New Delhi [India], October 4 (ANI): BJP leader and President of the Archery Association of India (AAI), Arjun Munda, praised India's archers and coaches for their medal-winning performances at the Asian Games 2026, saying the country's positive sporting environment has encouraged athletes to prepare for the next Olympics. 

He also called for greater support for archery through the Archery Premier League and urged the public to further promote and back Indian archers.

Five gold medals, nine podium finishes and a string of historic milestones made archery one of India's standout disciplines at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya. Young recurve star Kumkum Mohod emerged as one of the leading figures of the campaign, while India also enjoyed significant success across the compound events.

'It feels wonderful. We are proud of our archers and coaches for winning medals for the country; no amount of praise is enough for this achievement. A very positive sporting atmosphere has been created in the country under the leadership of the Prime Minister. Our athletes have already begun preparing for the next Olympics with this competition in mind, and they have received great encouragement from this environment. We must make continuous efforts to encourage our athletes through the Archery Premier League. We call upon the people of the country to make archery-which is already a popular sport-even more popular and to support our athletes, as they are playing for the nation,' Munda told ANI. 

Recurve archery coach Sonam Tshering Bhutia hailed India's historic campaign, highlighting the women's team's first-ever Asian Games gold and the team's record-breaking qualification performance. 

He also praised India for overcoming South Korea's dominance with two gold medals, while expressing confidence about the team's prospects at the LA28 Olympics.

'We've made history; the women's team won a gold medal for the first time, and we also set an Asian Games record during the qualification round. Along with that, we won silver in the mixed team event, Dheeraj and Kumkum. And the biggest achievement: Korea used to dominate the world of archery, but we overcame that dominance to win two gold medals. We became Asian Games champions, and our women's team secured the gold medal... We've also qualified for LA28; we'll hoist our tricolour there as well,' Bhutia told ANI. 

Indian archers secured nine medals from 10 events - five gold, two silver and two bronze - matching their record haul from the 2023 Hangzhou Games and making archery India's most successful discipline in terms of gold medals at the Games. (ANI)