Aichi: Mirabai Chanu breaks the long 28-year wait as she successfully claims silver in the women’s 49kg weightlifting category, marking her first medal at the Asian Games. Meanwhile, Jay Meena creates history by claiming bronze in soft tennis, securing India’s first-ever Asian Games medal in the sport. Shooting continues its strong medal-winning run, with Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Bhavtegh Singh Gill claiming bronze in the men’s skeet team event, giving India its second medal in skeet. Earlier, Raiza Dhillon, Parinaaz Dhaliwal and Maheshwari Chauhan won bronze in the women’s skeet team event. In badminton, the men’s team secured bronze after going down 3-1 in the semi-final, while in wushu, Roshibina Devi booked her place in the women’s 60kg sanda final and will fight for gold. India enjoyed another productive and eventful Day 4 at the Asian Games 2026 on Wednesday, September 23, in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
India is currently ranked eighth in the Asian Games 2026 medal table, with its medal tally standing at 11 medals — 1 gold, 5 silver and 5 bronze after four days. Weightlifting, shooting, soft tennis and badminton added to India’s medal tally on the day, while the women’s hockey team continued their dominant run with a commanding 20-1 victory over Thailand. Deepika Sehrawat produced a stunning nine-goal performance, the most by an Indian woman in a single hockey match at the Asian Games. India’s men’s kabaddi team remained unbeaten after defeating Bangladesh 48-25, while the women’s team secured a convincing 37-23 victory over Iran. In boxing, Ankush Panghal advanced to the Round of 16 with a commanding 5-0 victory. In table tennis, Manush Shah-Diya Chitale and Harmeet Desai-Yashaswini Ghorpade progressed to the mixed doubles quarter-finals. In squash, Abhay Singh cruised into the last 16, while Tanvi Khanna made a strong start to her women’s singles campaign. There were setbacks as well. Manu Bhaker finished fifth in the women’s 10m air pistol final, while Gisho Nidhi KP exited the men’s sabre after losing to Kazakhstan’s Artyom Sarkissyan. India’s men’s sepak takraw campaign also came to an end despite a 2-1 victory over the Philippines.
Soft Tennis
Jay Meena won a historic bronze medal in the men’s singles in soft tennis after losing 4-2 to Japan’s Kurosaka in the semi-final. He lost the first three sets before mounting a spirited comeback, winning the fourth and fifth sets to reduce the deficit to 2-3. However, Kurosaka won the sixth set 4-1 to seal the contest, as Meena became India’s first-ever Asian Games medallist in soft tennis.
Sepak Takraw
The Indian men’s team’s regu campaign came to an end in Group B despite a 2-1 victory over the Philippines in their final tie. India won the opening two matches but lost the deciding match 2-0 (17-15, 15-11). After earlier defeats to Japan and Malaysia, India needed a 3-0 victory over the Philippines to keep their hopes of progressing alive.
Rowing
In the men’s single sculls, Balraj Panwar finished third in his heat with a time of 6:52.84s. He recorded the fourth-fastest time overall across the two heats, securing qualification for Final A. In the men’s double sculls, Satnam Singh and Salman Khan finished second in their heat with a time of 6:15.63s. They were fourth overall across the two heats and qualified for the final, scheduled for tomorrow.
In the men’s pair, Jaswinder Singh and Nitin Kumar finished fourth in their heat with a time of 6:36.90s, more than 16 seconds behind the heat leaders. They will compete in Final B, which does not offer a medal opportunity. In the women’s four, Gurbani Kaur, Poonam, Tendenthoi Devi Haobijam and Aleena Anto finished third in their heat in 6:45.75s, securing qualification for the women’s four final, scheduled for tomorrow.
In the lightweight men’s double sculls, Rohit and Ujjwal Kumar Singh qualified for the final after clocking 6:51.30s in their heat. The final is scheduled for tomorrow. In the men’s quadruple sculls, Arvind Singh, Kulwinder Singh, Navdeep Singh and Jakar Khan finished third in their heat with a time of 6:18.62s, recording the fourth-fastest time overall and securing qualification for Final A, which will be held tomorrow at the Nagaragawa International Regatta Course.
In the men’s four, Ghurde Vipul Satish, Saurav Kumar, Babu Lal Yadav and Yogesh Kumar were eliminated after finishing last in their heat with a time of 6:30.47s.
