Asian Games: India wins six medals, including shooting gold, as Baranica makes pole vault history

Suruchi Singh, right, and Kamaljeet celebrate after winning the gold medal. (PTI photo) NEW DELHI: India enjoyed a busy Friday at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya with a six-medal haul, highlighted by Baranica Elangovan’s historic pole vault bronze and shooting gold from Suruchi Singh and Kamaljeet. The day also brought silver medals for Gulveer Singh in the men’s 10,000m and India’s men’s 50m rifle in 3 positions, apart from bronze medals in the women’s shot put and mixed doubles in table tennis.Baranica’s achievement was a landmark as she became the first Indian athlete to win a medal at the Asian Games in the pole vault, both in the men’s and women’s events.Six medals took India to 23 – two gold, nine silver and 12 bronze.

Shooting is finally golden

Suruchi and Kamaljeet ended India’s wait for shooting gold by dominating the 10m air pistol mixed team final.The Indian pair combined for 484.6 with Suruchi contributing 245.7 and Kamaljeet 238.9. Their total was a game and Asian record as they led from start to finish.Asian Games full coverage | Medal Tally | ScheduleThe gold provided a boost to India’s shooting campaign after the contingent suffered disappointment in several 10m events earlier in the competition.India also secured silver in the men’s 50m 3-position rifle through Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Rudrankksh Patil and Niraj Kumar. Their total of 1762 left them four points behind China, who finished at 1766.Aishwary and Niraj also reached the singles final, finishing fifth and eighth respectively.

Baranica made history in pole vaulting

Baranica cleared 4.15 m and finished third together in the women’s pole vault final. Kazakhstan’s Polina Ivanova also cleared 4.15m and both athletes had equal attempts before both failed to clear 4.25m.Baranica and Ivanova shared the bronze medal as neither could improve to 4.15m and both tied on the count.The result marked a first for Indian athletics at the Asian Games, with Baranica becoming the country’s first pole vault medalist.Compatriot Sindhusree Ganesha, meanwhile, finished without a valid mark. She failed to clear 3.85m in two attempts and then missed by 4m.

Gulveer upgrades to silver

Distance runner Gulveer Singh added another athletics medal, upgrading to silver the bronze he won in the men’s 10,000m at the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou.The 28-year-old clocked 28:29.38 to finish behind Bahrain’s Birhana Balew, who managed to win gold in 28:27.51. Balew’s compatriot Albert Kiptoo took the bronze in 28:34.38.Gulveer, a Naib Subedar in the Indian Army, stayed with the leading pack for most of the race and remained in the medal fight deep into the closing stages before Balew caught up.Gulveer has also been in strong form in recent years, winning gold in the 5,000m and 10,000m at the 2025 Asian Athletics Championships. At the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, he became the first Indian to win two track medals in a single edition, taking silver in the 10,000m and bronze in the 5,000m.

Manpreet adds a shot bronze

Another Indian athletics bronze was won by Manpreet Kaur in the women’s throw final.Manpreet had a best throw of 17.17m to finish third while compatriot Krishna Jayasankar Menon was fifth with 16.57m.China’s Jiayoan Song won gold with 19.40m, while Linru Zhang took silver with 18.14m.

Badminton failure, squash and kabaddi reinforcement

The day was not without disappointment for India. Defending badminton champions Satwiksaraj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty suffered a first-round exit as they lost 21-12, 19-21, 14-21 to Thais Pakkapon Teeraratsakul and Peeratchai Sukphun.“It’s the mental part. Whenever we’re mentally free, I think nobody can beat us. But when we get stuck somewhere, we give the opponent a chance to beat us,” Satwik said after the defeat.There was better news elsewhere. The Indian men’s and women’s kabaddi teams stormed into their respective finals and were within reach of two more gold medals.In squash, India secured three medals. Joshna Chinappa and Velavan Senthilkumar entered the semi-finals of the mixed doubles, while Anahat Singh and Abhay Singh advanced to the last four in the women’s and men’s singles.Anahat defeated compatriot Tanvi Khanna 11-2, 11-5, 11-3, while Abhay defeated Japan’s Ryonosuke Tsukue 11-4, 11-3, 11-6.India also secured bronze in the table tennis mixed doubles through Manush Shah and Diya Chitale, who lost to China’s Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha in the semi-finals.Women’s hockey continued their unbeaten run with a 3-1 win over hosts Japan, while Sachin Siwach’s boxers advanced to the men’s 60kg quarter-finals. In athletics, India also secured places in the 400m final through Kiran and Prachi, while Vishal TK advanced to the men’s 400m final.