Aichi: India’s women’s cricket team continued their dominance by successfully clinching the country’s first gold medal and defending their Asian Games title, while India also assured itself of more podium finishes in badminton and wushu on an eventful Day 3 of the Asian Games 2026 on Tuesday, September 22, in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
India’s medal tally has now reached seven, with one gold, four silver and two bronze medals. India’s women’s cricket team outclassed Sri Lanka by a massive 147 runs in the final, while the men’s badminton team assured India of another medal by booking their place in the semifinals. Although the women’s badminton team bowed out in the quarterfinals, India’s men’s kabaddi team continued their dominant run with another convincing victory. In wushu, Roshibina Devi also assured India of another medal by reaching the women’s 60kg Sanda semifinals.
Cricket
After opting to bat first, India posted a massive 216/3, registering their highest-ever total in women’s cricket at the Asian Games. The spectacular batting display was spearheaded by Smriti Mandhana, who delivered a brilliant 79 off 45 balls. With her superb knock, Mandhana added another landmark to her extraordinary career, becoming the first woman cricketer to complete 11,000 runs in international cricket. She entered the final needing just 13 runs to reach the milestone, having accumulated 10,987 runs across Tests, ODIs and T20Is, including 788 in Tests, 5,411 in ODIs and 4,788 in T20Is. Meanwhile, Shafali Verma made a valuable contribution with a quickfire 48 off 29 balls. Her innings also saw her become the highest run-scorer in a calendar year in women’s T20Is, surpassing South Africa’s Laura Wolvaardt. Shafali’s 29-ball 48 in the gold-medal match took her tally for the year to 863 runs, moving past Wolvaardt’s 824. In 24 T20Is in 2026, Shafali has now scored 863 runs at an average of 39.22 and a strike rate of 162.83. Her tally includes one century and seven fifties. The aggressive opener stitched together a stunning 99-run partnership with Mandhana before Richa Ghosh provided the late fireworks with an unbeaten 49 off just 22 balls. While chasing, India’s bowling attack dismantled Sri Lanka’s batting order, bowling them out for just 69 as India stormed to a commanding 147-run victory. With the emphatic win, India secured its first gold medal of the Aichi-Nagoya Games.
Esports
India began their e-football campaign with Chinmay Sahoo and Shakeel Danial Patel playing out a goalless 0-0 draw against Uzbekistan in their Group F match. They will now face Mongolia in their next group-stage encounter.
Sepaktakraw
India’s men’s regu team suffered a 3-0 defeat against Malaysia in their second Group B match, registering their second consecutive loss. They will now face the Philippines in their final group-stage match.
Soft Tennis
Jay Meena advanced to the men’s singles quarterfinals after defeating Pakistan’s Arain Hussain 4-0 in his Group D match, winning 4-2, 4-0, 4-2, 4-0. Aryan Thakur played two matches. He began with a convincing 4-0 victory over Mongolia’s Altangerel Bold-Erdene but suffered a 0-4 defeat to Chen Po-Yi of Chinese Taipei in his second match. In women’s singles, Aadhya Tiwari secured a 4-0 victory over Pakistan’s Kainaat Shallwani in her final group match. However, she missed out on the quarterfinals, as only the top-ranked player from her group advanced to the next stage.
Equestrian
India finished seventh in the team standings among eight participating countries, recording a score of 112.40 after the dressage event. Asian Games medallist Fouaad Mirza finished 26th with a percentage score of 61.33, while Arjan Singh Nagra and Ashish Limaye secured 23rd and 14th positions, respectively, with percentage scores of 61.80 and 64.47. In individual dressage, India’s eventing team comprising Fouaad Mirza, Arjan Singh Nagra and Ashish Limaye was eliminated in the jumping phase. In individual jumping, Ashish Limaye finished sixth, Fouaad Mirza placed 24th, while Arjan Singh Nagra was eliminated.