Shooting
In shooting, India produced a highly productive day by winning two bronze medals in the skeet team events on Wednesday. At the same time, several Indian shooters came close to winning additional medals, with Raiza Dhillon, Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Manu Bhaker all narrowly missing out on individual podium finishes.
India’s Parinaaz Dhaliwal, Raiza Dhillon and Maheshwari Chauhan combined to win the bronze medal in the women’s skeet team competition. The Indian trio recorded a combined 331 hits across the five qualification rounds. Raiza and Parinaaz were India’s leading performers, scoring 111 hits each, while Maheshwari added 109. China dominated the competition, winning gold with an Asian Games record of 357 hits. Kazakhstan took silver with 336, while South Korea finished fourth with 324.
Raiza Dhillon and Parinaaz Dhaliwal also qualified for the women’s individual skeet final after finishing eighth and ninth, respectively, in qualification. Raiza came extremely close to securing another medal, finishing fourth with 23 hits, while Parinaaz finished eighth with eight hits. China’s Jiang Yiting won the individual gold medal with an Asian Games record of 35 hits. Thailand’s Isarapa Imprasertsuk won silver with 31, while Kazakhstan’s Assem Orynbay took bronze with 28.
India claimed another bronze medal in the men’s skeet team event through Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Bhavtegh Singh Gill. India and Kazakhstan both finished with 346 hits, forcing a shoot-off for the bronze-medal position. India prevailed in the shoot-off to secure third place. Anantjeet was India’s leading performer in qualification, finishing fifth with 119 hits. Mairaj Ahmad Khan recorded 116 hits to finish 12th, while Bhavtegh Singh Gill scored 111 and finished 29th.
Anantjeet reached the men’s individual skeet final but narrowly missed the podium, finishing fourth with 25 hits. Qatar’s Rashid Saleh Al-Athba won gold with an Asian Games record of 34 hits. China’s Lyu Jianlin claimed silver with 33, while Chinese Taipei’s Lee Meng-Yuan took bronze with 29.
Anantjeet and Maheshwari Chauhan had also come close to an Olympic medal together at Paris 2024, losing the mixed skeet bronze-medal match to China by just one hit.
India’s double Olympic bronze medallist Manu Bhaker was unable to add an Asian Games medal in the women’s 10m air pistol individual event. Manu qualified for the final in third place with 579-20x and remained in medal contention during the elimination stages. However, she eventually finished fifth with 181.1.
South Korea’s Choo Ga-eun won gold with an Asian Games record of 246.3. China’s Shen Yiyao took silver with 241.3, while Jiang Ranxin won bronze with 221.6.
Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh and Suruchi Singh also narrowly missed a medal in the women’s 10m air pistol team event. The Indian trio finished fourth with an aggregate score of 1719, the same score recorded by the bronze medallists, Vietnam.
Canoe Sprint:
India’s Megha Pradeep finished fifth in the women’s canoe single 200m heat with a time of 49.675s. She missed out on direct qualification for Final A but advanced to the semi-finals. Megha Pradeep also teamed up with Neha Devi Leichonbam in the women’s canoe double 500m, where the duo finished fifth in their heat to secure a place in the semi-finals.
In the men’s kayak four 500m, the quartet of Oinam Arun Singh, Harshwardhan Singh Shaktawat, Varinder Singh and Naocha Singh Laitonjam finished third in their heat with a time of 1:29.447s, securing direct qualification for Final A.
India also made progress in the kayak double 500m events. Prohit Baroi and Prasanna Kumar CS finished fifth in their men’s kayak double 500m heat to advance to the semi-finals, while Parvathy Geetha and Phairembam Soniya Devi also progressed to the semi-finals in the women’s kayak double 500m after completing their heat.
Equestrian
Ashish Limaye, riding Willy Be Dun, finished 12th overall. He began the competition with a 14th-place finish in the dressage phase, where he accumulated 35.50 penalty points, keeping himself within striking distance of the top 10. In the jumping phase, he delivered a strong and faultless performance, completing clear rounds without adding any penalties to his score. In the cross-country phase, he picked up 9.00 time and hurdle penalty points over the course. He finished the competition with a total of 44.50 penalty points to secure 12th place overall.
Fouaad Mirza, meanwhile, was retired during the cross-country phase. He finished 26th in the dressage phase following a difficult opening round, accumulating 38.70 penalty points. He responded well in the jumping phase, navigating the stadium course cleanly to advance to the final day. However, his campaign came to an end during the cross-country phase when he retired mid-course following a critical horse refusal at an obstacle.
