Asian Games 2018: Can India break into the top five in medals tally?

History of India's performance at the Asian Games

In the initial editions of the Asian Games, India used to be one of the top medal winners.Their best performance was in the inaugural Asian Games in New Delhi (1951), where they finished in the 2nd position behind Japan. Then they came 3rd in the medals tally in the 1962 Jakarta Asian Games.

Till the 1980s, India used to be consistently in the top 5, in the Asian Games. However, with the rise of China and Korea as sporting superpowers, and with the induction of countries like Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, India slowly but surely lost its position as one of the major sporting nations in Asia.

In the 1990 Beijing Games, they even lost out on a top-10 finish and ended their campaign with a solitary gold medal in kabaddi. This was India's worst ever performance in the Asian Games. From then on, India has produced average performances in the Asian Games over the last few decades.

Their position in the medals tally has been between 6 and 8 for the last three decades, with the best performance coming in the 2010 Guangzhou Games, where they finished 6th with 14 Golds and 65 medals in total.

However, in the last Asian Games in Incheon in 2014, they again dropped two places in the medals tally to finish 8th overall. Countries like Thailand and North Korea went ahead of India, because they had more number of gold and silver medals, although India had more medals in total.

The probable top three at the 2018 Asiad

China, who is one of the top 3 sporting nations of the world, will surely be at the top of the medals tally in the 2018 Asian Games. They have champion players in all the major disciplines like swimming, athletics, shooting, gymnastics, table tennis, badminton, weightlifting etc.

For the 2nd and the 3rd position, there will be a tough competition between the two other big sporting nations from Asia -- Japan and South Korea. The latter were ahead of Japan in the last edition to finish 2nd. However, this time, with no home advantage with them, it will not be easy for them to hold on to their 2nd position.

India's probable position in the 2018 Asian Games

Although the top three positions in the medals tally have very little chance of seeing any new entrant, but for the 4th and the 5th positions, there will be stiff competition among more than half a dozen countries, viz. Iran, Kazakhstan, India, Thailand, North Korea, Qatar, Chinese Taipei, Malaysia and hosts Indonesia.

The last two editions of the Games saw Iran and Kazakhstan in the 4th and 5th spots respectively. With their strength in events like weightlifting, wrestling, shooting etc, they are the favourites to hold on to the 4th and 5th spots this time also.

However, the country which is likely to give them the toughest competition, is India.

Over the last few years, India has improved tremendously in many sports. With very strong and in-form contingents in games like shooting, wrestling, athletics, badminton, squash, tennis, rowing and archery, where there is opportunity of winning quite a few gold medals, India looks set to increase its medals tally.

India will enter the Games as favourites in their traditionally strong events like hockey and kabaddi. With world class athletes in games like table tennis and gymnastics also in their squad, India would hope to win medals in these events too.

With one of the strongest ever squads, India will surely have a great chance of re-entering into the top five of the medals tally, if they perform according to their potential.