Aichi-Nagoya [Japan], September 23 (ANI): Mirabai Chanu led India’s medal charge at the Asian Games 2026 on Wednesday, clinching silver in the women’s 49kg weightlifting category to end her wait for an Asiad podium finish. India added four more bronze medals through Jay Meena in soft tennis, the men’s badminton team, and the women’s and men’s skeet shooting teams.
The day also brought disappointment as India’s star-studded 10m air pistol contingent, which included two-time Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker, returned without a medal. Meanwhile, wushu player Roshibina Devi moved closer to history, reaching the final after winning her semifinal and now has a chance to win a gold medal tomorrow.
Mirabai Chanu won silver in the women’s 49kg weightlifting category, securing her maiden Asian Games medal and completing her medal collection across major international events. The 32-year-old lifted a combined 198kg, with successful attempts of 87kg in snatch and 111kg in the clean and jerk. North Korea’s Ri Song Gum won gold with 215kg, while Wijayana claimed bronze.
Jay Meena scripted history by winning the country’s first-ever Asian Games medal in soft tennis. Meena secured bronze in the men’s singles event at the Asian Games 2026 on Wednesday.
Meena’s campaign ended in the semi-finals, where he lost 2-4 to Japan’s Takuya Kurosaka. The Indian dropped the first three sets before fighting back to win the fourth and fifth sets and reduce the deficit to 2-3. However, Kurosaka won the sixth set 4-1 to seal the contest. The final scoreline was 3-5, 1-4, 1-4, 4-1, 6-4, 1-4, according to ESPN.
The Indian women’s skeet team, including Parinaaz Dhaliwal, Raiza Dhillon and Maheshwari Chauhan, secured a historic bronze medal as the Indian trio finished third in the women’s skeet team event with a combined score of 331.
Raiza Dhillon and Parinaaz Dhaliwal each scored 111 out of 125, while Maheshwari Chauhan contributed 109 points.
China won the gold medal with 346 points, while Kazakhstan claimed silver.
India also secured bronze in the men’s skeet team event. The trio of Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Mairaj Ahmed Khan and Bhavtegh Singh Gill finished third with a score of 346, defeating Kazakhstan in a shoot-off to secure the medal. However, Naruka narrowly missed out on a podium finish in the men’s skeet individual final, recording 25 hits from 28 shots in the final round.
The Indian men’s badminton team also won a bronze medal at the Asian Games 2026 after losing 3-1 to China in the semi-final. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty secured India’s only win, defeating world champions Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang 21-11, 22-20. Lakshya Sen, Ayush Shetty, and the pair of Hariharan Amsakarunan and MR Arjun lost their respective matches as China advanced to the final.
In wushu, Roshibina Devi advanced to the women’s 60kg Sanda final, moving closer to completing her medal collection with a gold. After winning bronze at Jakarta 2018 and silver at Hangzhou 2023, Roshibina will aim for the top spot in the final tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the Indian Women’s hockey team player Deepika Sehrawat etched her name in the record books as India’s women’s team thrashed Thailand 20-1 for their third consecutive win. Deepika netted nine goals, becoming the first Indian woman to score the most goals in a single Asian Games hockey match.
Gyaneshwari Yadav finished eighth in the women’s 53kg weightlifting event with a combined lift of 195kg, recording 87kg in snatch and 108kg in clean and jerk.
In squash, Veer Chotrani advanced to the men’s singles pre-quarter-finals after defeating Shamil Wakeel 3-0 (11-8, 11-3, 11-3). His win marked the third straight victory for India’s squash players, following opening-round wins by Abhay Singh and Tanvi Khanna. Anahat Singh, who received a first-round bye, will begin her campaign in the pre-quarter-finals.
In rowing, Arvind Singh, Kulwinder Singh, Navdeep Singh and Jakar Khan finished third in their men’s quadruple sculls heats (fourth overall) to qualify for Final A. Rohit-Ujwal Kumar Singh also advanced to Final A after finishing fourth in the men’s lightweight double sculls heats.
Ajay Tyagi finished fourth in the men’s lightweight single sculls heats and will compete in Final B, while Jaswinder Singh and Nitin Kumar also secured a place in Final B after finishing fourth and last in the men’s pair heats. Meanwhile, Vipul Ghurde, Saurav Kumar, Babu Lal Yadav and Yogesh Kumar finished fourth in the men’s four heats and were eliminated from medal contention.
Balraj Panwar finished third in the men’s single sculls heats (fourth overall) to secure qualification for the final. Satnam Singh and Salman Khan also advanced to the final after finishing second in the men’s double sculls heats (fourth overall).
In the women’s rowing events, Gurbani Kaur, Aleena Anto, Tendenthoi Haobijam and Poonam finished sixth overall in the women’s four heats to qualify for Final A.
In table tennis, India’s Manush Shah and Diya Chitale progressed to the mixed doubles quarter-finals after defeating Maldives’ Ahmed Moosa and Nazim Aishath 3-0 (11-0, 11-7, 11-6).
Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade also advanced to the last eight after overcoming Hong Kong, China’s Yiu Kwan To and Ng Wing Lam 3-1 (11-6, 11-5, 10-12, 11-7).
In canoe sprint, India’s Parvathy Geetha and Phairembam Soniya Devi qualified for the women’s kayak double 500m semi-finals after finishing sixth in Heat A with a time of 2:02.538s. Megha Pradeep also advanced to the women’s canoe single 200m semi-finals after finishing fifth in her heat with a time of 49.675s.
In the men’s events, Harshwardhan Shaktawat, Varinder Singh, L Naocha Singh Oinam and Arun Singh secured a place in the men’s kayak four 500m Final A after finishing third in Heat 1 with a time of 1:29.447s. Prasanna Kumar CS and Prohit Baroi qualified for the men’s kayak double 500m semi-finals after finishing fifth in their heats.
Megha Pradeep and L Neha Devi also progressed to the women’s canoe double 500m semi-finals after finishing fifth in their heat.
India’s medal tally currently stands at 12 medals, with one gold, five silver medals and six bronze medals. (ANI)
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