Badminton
Ayush Shetty defeated Asian Games medallist Koki Watanabe 21-10, 21-19 to seal India’s men’s team quarterfinal tie with a commanding 3-0 victory over Japan and assure India of a medal. Lakshya Sen had earlier produced a stunning comeback win over world No. 7 Kodai Naraoka. The Indian shuttler lost the opening game and was trailing 14-19 in the decider before staging a remarkable comeback to win 11-21, 21-5, 21-19. Before that, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated former world champions Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi 21-18, 24-22 in the second match to give India a 2-0 lead. Ayush Shetty then completed the job with a composed 21-10, 21-19 victory over world No. 16 Koki Watanabe, sealing India’s place in the semifinals. The victory also assured India of a back-to-back team medal at the Asian Games after a 40-year wait.
Meanwhile, the women’s badminton team suffered a 1-3 defeat against Japan in the quarterfinals. India got off to a difficult start when two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu faced world No. 3 Akane Yamaguchi in the opening singles. Sindhu fought hard and took the first game 23-21, but Yamaguchi gradually took control of the contest to win the next two games 21-18, 21-6. Unnati Hooda then went down 16-21, 18-21 against 2022 world junior champion Tomoka Miyazaki. Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand kept India alive with a 21-17, 21-16 victory over Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto. However, Tanvi Sharma could not force a decider, losing 12-21, 10-21 to former world champion Nozomi Okuhara as Japan sealed the tie.
Shooting
India endured a challenging day in shooting as Elavenil Valarivan and Parth Mane finished fourth in the 10m air rifle mixed team final after qualifying in second place. China’s Wang Zifei and Sheng Lihao clinched the gold medal with a new world-record score, while South Korea secured silver and Japan claimed the bronze. The Indian pair, who had already won medals in other events, could not reproduce their qualification-round performance and finished with a score of 376.3. In men’s skeet, Anantjeet Singh Naruka delivered a strong performance to move into second place. After a relatively slow opening day, Naruka staged a stunning comeback, shooting rounds of 23 and a perfect 24/25 in the subsequent series. He currently sits in a multi-way tie near the top of the leaderboard. With only one round of 25 targets remaining, Naruka remains in contention for a place in the eight-shooter final. Two-time Olympian Mairaj Ahmad Khan is 23rd with 91 points, while Bhavtegh Singh is 35th with 86 points. India are fifth in the team standings with 273 points.
The final day of qualification and the medal-deciding round will take place tomorrow. In women’s skeet qualification, Raiza Dhillon is placed fifth with a score of 92, Parinaaz Dhaliwal is ninth with 89, while Maheshwari Chauhan is 16th with 85.
Wushu
Roshibina Devi Naorem continued her remarkable Asian Games run, assuring herself of a third consecutive medal. The Manipuri wushu star defeated Macao, China’s Chu Man Sin in the women’s Sanda 60kg quarterfinal at the Aichi Prefectural Martial Arts Hall. The victory propelled Roshibina into the semifinals and guaranteed her at least a bronze medal.
Despite winning the opening round, two-time junior world champion Aryan went down 2-1 (0-5, 5-0, 5-0) to Uzbekistan’s Saydullo Abdurashitov in the men’s 56kg Sanda quarterfinals. India’s Hanjabam Langlentombi Devi finished ninth overall in the women’s nanquan and nandao event with a combined score of 18.839. She scored 9.436 in nandao to finish eighth in the discipline, adding to her nanquan score of 9.403 from earlier in the competition.
Table Tennis
The Indian women’s team’s campaign ended in the quarterfinals after they edged past Thailand 3-2 in a closely fought Round of 16 clash. India then bowed out in the quarterfinals after suffering a 3-0 defeat to North Korea.
Diya Chitale went down 3-0 (11-9, 11-7, 11-8) to Cha Su Yong, while Sreeja Akula and Yashaswini Ghorpade had earlier also lost their respective matches in straight games.
