Asian Games 2026: Shooting for gold, athletics and shocking Sat-Chi on day 6 of medals

ByTech Word News

India’s campaign at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games gained momentum on Friday as the contingent bagged six medals, five of them in shooting and athletics and the sixth in table tennis.

The haul included one gold, two silver and three bronze medals, taking India’s campaign forward on a day that also saw contrasting results in badminton, swimming, boxing and fencing.

Kamaljeet and Suruchi Inder Singh started the medal run with gold in the 10m mixed team air pistol, while Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Rudrankksh Balasaheb Patil and Niraj Kumar won silver in the men’s 50m rifle for three team positions.

Asian Games 2026: Medal Table | September 25 update

Athletics then produced three medals, including an all-time first in the pole vault, while Manush Shah and Diya Chitale secured India a medal for their mixed doubles run in table tennis.

But it was not a completely calm day. Defending badminton champions Satwiksaraj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty suffered a surprise first-round exit, Indian swimmers finished without a medal and both fencing teams crashed out in the last 16.

SHOOTING LEADS MEDAL

Kamaljeet and Suruchi brought India shooting gold in the mixed team competition 10m air pistol.

The pair topped the qualification with 587 points before turning that position into gold in the medal round. It was a significant result after both shooters missed out on an individual medal.

Aishwary, Rudranksh and Niraj added silver in men’s rifle 50m 3P teams, India’s continued strong presence in shooting.

Aishwary also reached the singles final and finished fifth, while Niraj finished eighth. The team medal thus became the reward for the event, which saw India move closer to another individual podium finish.

ATHLETICS ADD THREE

Gulveer Singh improved on bronze he won silver in the men’s 10,000m at the previous Asian Games.

He clocked 28:29.38 to finish behind Birhana Balew of Bahrain and ahead of Albert Kipt. For Gulveer, the medal was another indicator of his rise in long distance running after a strong spell in which he collected big medals and rewrote several Indian records.

The athletics program then brought one of the most significant Friday milestones.

Baranica Elangovanová won joint bronze in the women’s pole vault after clearing 4.15m, equaling Kazakhstan’s Polina Ivanova. Both athletes had the same number of failures at 4.25m.

The medal was India’s first ever Asian Games pole vault medal in putting Baranica for the history books.

Manpreet Kaur rounded off India’s athletics medal haul with a bronze in the women’s shot put. Her performance of 17.17m placed her behind China’s Song Jiayuan and Zhang Linru. Manpreet finished fifth at the previous Asian Games, so Friday’s podium finish is a step up from Hangzhou.

There was less joy in the hundred men. Animesh Kujur and Gurindervir Singh did not make it to the finals after failing to advance from their semi-finals. Gurindervir finished fifth in Heat 2 while Animesh was seventh in Heat 3.

MANUSH, DIYA ALSO MAKES HISTORY

Manush Shah and Diya Chitale gave India their first mixed doubles table tennis medal of the Games.

The Indian pair scored a momentous quarter-final win over Hong Kong’s Doo Hoi Kem and Wong Chun Ting, beating them 3-1 to secure a place on the podium.

They could not go any further, in the semi-finals they lost 0:4 to the Chinese Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha. But the bronze was still India’s second mixed doubles medal at the Asian Games after Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra’s bronze in Jakarta.

Manush continued his singles run with a 4-0 win over Iran’s Benyamin Faraji, while Yashaswini Ghorpade defeated Syria’s Hend Zaza 4-1 to reach the women’s singles round of 16.

The rest of India’s day at the table was considerably less productive, with Manav Thakkar and Sreeja Akula performing in singles and India’s doubles also falling behind.

KABADDI PREPARED TWO SETS FOR THE GOLD MEDAL

Apart from the medal events, the Indian kabaddi teams gave the contingent another reason to look forward to on Saturday.

Both defending champions reached the final, with the women defeating Nepal 48-24 and the men defeating Thailand 66-28.

