Sunday should have been a good day as India won seven medals on Day 8 of the 2026 Asian Games, taking its medal tally to 37.

This number would be headline news, but here in Aichi-Nagoya, it only means India has slipped from 10th to 12th place despite the seven new medals.

All seven new medals were either silver in squash or athletics, with no gold. It explains why India fell down in the ranks.

The nations ahead of India turned their medals into golds because of the total medal count criterion for the ranking table.

Sunday summed up the disparity effectively as Parul Chaudhary made history by breaking the national record in her pursuit of a bronze in the women’s 3000m steeplechase.

Tejaswin Sawant, Sarvesh Kushare and Ancy Sojan were winners in athletics. Anahat Singh and Abhay Singh in squash managed to reach their respective singles finals but lost out on a gold medal.

Seven medals without a win on the scoreboard shows how much effort you had put into winning them.

As the 9th day ends, India has won four gold, 16 silver and 17 bronze medals for a total of 37, enough for a number 12 in the standings.

Well behind China’s 202 medals, including 117 gold, followed by Japan and South Korea.

So far, India’s gold medals have come in three events, which include kabaddi, shooting and cricket.

Both the men’s and women’s kabaddi teams were successful in defending their title against Iran. In cricket, the women’s team secured a gold medal.

Day 7 also produced seven medals, matching Sunday’s number exactly, but that day carried two golds alongside three silvers and two bronzes, both wins coming from kabaddi’s golden sweep.

This helped India hold the 10th spot in the ranking table, but hours later, same medal count, same effort, but zero golds, and the country dropped two spots.

India is winning medals in every sport, including athletics, squash, shooting, and boxing, where Parveen Hooda, Ankush Panghal and Narender have all pushed through to the semifinals.

A well-earned silver medal doesn’t move a country up the table the way gold does.

With China, Japan and South Korea continuing to dominate finals across every sport, India’s road back into the top ten depends less on how many medals show up each day with the breakdown of gold.