Asian Games 2026: From Vidarsa K Vinod to Seema Kumari, 5 Indian medallists who weren't medal favourites before event

India's 2026 Asian Games campaign produced medals from several established names, but the 85-medal haul also included a number of athletes who entered the year without the same level of attention as the country's headline medal contenders.

They weren’t medal favourites ahead of the Asian Games, but they still managed to put up a brilliant display and clinch medals for India.

Their performances in Aichi-Nagoya brought them into the spotlight, with some also creating firsts for Indian sport.

Seema Kumari

Seema Kumari emerged as one of India's most significant distance-running stories in Nagoya. The long-distance runner from Himachal Pradesh won bronze in the women's 10,000m, clocking 32:50.05.

The race was tactical, with Seema staying in contention before eventually securing third place behind Bahrain's Winfred Yavi and Japan's Nozomi Tanaka. Her medal ended India's long wait for a women's 10,000m medal at the Asian Games.

The result was the culmination of a strong 2026 season. Seema had established herself in the 5,000m and 10,000m, recording personal bests of 15:16.20 and 32:02.43 respectively. She also won the 10,000m at the National Inter-State Championships.

Her Asian Games medal therefore represented a significant step up on the continental stage.

Vidarsa K Vinod

Vidarsa K Vinod's journey to an Asian Games medal began almost by accident. She first encountered shooting through an NCC trial at college in 2018, without having undergone formal training beforehand.

The Kozhikode native eventually developed into an international rifle shooter.

At Aichi-Nagoya, Vidarsa was part of India's silver-winning women's 10m air rifle team alongside Elavenil Valarivan and Sonam Uttam Maskar. Vidarsa shot 630.4, contributing to India's team score of 1898.

Prachi Choudhary

Prachi Choudhary had already represented India in relay competitions, but an individual Asian Games medal had remained beyond her reach.

That changed in Nagoya when she clocked 53.21 seconds to finish third in the women's 400m final. Bahrain's Salwa Naser won gold in a Games-record 49.20 seconds, while Iran's Zahra Zarei Manoujan took silver in 52.38. India's Kiran Pahal finished fifth in the same final.

Prachi's 2026 season also included a personal best of 52.57 seconds, recorded in August. Her bronze was her first individual Asian Games medal.

Pooja Singh

Pooja Singh became another relatively low-profile Indian athlete to produce a historic podium finish. The 19-year-old cleared 1.84m to win bronze in the women's high jump.

She briefly moved into first place after clearing 1.84m, but could not clear 1.87m in three attempts. Uzbekistan's Sayfullaeva won gold at 1.90m, while Kazakhstan's Kristina Ovchinnikova took silver at 1.87m.

Pooja had, however, been building towards the breakthrough. Earlier in the season, she surpassed Sahana Kumari's 14-year-old Indian national record by clearing 1.93m at the Asian Under-20 Athletics Championships. Her Asian Games bronze was India's first women's high jump medal at the event since Bobby Aloysius won silver in 2002.

Neeraj Chauhan

Neeraj Chauhan produced one of the quieter breakthroughs of India’s Asian Games 2026 campaign by winning bronze in the men’s individual recurve event.

He defeated compatriot Dhiraj Bommadevara 6-4 in the bronze-medal match, becoming only the second Indian man to win an individual recurve medal at the Asian Games after Tarundeep Rai.

Chauhan’s journey was unconventional. He initially trained in boxing before taking up archery and, during the COVID-19 lockdown, helped his family by selling vegetables after his father lost his job. His rise eventually earned him a Sports Ministry scholarship and an ITBP sports-quota position.