Aichi-Nagoya [Japan], September 26 (ANI): India’s Yashaswini Ghorpade’s women’s singles campaign came to an end at the Asian Games 2026 after she lost 1-4 to Japan’s world No. 3 Miwa Harimoto in the third round here on Saturday.
Yashaswini put up a fight but went down 9-11, 5-11, 11-4, 4-11, 5-11 against the higher-ranked Japanese paddler, according to ESPN.
The Indian struggled to match Harimoto’s consistency in the opening two games, falling 9-11 and 5-11 before producing a strong response in the third. Yashaswini dominated the game 11-4 to reduce the deficit and keep her singles campaign alive.
Harimoto, however, regained control in the fourth game, winning it 11-4 before closing out the contest 11-5 in the fifth to progress to the next round.
Yashaswini had earlier advanced to the third round after defeating Syria’s Hend Zaza in the second round.
The 21-year-old’s exit came after she had also featured in the women’s doubles and mixed doubles events earlier in the Games.
On Friday, Yashaswini and Diya Chitale lost 0-3 to China’s Fan Shuhan and Chen Yi in the women’s doubles quarter-finals. Sreeja Akula and Syndrela Das were also beaten 0-3 by China’s Kuai Man and Wang Manyu in the women’s doubles third round.
India’s table tennis campaign had earlier produced a bronze medal in mixed doubles, with Manush Shah and Diya Chitale reaching the semi-finals before losing to China’s Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha.
Meanwhile, India’s badminton campaign suffered another setback on Saturday as Lakshya Sen was knocked out in the opening round of the men’s singles competition.
Sen lost 12-21, 21-15, 14-21 to Singapore’s former world champion Loh Kean Yew. After dropping the opening game, Sen fought back to level the contest but was unable to complete the comeback in the decider.
India’s men had also seen Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty exit the men’s doubles competition early, while PV Sindhu remains among the country’s contenders in women’s singles.
In athletics, Sawan Barwal won silver in the men’s marathon with a national record time of 2:11:37 on Day 7.
In canoe sprint, Harshwardhan Shaktawat advanced to Final B of the men’s kayak single 500m after finishing fifth in his semifinal. Parvathy Geetha and Prasanna Kumar, meanwhile, qualified for Final A of the mixed kayak double 500m after finishing second in their semifinal.
India also progressed to the quarter-finals of the women’s foil team event in fencing after defeating Indonesia 45-24 in the round of 16. (ANI)
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