NEET 2026 AIR 1 Aryan Gupta turned paper leak setback into success, says 'trust your hard work'

Ludhiana: For all NEET UG 2026 aspirants, the cancellation of the original examination after allegations of a paper leak came as a major shock. Months of preparation suddenly seemed uncertain. But for Ludhiana 17-year-old student Aryan Gupta, that setback became an opportunity to improve.

Aryan Gupta, who had spent a year preparing for the medical entrance examination, admitted that the cancellation left him heartbroken. He said he cried after hearing the announcement and found it difficult to process what had happened. However, instead of giving up, he returned to his books the very next day.

It took him about a week to regain his confidence. During that time, his elder brother, an MBBS student, encouraged him to look at the retest differently. Rather than seeing it as an unfair burden, he viewed it as another chance to perform better.

That change in mindset helped Gupta move forward. He also realised that he was not facing the situation alone. Nearly 22 lakh students across the country had to prepare again for the examination. With an extra month available before the retest, he focused on making the most of every day.

His efforts paid off when the National Testing Agency (NTA) announced the NEET UG 2026 results. Aryan Gupta secured 715 out of 720 marks and emerged as the joint All India Rank (AIR) 1 holder along with Haryana's Panshul Bansal.

Gupta had made five mistakes in the cancelled examination but reduced them to just one in the retest. His score was also 29 marks higher than the previous year's top score of 686.

Speaking to PTI after the results, "It still feels surreal like a dream I have not fully woken up from yet."

As per latest media report by IndiaTimes, he is also state-level table tennis player. He scored 98.4% in the CBSE Class 12 medical stream examination and is also a state-level table tennis player. During his preparation, he studied for nearly 16 to 17 hours a day while also taking short breaks to watch OTT and use social media to stay refreshed.

Aryan comes from a family of doctors. His father is an anesthesiologist, his mother is a gynaecologist, and his elder brother is pursuing MBBS. However, he says his decision to become a doctor is driven by a personal experience rather than family tradition.

When he was in Class 3, the student lost his grandmother to Stage 4 cancer. The incident left a deep impact on him, and he decided at a young age that he wanted to become an oncologist and work towards treating cancer patients.

His message to fellow aspirants is not complicated. He does not offer a 10-step formula or a productivity hack. He simply says, "Trust your hard work." 

The National Testing Agency (NTA) declared the results of the National Eligibility Entrance Test (Undergraduate) 2026 re-examination on July 16. This year, nearly 20 lakh candidates appeared for the examination, which was conducted at 5,440 centres across 551 cities in India and 14 cities abroad. Out of them, 11.21 lakh candidates qualified for admission to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH and other allied undergraduate medical programmes. 

A total of 138 candidates scored above 690 marks out of the maximum 720 marks. Of these, more than 93 per cent were appearing for NEET UG for the first time, and nearly 99 per cent belonged to the 17-19 age group. 

The examination was conducted in 13 languages. Among the 138 candidates scoring 690 marks or above, 102 are male, and 36 are female. However, at the national level, women account for more than 58 per cent of the total 11.21 lakh candidates who qualified in NEET UG 2026.

The top 10 All India Rank (AIR) holders include Aryan Gupta of Punjab (AIR 1), Panshul Bansal of Haryana (AIR 2), Uplakshya Goyal of Rajasthan (AIR 3), Ayush Bhalotia of Bihar (AIR 4), Kudale Shravani Krishna of Maharashtra (AIR 5), Riya Ranjan of Bihar (AIR 6), Aryan Dubey of Uttar Pradesh (AIR 7), Geetansh Sarin of Punjab (AIR 8), Gaurav Singh of Rajasthan (AIR 9), and Mohanish Maruti Bhosale of Maharashtra (AIR 10).

Also read- NEET 2026 re-exam results OUT: 11.21 lakh qualify, 138 candidates score above 690