Singapore finished the 2026 Asian Games with 18 medals, ending its campaign in Aichi-Nagoya with 2 golds, 9 silvers and 7 bronzes.
The final tally was a mixed one. According to 8world and CNA, officials said the contingent met its internal medal projections, and the nine silver medals were Singapore’s highest silver count at an Asian Games.
But the two golds were also Singapore’s lowest gold haul at the Games in nearly 30 years, since Singapore also won two golds at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok.
2 Golds, 9 Silvers and 7 Bronzes
Singapore’s two gold medals came from mixed martial arts fighter Tiffany Teo and sprinter Shanti Pereira.
Teo won Singapore’s first gold of the Games in the women’s traditional 60kg MMA final on 22 September. Pereira then retained her women’s 200m title on 27 September, becoming the first woman to win that Asian Games event twice.
Singapore’s silver medals came across several sports, including swimming, athletics, badminton, fencing and sailing.
Among the standout results, swimmer Gan Ching Hwee won three silver medals in the women’s 1,500m, 800m and 400m freestyle events. Shanti Pereira added a silver in the women’s 100m before her 200m gold, while Loh Kean Yew won Singapore’s best-ever Asian Games badminton result by taking silver in the men’s singles.
Fencer Kiria Tikanah also made history with silver in the women’s individual epee, the best Asian Games result by a Singapore fencer.
A Record Number of Silvers
The nine silvers gave Singapore a new high for second-place finishes at the Asian Games.
That said, silver medals are also the most emotionally confusing type of medal, because they often mean “very impressive” and “so close” at the same time.
This was especially clear in events where Singapore athletes were within touching distance of gold. Gan Ching Hwee repeatedly lowered national marks in the pool, Loh Kean Yew reached a historic badminton final, and Singapore’s sailors ended their campaign with three silvers and one bronze.
CNA reported that the sailing result also marked the first Asian Games in 24 years where Singapore’s sailors did not win a gold.
Gold Count Lowest Since 1998
The lower gold count is the other side of the story.
Singapore won three golds at the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou, through Shanti Pereira, Maximilian Maeder and Ryan Lo. The 2026 tally of two golds was therefore one fewer than the last edition.
Historically, Singapore also won two golds at the 1998 Games in Bangkok. Since then, its gold totals at the Asian Games had generally been higher, including the country’s best showing of eight golds at Doha 2006.
This does not mean the 2026 campaign was a failure. The 18-medal total was still higher than Singapore’s 16 medals at Hangzhou 2023.
But it does show the difference between depth and top-end wins. Singapore reached the podium often enough to meet internal expectations, but converting more finals into gold remains the harder part.
What the Result Means
The results also came from a broad spread of sports, with medals in events such as MMA, athletics, swimming, badminton, fencing, sailing, golf and taekwondo.
There were firsts and milestones too. Tiffany Teo delivered Singapore’s first Asian Games MMA gold, Shannon Tan became Singapore’s first Asian Games golf medallist with bronze, and Loh Kean Yew ended Singapore’s long wait for a badminton medal at the Games.
So, the final scorecard is not simply “good” or “bad”.
It was a campaign with enough medals to meet projections, enough silvers to set a national record, and enough near-misses to leave Singapore sport with homework before the next Asian Games.