Arjan Singh Nagra was eliminated during the jumping phase. The Asian Games debutant produced a solid opening performance in dressage, finishing 23rd with 38.20 penalty points. However, he was eliminated during Tuesday’s technical jumping round after incurring disqualifying penalties, which prevented him from starting the cross-country segment.
The Indian eventing team collectively placed seventh after the dressage stage with a combined score of 112.40 penalty points. However, following Arjan Singh Nagra’s elimination in jumping and Fouaad Mirza’s retirement during cross-country, Team India was unable to post the required three complete scores. As a result, the team finished eighth overall on the official active scoreboard.
In the individual event, China’s Alex Hua Tian won gold with 26.90 penalty points, while Thailand’s Woraphat Sittiju claimed silver with 30.10 penalty points and Japan’s Yoshiaki Oiwa secured bronze with 31.70 penalty points. In the team event, Thailand won gold with a total of 109.90 penalty points, securing their first team eventing gold in 28 years.
Table Tennis
India’s mixed doubles campaign received a major boost as both pairs secured their places in the quarter-finals following impressive Round of 16 performances. Manush Shah and Diya Chitale produced a dominant display against Ahmed Moosa and Nazim Aishath of the Maldives, registering a convincing 3-0 (11-0, 11-7, 11-6) victory. They were particularly impressive in the opening game, completely denying their opponents a single point. They will face Hong Kong’s Chun Ting Wong and Hoi Kem Doo in the quarter-finals on September 25.
Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade also advanced with a 3-1 (11-6, 11-5, 10-12, 11-7) victory over Hong Kong’s Yiu Kwan To and Ng Wing Lam. After dropping a closely contested third game, the Indian pair responded strongly in the fourth to close out the match and book their place in the quarter-finals.
These results came after India’s men’s and women’s team campaigns ended without a medal on September 22. The women defeated Thailand 3-2 in the Round of 16 before suffering a 0-3 defeat to North Korea in the quarter-finals. The men, who finished second in Group F behind Iran, were knocked out by South Korea 0-3, although Manush Shah pushed World No. 23 Oh Junsung to a closely fought five-game contest. The mixed doubles victories have therefore given India a fresh opportunity to challenge for a medal in the knockout stages.
Fencing
India’s Gisho Nidhi KP advanced to the men’s sabre individual Round of 16 after securing a 15-8 victory over Laos’ Quentin Geoffroy. He then faced Kazakhstan’s Artyom Sarkissyan in the next round. Karan Singh, meanwhile, bowed out after a narrow 15-14 defeat to China’s Shaotong Luo.
India’s Mina Devi Naorem and Joys Ashitha Stalinraj were eliminated in the Round of 32 of the women’s foil individual event. Mina Devi suffered a 15-3 defeat to South Korea’s Park Jihee, while Ashitha Stalinraj was beaten 15-14 by Kazakhstan’s Alyona Gnoyeva, bringing India’s challenge in the event to an end.
Swimming
India’s Aneesh Sunil and Vedaant Madhavan narrowly missed out on the men’s 200m freestyle final. Aneesh clocked 1:51.20s to finish 11th overall, while Vedaant recorded 1:52.01s to finish 13th. In the men’s 100m butterfly, Rohit Benedicton finished fourth in his heat with a time of 53.08s, placing 13th overall and missing out on the final.
Only the top 10 swimmers advanced to the final, with Aneesh Sunil finishing as the first reserve. India’s other swimmer, Sajan Prakash, did not start his heat.
Kabaddi
India’s men’s team remained unbeaten in the group stage with a dominant 48-25 victory over Bangladesh, securing their third consecutive win. The defending champions produced another commanding performance, inflicting three all-outs during the contest and strengthening their grip on the top spot in the Group A standings. India will face Chinese Taipei in their next match tomorrow.
India’s women’s kabaddi team also continued their impressive campaign, defeating Iran 37-23 to make it back-to-back wins in Group A, following their earlier victory over Bangladesh. After a closely contested first half, with India holding a narrow four-point lead at the break, the defending champions stepped up their intensity after the interval and pulled away to seal a comfortable victory. India inflicted two all-outs on Iran, one in each half, to secure another convincing win.
Boxing
India’s Ankush Panghal advanced to the men’s 80kg Round of 16 after registering a convincing 5-0 unanimous-decision victory over Bahrain’s Hamsa Vogel. The Commonwealth Games 2026 gold medallist controlled the contest from the outset, dictating the pace and keeping his opponent under pressure. Vogel struggled to land clean punches as Panghal maintained his composure and control throughout the bout, comfortably securing his place in the next round.
