Pariksha SaathiServices Athletes' Best-Ever Asian Games: 27 of India's 85 Medals Came from the Armed Forces
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh honoured armed forces sportspersons in New Delhi on 12 October 2026 for their record showing at the Asian Games recently held in Japan. A 92-member Services squad, competing in 19 disciplines, won 27 medals (6 gold, 11 silver, 10 bronze), the best result the Services have ever achieved at the Games. India finished fourth on the medal table with 85 medals, made up of 21 gold, 27 silver and 37 bronze, so the Services alone accounted for roughly a third of the national tally. Several results set firsts for India. Naib Subedar Neeru Dhanda won two golds and a silver and became the first Indian woman to take gold in the individual women's trap event. Naib Subedar Gulveer Singh collected two silvers and a bronze, a haul of three individual athletics medals in a single Games that no Indian man had managed before. Havildar Sawan Barwal's marathon silver, run in a national record of 2:11:37, ended a 44-year gap for India in that event, and Naib Subedar Sarvesh Kushare brought India its first men's high jump medal in 56 years. The Minister urged athletes to aim higher at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Drafted with AI assistance from the official PIB release linked above and checked against it by a second AI pass. Not line-edited by a human.
Learning context
The Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) traces its roots to the Army Sports Control Board, founded in March 1919 on the lines of its British counterpart; the sports bodies of the three Services were merged into the single tri-Service SSCB on 3 April 1945, and it was reconstituted with an inter-Services character in 1947. It remains the body that identifies, trains and fields armed-forces sportspersons for national and international competition.
Reference: Services Sports Control Board’s official website
Check yourself: was the Services Sports Control Board always a combined tri-Service body since 1919?
No — it began in 1919 as the single-service Army Sports Control Board; the three services’ sports bodies were merged into the joint SSCB only in 1945.
Revision task: note this release’s medal count (27 of India’s 85 medals from the Armed Forces) and check it against the standing fact above about which body trains and fields these athletes.
Test yourself
How many of India's 85 medals at the 2026 Asian Games were won by the armed forces' Services squad, its best-ever result?
Show the answer
Answer: 27
The 92-member Services squad won 27 medals (6 gold, 11 silver, 10 bronze) in 19 disciplines, roughly a third of India's tally; Naib Subedar Neeru Dhanda became the first Indian woman to win gold in the individual women's trap event.
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