India at Asian Athletics Championships: History, records, medals and all you need to know
India topped the Asian Athletics Championships just once, at Bhubaneswar in 2017. PT Usha is the most successful athlete with a record haul of 23 medals!
Athletics
India is one of the nine member federations of the Asian Athletics Association that has taken part in all the editions of the Asian Athletics Championships so far.
The inaugural Asian Athletics Championships were held in Marikina, the Philippines in 1973. India finished with 16 medals – four gold, six silver and six bronze.
India’s biggest haul at the Asian Athletics Championships, however, came at Bhubaneswar in 2017 where the country’s athletes bagged 27 medals in all – nine gold, six silver and 12 bronze. India topped the medals tally for the first time.
India won 27 medals at Bangkok 2023 too with six gold, 12 silver and nine bronze.
In terms of top podium finishes, however, Jakarta 1985 was India’s most successful campaign with 10 gold, five silver and seven bronze. Four of the 10 gold medals were won by PT Usha in individual events. India finished second behind the People's Republic of China (19 gold medals) in the overall standings that year.
China have led the Asian championships medals table 17 times out of the 24 editions so far.
Manila 2003 saw India’s worst performance at the Asian athletics championships. They managed to win three silvers and as many bronze while drawing a blank in the gold medals column.
Asian Athletics Championships: India’s medals by each edition
Bhubaneswar 2017 was one of three times India hosted the Asian Athletics Championships. The country first hosted the event in New Delhi in 1989 and then in Pune in 2013.
Most successful athlete at Asian Championships: PT Usha
India trail only China and Japan in the all-time medal tally. But it is India’s PT Usha who stands out as the most successful athlete at the Asian Championships with a record haul of 23 medals, including 14 gold.
Of the 23 medals, PT Usha won 15 in individual events – 10 gold, three silver and two bronze. The rest were in 4x100m and 4x400m relay races.
In fact, PT Usha ruled the 400m event in the eighties, bagging four golds in a row from 1983 to 1989. She claimed another bronze at Fukuoka 1998.
Indian women, in fact, have excelled in the individual 400m event at the continental championship over the years, winning 24 medals – seven gold, nine silver and eight bronze.
PT Usha’s medal record at Asian Athletics Championships
Indian women, though, have enjoyed the most success in the 4x400m relay where they have won nine gold medals, along with seven silver and three bronze. PT Usha won three of her gold medals and a silver in the 4x400m relay.
The Indian women’s 4x400m relay team of Rajwinder Kaur, Sathi Geetha, Chitra K. Soman and Manjeet Kaur also hold the meet record with 3:30.93 set at Incheon 2005.
It is one of three meet records held by India at the Asian Athletics Championships. The other two came at Wuhan 2015 where Inderjeet Singh set the men’s shot put record with a throw of 20.41m while Lalita Babar registered the women’s 3000m steeplechase mark with 9:34.13.
Asian Athletics Championships: Meet records set by Indians
In the men’s category, India’s most successful event has been in the shot put where they have won 10 gold medals so far alongside eight silver and 11 bronze.