Weightlifting
Mirabai Chanu clinched a silver medal in the women’s 49kg weightlifting event with a total lift of 198kg (87kg in the snatch + 111kg in the clean and jerk), securing her first Asian Games medal. The achievement ended a 28-year wait, as it was India’s first Asian Games weightlifting medal since Karnam Malleswari won silver at the 1998 Bangkok Games. Chanu lifted 87kg in the snatch before producing a best lift of 111kg in the clean and jerk. That effort was enough to secure silver and bring an end to India’s long 28-year wait for an Asian Games weightlifting medal. The Olympic medallist opened her clean and jerk campaign with 107kg before improving to 111kg with her second attempt. The silver also completes Mirabai Chanu’s medal collection across the Olympics, Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.
Ri Song Gum won gold with a record-breaking total of 215kg, lifting 94kg in the snatch and 121kg in the clean and jerk. Indonesia’s Luluk Diana Tri Wijayana claimed bronze with a total of 191kg.
India’s Gyaneshwari Yadav finished eighth in the women’s 53kg event with a total lift of 195kg, following an 87kg snatch and 108kg clean and jerk. She successfully lifted 84kg and 87kg in the snatch before missing her final attempt at 90kg. In the clean and jerk, she missed her opening 105kg attempt but cleared it on her second try before successfully lifting 108kg with her final attempt.
Squash
India’s Veer Chotrani advanced to the men’s singles pre-quarter-finals with a convincing 3-0 (11-8, 11-3, 11-3) victory over Shamil Wakeel. His win completed a perfect start for India’s squash players, with Abhay Singh and Tanvi Khanna also securing victories in their opening matches in straight games. Asian Games medallist and junior world champion Anahat Singh received an opening-round bye and will begin her campaign in the pre-quarter-finals tomorrow.
Tanvi Khanna also made an impressive start to her women’s singles campaign, cruising to a 3-0 (11-5, 11-7, 11-5) victory over the Republic of Korea’s Kim Dami. She will face Singapore’s Wai Yhann Au Yeong in the Round of 16 tomorrow. Meanwhile, Asian Games medallist Abhay Singh stormed into the men’s singles Round of 16 after comfortably defeating Thailand’s Arkaradet Arkarahirunya 3-0. Singh produced a dominant display, conceding just three points throughout the match as he won 11-1, 11-0, 11-2.
Badminton
India’s men’s team secured the bronze medal in badminton after suffering a 3-1 defeat to China in the semi-final. Lakshya Sen faced world champion Shi Yuqi in the opening singles match. Despite a closely fought contest, Sen went down 16-21, 18-21, putting India 0-1 behind.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty then brought India back into the contest with a strong 21-11, 22-20 victory over China’s world No. 3 pair, Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang. The win levelled the tie at 1-1 and kept India firmly in contention.
In the third match, youngster Ayush Shetty fought hard against world No. 12 Li Shifeng but eventually went down 19-21, 13-21, handing China a 2-1 lead. In the fourth and decisive rubber, Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun put up a determined fight against He Ji Ting and Liu Yi but lost 16-21, 21-17, 9-21. The result sent China into the final and confirmed India’s bronze-medal finish.
China advanced to the final after defeating India 3-1, with the gold and silver medals to be decided on September 24. India officially secured the bronze medal following their semi-final exit on September 23.
Hockey
India’s women’s hockey team continued their dominant start to the Asian Games with a commanding 20-1 victory over Thailand, making it three wins from three in Pool B and taking their impressive goal tally to 56. Deepika Sehrawat was the star of the show, producing a sensational nine-goal performance — the most by an Indian woman in a single Asian Games hockey match. Her remarkable scoring spree has taken her tally to 20 goals after just three matches, underlining her outstanding form in the tournament.
Wushu
Two-time Asian Games medallist Roshibina Devi stormed into the women’s 60kg sanda final after defeating Indonesia’s Thania Kusumaningtyas 2-0 in the semi-final. Roshibina, who won silver at Hangzhou 2023 and bronze at Jakarta 2018, is now assured of a third Asian Games medal. She will return to action in tomorrow’s final, where she will bid for the elusive gold and an opportunity to add another chapter to her impressive Asian Games record.
India will now turn its attention to Thursday, with multiple medals on offer as the country looks to maintain its strong momentum and continue its impressive campaign at the Asian Games 2026.
