002 and 2006.

The Guangzhou performance established Akkunji as one of the stars of India’s golden athletics generation.

Preeja Sreedharan’s Double

Preeja Sreedharan also had an outstanding campaign.

She won gold in the women’s 10,000m and followed it with silver in the 5000m.

Kavita Raut won silver in the 10,000m and bronze in the 5000m, giving India a particularly strong distance-running campaign.

Boxing Produces Two Gold Medals

Indian boxing continued its rapid rise.

India won nine boxing medals, including two golds.

Vikas Krishan Yadav won gold in the men’s 60kg category.

Vijender Singh, already an Olympic bronze medallist from Beijing 2008, won gold in the men’s 75kg category.

The boxing team also collected three silver and four bronze medals.

Among the bronze medallists was M. C. Mary Kom, who won bronze in the women’s 51kg category.

Her Guangzhou medal came just four years before women’s boxing made its Olympic debut at London 2012.

Somdev Devvarman’s Golden Guangzhou

Tennis produced another major highlight.

Somdev Devvarman won the men’s singles gold medal and then teamed up with Sanam Singh to win the men’s doubles title.

Somdev’s singles triumph was particularly significant. He became the first Indian to reach the men’s singles final in Asian Games history and then went on to win the gold.

India’s tennis tally also included:

• Sania Mirza & Vishnu Vardhan — Mixed Doubles Silver
• Indian Men’s Team — Bronze
• Sania Mirza — Women’s Singles Bronze

Tennis finished with two gold, one silver and two bronze medals.

Bajrang Lal Takhar Makes Rowing History

One of the most important individual achievements of Guangzhou came on the water.

Bajrang Lal Takhar won gold in the men’s single sculls.

It was India’s first-ever Asian Games gold medal in rowing.

Takhar completed the 2,000m race in 7:04.78, finishing ahead of Chinese Taipei’s Wang Ming Hui and Iraq’s Haeider Hamarasheid.

India’s rowers had an outstanding Games overall, winning five medals:

1 Gold | 3 Silver | 1 Bronze

The women’s coxless pair of Pratima Puhan and Pramila Prava Minz also won India’s first-ever women’s rowing medal at the Asian Games — bronze.

Pankaj Advani Continues His Rise

Cue sports once again produced an Indian gold medal.

Pankaj Advani won the men’s English billiards singles title.

Advani’s victory continued the country’s strong tradition in cue sports and added another Asian Games gold to a career that would eventually become one of the most decorated in Indian sport.

India won four cue-sports medals in Guangzhou:

• Pankaj Advani — Gold, English Billiards Singles
• Yasin Merchant, Aditya Mehta & Brijesh Damani — Silver, Snooker Team
• Alok Kumar — Bronze, 8-Ball Singles
• Aditya Mehta — Bronze, Snooker Singles

Kabaddi: Two Golds for India

Guangzhou was a historic edition for Indian kabaddi.

The Indian men’s team retained its title, continuing the extraordinary run that had begun when men’s kabaddi became an Asian Games medal sport in 1990.

But Guangzhou also marked the beginning of a new chapter.

Women’s kabaddi made its Asian Games debut as a medal event in 2010, and India won the inaugural gold.

India defeated Thailand 28–14 in the final to claim the title.

For the first time, India left an Asian Games with both men’s and women’s kabaddi gold medals.

Shooting Remains an Important Medal Sport

Shooting contributed eight medals in Guangzhou:

1 Gold | 3 Silver | 4 Bronze.

Ronjan Sodhi won gold in men’s double trap.

India also won silver through Gagan Narang, the men’s 10m air rifle team, the women’s 10m air pistol team and others, while Vijay Kumar won two individual bronze medals.

The Guangzhou Games were another important step in the careers of several shooters who would become major figures in Indian sport.

Archery, Squash and Wushu Add Depth

India’s medal-winning base continued to expand.

Archery

India won three medals:

• Tarundeep Rai — Silver, Men’s Individual
• Deepika Kumari, Dola Banerjee & Rimil Buriuly — Bronze, Women’s Team
• Rahul Banerjee, Tarundeep Rai & Mangal Singh Champia — Bronze, Men’s Team

For Deepika Kumari, still a teenager, Guangzhou was an early major international medal on the senior stage.

Squash

India won three bronze medals:

• Saurav Ghosal — Men’s Singles
• Indian Women’s Team
• Indian Men’s Team

Wushu

India won silver through Sandhyarani Devi Wangkhem and bronze through M. Bimoljit Singh.

First Asian Games Medals in Gymnastics and Roller Sports

Guangzhou also expanded India’s medal history into newer disciplines.

Ashish Kumar won bronze in men’s floor exercise, giving India its first Asian Games medal in gymnastics.

India also won its first Asian Games medals in roller sports, with Anup Kumar Yama winning bronze in men’s free skating and partnering Avani Bharat Kumar Panchal for another bronze in pairs skating.

These were small but important signs of India’s sporting diversification.

India’s 65 Medals at Guangzhou 2010

Gold Medals — 14

Silver Medals — 17

Bronze Medals — 34

The medal-winner list above follows the current IOA record and your uploaded medal-winner workbook; the current OCA record also gives India 14 gold, 17 silver and 34 bronze.

2006 to 2010: India Breaks Through

The improvement was substantial.

India added 12 medals to its overall tally, increased its gold medals from 10 to 14, retained the same number of silver medals and added eight more bronze medals.

The 65-medal haul surpassed India’s previous best of 57 medals at New Delhi 1982.

India also moved from 8th to 6th in the medal table.

More importantly, the medal-winning base continued to expand.

Together, these sports accounted for the overwhelming majority of India’s 65 medals.

Why Guangzhou 2010 Matters

The 2010 Asian Games were a landmark moment in India’s modern sporting history.

The country had moved from the 23-medal campaigns of the early 1990s to 35 medals in 1998, 36 in 2002, 53 in 2006 and finally 65 in Guangzhou.

The story was no longer restricted to traditional strengths.

Ashwini Akkunji and India’s golden women’s relay generation continued their dominance.

Vijender Singh and Vikas Krishan underlined the rise of Indian boxing.

Somdev Devvarman delivered a memorable tennis double.

Pankaj Advani continued India’s success in cue sports.

Bajrang Lal Takhar opened a new chapter in rowing.

Deepika Kumari began her Asian Games journey.

Ashish Kumar brought India its first Asian Games gymnastics medal.

Anup Kumar Yama opened the medal account in roller sports.

And in kabaddi, India won both men’s and women’s gold, with the women’s title coming in the sport’s inaugural Asian Games appearance.

Guangzhou 2010 therefore represented more than a record.

It showed that Indian sport was becoming deeper, broader and increasingly competitive across disciplines.

Four years later, India would travel to Incheon 2014, where the medal tally would fall to 57 — but several athletes who emerged in Guangzhou would continue to shape India’s sporting story.