Asian Games 2026 Day 8: Athletics leads India’s seven-medal campaign, three boxers secure medals

Sarvesh Kushare, Parul Chaudhary and Tejaswin Shankar NEW DELHI: India enjoyed another productive day at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, adding seven medals on Sunday as athletics emerged as the biggest contributor with five podium finishes, while squash bagged two silver medals.The medal tally included silver medals for Ancy Sojan and Sarvesh Kushare, bronze medals for Parul Chaudhary, Tejaswin Shankar and Harita Bhadra and two silver medals in squash through Anahat Singh and Abhay Singh.India’s boxing campaign also received a big boost with Parveen Hooda, Ankush Panghal and Narender Berwal securing medals by reaching the semi-finals in their respective categories.However, there was disappointment in badminton as PV Sindhu, Unnati Hooda, Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand and Tanisha Crasto-Dhruv Kapila crashed out in the quarterfinals of their individual events.Asian Games full coverage | Medal Tally | Schedule

Athletics produces five medals

Athletics gave India the biggest haul of the day.Parul Chaudhary produced one of the standout performances, breaking her personal best to set a new national record of 9:08.67 to win bronze in the women’s 3000m steeplechase. It was Parul’s second Asian Games steeplechase medal after she won silver in the same event in Hangzhou in 2022.Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi won gold in 9:04.36 while Kazakhstan’s Norah Jeruto Tanui took silver in 9:06.82. India’s Ankita also clocked a personal best of 9:19.24 but finished fourth.Ancy Sojanová came close to gold in the women’s long jump. Her performance of 6.53m in the fifth round put her ahead, but China’s Huang Yingying cleared 6.55m in her final attempt to take the title by two centimeters.Shaili Singh was also denied a medal in the final round. She was third at 6.42m, but China’s Mengyi Tan jumped 6.46m in her final attempt for a bronze medal.In the high jump, Sarvesh Kushare also had to settle for silver after an even fight. He cleared 2.25m on his second attempt, but Chinese Taipei’s Chao Hsuan-Fu had already cleared the height on his first attempt.Tejaswin Shankar capped India’s athletics medal campaign with a bronze in the decathlon. After two grueling days, Tejaswin won the final 1500m race in 4:33.09 to finish with 7,934 points. Japan’s Yuma Maruyama won gold with 8123 points, while China’s Xinghua Chen took silver.Earlier, Harita Bhadra won bronze in the women’s 200m, beating Japan’s Ido Abigeirufuku by 0.01 seconds in 23.20 seconds. Singapore’s Shanti Pereira won gold in 22.78 and China’s Chen Yujie took silver in 22.93.

Anahat, Abhay won squash silver

India were waiting for a squash singles gold at the Asian Games, but both Anahat Singh and Abhay Singh achieved historic silver medals.World No. 5 Sivasangari Subramaniam defeated 18-year-old Anahat 11-4, 11-4, 11-7 in the women’s singles final, while World No. 17 Ng Eain Yow defeated Abhay 11-9, 11-5, 11-5 in the men’s final.Malaysia therefore swept both singles gold medals.Still, the silver was a landmark achievement for Anahat as she became the first Indian woman to reach the squash singles final at the Asian Games. The singles results also ended India’s hopes of availing direct qualification for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics through the individual competition at the Asian Games.

Three boxers secure medals

While squash narrowly missed out on gold, Indian boxing brought in three guaranteed medals.Parveen Hooda defeated Uzbekistan’s World Championship silver medalist Navbakhor Khamidova 5-0 in the women’s 65kg quarter-final to reach the semi-finals.It was Parveen’s first match at the Games after getting a pass in the previous round. She said she is starting to regain her confidence after returning from suspension and moving from 57kg to 65kg.Ankush Panghal also advanced with a dominant 5-0 win over Tajikistan’s Nekruz Salimov in the men’s 80kg quarter-finals. The Commonwealth Games gold medalist controlled the competition from the opening round to secure his debut medal at the Asian Games.Narender Berwal completed his trio of medal wins when he stopped Thailand’s Adthapong Saengtep in the men’s 90kg quarter-final in under two minutes. The Indian landed a flurry of heavy punches and forced three standing countouts before the referee stopped the fight.However, the day ended in disappointment for Sachin Siwach as the Commonwealth Games champion lost 0-5 to Japan’s Shunsuke Kitamoto in the men’s 60kg quarter-finals.

Badminton suffers from quarter-final exits

Badminton produced one of India’s biggest disappointments on Sunday.PV Sindhu, Unnati Hooda, Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand and Tanisha Crasto-Dhruv Kapila lost their respective quarter-finals, meaning India did not win an individual badminton medal at the Games.Playing her third match in less than 24 hours, two-time Olympic medalist Sindhu lost 21-11, 18-21, 10-21 to Tokyo Olympic champion Chen Yu Fei.“It hurts a bit but I need to recover from it. It would be good to go to the semi-finals. Unlucky but never mind, these things keep happening. It’s important to come back stronger,” Sindhu said.Nineteen-year-old Unnati fought hard before losing 16-21, 21-14, 17-21 to three-time world champion Akane Yamaguchi.Treesa and Gayatri, who won their first bronze at the World Championships last month, lost 18-21, 9-21 to Malaysia’s Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan. Tanisha and Dhruv also ousted world number one Chinese pair Feng Yan Zhe and Huang Dongping before losing 14-21, 21-18, 18-21.India won three badminton medals in Hangzhou, including gold in men’s doubles through Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, but none of the individual competitors made it to the semi-finals this time.

More action across disciplines

India has also scored important wins elsewhere. The hockey players defeated Singapore 7-0, while the volleyball players beat Vietnam 3-0.Indian archers advanced in all six team events, including men’s and women’s composite team, compound mixed team, men’s and women’s team recurve and mixed team recurve.In athletics, Mohammed Afsal qualified for the men’s 800m final, while India’s 4x100m relay quartet of Abinaya Rajarajan, Tamanna, Sneha Sathyanarayana and Sudeshna Shivankar peaked to reach the final.India also advanced in surfing and continued in shooting, while results were mixed in fencing, sepaktakraw, kurash and equestrian.With seven medals added on Sunday and three more assured in the box, Day 8 provided plenty of positives for India, although the medal tally fell short of the gold medal gains needed to move up the rankings.