India made a strong start at Asian Games 2026, winning two silver medals in shooting and securing another medal in MMA on Day 1Scroll down to read the full story.
Published: September 20, 2026, 7:25 PM IST
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India’s strong start at Asian Games 2026
India had a strong start to their Asian Games 2026 campaign in Aichi-Nagoya, JapanOn the opening day, India won two silver medals in shooting and also secured another medal in MMA.
India’s first medal came in the women’s 10m air rifle team eventElavenil Valarivan, Sonam Maskar and Vidarsa K Vinod finished second to win the silver medalElavenil then added another silver in the individual eventShe finished second again, giving India two medals on Day 1.
India also secured a medal in MMASuchika Tariyal reached the semi-finals of the women’s traditional 60kg eventThis has assured India of at least a bronze medal in the event.
The Indian hockey teams also started their Asian Games campaigns with big winsThe women’s team beat Uzbekistan 19-0, with Deepika Sehrawat scoring eight goalsThe men’s team began their title defence with a 13-1 win over IndonesiaDilpreet Singh was the star with four goals.
In cricket, India reached the women’s final after beating Bangladesh by 114 runs in the semi-finalShafali Verma scored a century as India posted 195/4Bangladesh were then bowled out for 81India will now face Sri Lanka in the final.
India’s men’s table tennis team suffered a 3-0 loss to Iran in their second Group F matchManush Shah, Manav Thakkar and Harmeet Desai all lost their matches.
The women’s team, however, beat Singapore 3-2 in a close matchYashaswini Ghorpade won the deciding match to help India complete the comebackIndia had earlier beaten Indonesia 3-0.
Vikrant Baliyan lost 2-0 to Iran’s Soheil Mousavi in the men’s 75kg sanda eventAparna also lost 2-0 to Iran’s Sogand Sinkaeechtan in the women’s 52kg event.
In swimming, Rishabh Das finished sixth in the men’s 100m backstroke final with a time of 54.77 secondsChina’s Xu Jiayu won gold in a Games-record 51.98 seconds.
In badminton, PVSindhu beat Kazakhstan’s Kamila Smagulova 2-0 to give India the first point in the women’s team event.
India’s action will continue on Monday, with both kabaddi teams starting their campaigns.