India were eliminated in the Round of 16 of the men’s team event after a 3-0 defeat to South Korea. Harmeet Desai lost 3-1 to Jang Woo-jin, before Manush Shah was edged 3-2 by Oh Jun-sung. Manav Thakkar then went down 3-1 to Asian Games medallist An Jae-hyun.
Fencing
In women’s individual epee, Taniksha Khatri finished third in Pool 4. She defeated Thailand’s Natpapat Sangngio 15-10 in the Table of 32 before going down 9-15 to Song Se-ra in the pre-quarterfinals. Mitva Chaudhari bowed out in the Table of 32 after suffering a defeat to China’s Yang Jingwen. In the men’s individual foil event, Hemash Singh Sanasam exited in the Round of 32 after going down to Kazakhstan’s Galim Nurumov, while Sachin also bowed out at the same stage after losing his bout to Kazakh fencer Timofey Semyonov.
Kabaddi
Defending champions India once again produced a dominant display, beating South Korea 63-31 to make it back-to-back victories in the men’s kabaddi competition. India controlled the contest throughout, inflicting three all-outs to complete a convincing victory and strengthen their position at the top of Group A.
Swimming
The Indian men’s 4×100m medley relay team delivered a strong performance at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, particularly in the heats. Rishabh Das, Danush Suresh, Benedicton Rohit and Akash Mani clocked an impressive 3:40.41, finishing seventh among 16 competing nations and securing their place in the eight-team final. However, the team could not replicate its heats performance in the final after Utkarsh Santosh Patil replaced Rishabh Das in the lineup. India finished eighth in 3:44.26, nearly four seconds slower than their heats time. China clinched the gold medal in 3:27.89, finishing 16.37 seconds ahead of India. Meanwhile, Aryan Nehra finished 12th overall in the men’s 1500m freestyle final.
Karate
India’s karate campaign at the Asian Games 2026 ended without a medal, with Chetan Bhatt coming closest to a podium finish in the men’s 84kg kumite. After receiving a bye into the semifinals, Bhatt went down 8-0 to Jordan’s Mohammad Aljafari before moving into the bronze-medal bout. He then faced Chinese Taipei’s Meng-yu Chung, with the contest ending 1-1. Chung was awarded the victory on Senshu after registering the first unopposed score, leaving Bhatt narrowly short of a bronze medal.
In the women’s 55kg kumite, reigning Asian champion Alisha Choudhary was eliminated in the Round of 16 after suffering a 6-1 defeat to Indonesia’s Cok Istri Agung Sanistyarani. Choudhary’s hopes of reaching the podium through repechage also ended when Sanistyarani failed to advance to the final. India had fielded only two karatekas at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
Boxing
India’s Sakshi Chaudhary began her women’s 51kg campaign in impressive fashion with a unanimous 5-0 victory over Olympic bronze medallist Aira Villegas of the Philippines. The Commonwealth Games medallist will face world champion Alua Balkibekova of Kazakhstan in the next round on Thursday.
India’s Jadumani Singh Mandengbam also made a winning start, punching his way into the men’s 55kg Round of 16 with a unanimous 5-0 victory over Nepal’s Chandra Bahadur Thapa. The Indian boxer controlled the bout from the outset and will now face Olympic silver medallist Carlo Paalam of the Philippines in the next round.
Gymnastics
India’s lone gymnast at the Asian Games, Pranati Nayak, qualified for the women’s vault final after finishing seventh in the qualification round with an average score of 12.916.
Hockey
India took a commanding 8-0 lead over Sri Lanka in their second men’s Pool A match. Abhishek and Jugraj Singh scored twice each, while Sukhjeet Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Harmanpreet Singh and Mandeep Singh also found the net.
India now turn their attention to an eventful Wednesday, with Olympic medallists Manu Bhaker and Mirabai Chanu set to take centre stage.