Both teams remain unbeaten and will face Iran in their final. The women built a 31-17 halftime lead against Nepal, while the men led 37-18 at the break against Thailand.

So while these results do not count towards Friday’s medal draw, they leave India with two opportunities to add gold on Saturday.

BADMINTON HAS A GREAT SUCCESS

The biggest shock of the day came in badminton.

Defend the men’s doubles championship Satwiksiraj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were defeated in the opening round Thais Pakkapon Teeraratsakul and Peeratchai Sukphun.

The Indian pair won the first game 21-12 but could not close out the match and lost the next two 19-21, 14-21.

There was another positive in the badminton draw. Tanisha Crasto and Dhruv Kapila advanced to the mixed doubles quarterfinals with two wins, while Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand advanced in the women’s doubles. Unnati Hooda also advanced in the women’s singles.

The contrast was particularly stark as the Indian men’s team had already settled for bronze in the team event, while the women’s team failed to win a medal.

SWIMMING, SCRAPING A TOWED ATTACHMENT

Indian swimmers failed to add to their medal tally.

Sajan Prakash, competing in his last Asian Games, finished seventh in the men’s 200m butterfly final in 1:58.42. Rishabh Das finished sixth and Utkarsh Patil seventh in the men’s 200m breaststroke.

There was also disappointment in the 400m freestyle where Dhanshan Shashikumar and Aneesh Gowda failed to make the final.

Fencing brought another double exit. The men’s team lost 27-45 to Hong Kong, while the women’s team lost 29-45 to Uzbekistan in the round of 16.

SACHIN KEEPING BOXING HOPE ALIVE

Box offered a more positive note.

Sachin Siwach advanced to the men’s 60kg quarter-finals with a 4-1 win over Jordan’s Mohammad Adnan Abu Jajeh. He will face the Japanese Shunsuke Kitamoto in the round of 16, and the victory moved him to the medal positions.

However, Preeti Pawar’s campaign came to an end in the women’s 54kg round of 16 when she lost 0-5 to North Korea’s reigning Asian Games champion Pang Chol Mi.

So for India, Friday was more of a day of significant gains than an across-the-board coup. Six medals provided the headline, three athletics podiums added historical significance, and shooting again proved a reliable source of medals. At the same time, the departure of Satwik-Chirag and the vacancies in swimming and fencing showed that the campaign remains a mix of breakthroughs and setbacks.

Saturday offers another chance to tilt that balance, with both kabaddi teams fighting for gold and several Indian athletes continuing their medal hunt.

MEDALS WON

  • Shooting: Kamaljeet and Suruchi Inder Singh win gold in 10m air pistol mixed team event
  • Shooting: Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Rudrankksh Patil and Niraj Kumar win silver in men’s 50m rifle 3 positions teams
  • Athletics: Gulveer Singh won silver in the men’s 10,000m
  • Table tennis: Diya Chitale and Manush Shah won the mixed doubles bronze
  • Athletics: Manpreet Kaur won bronze in women’s shot put
  • Athletics: Baranica Elangovan won bronze in the women’s pole vault

TO THE NEXT ROUND

  • squash: Joshna Chinappa and Velavan Senthilkumar defeated Philippines’ David Pelin and Jemcya Aribad in the mixed doubles quarterfinals to reach the semifinals and the medal was confirmed
  • Kabaddi: The Indian women’s team defeated Nepal in the semi-finals, to reach the final
  • Kabaddi: India’s men’s team defeated Thailand in the semi-finals and the final
  • squash: Anahat Singh defeated Tanvi Khanna in the women’s singles quarterfinals to reach the semifinals
  • squash: Abhay Singh beats Ryunosuke Tsukue 3-0 in men’s singles quarter-finals to advance to semi-finals
  • Athletics: Vishal TK finished first in Men’s 400m 2, into the final
  • Athletics: Kiran finished in heat 2 of the women’s 400m in the final
  • Athletics: Prachi finished third in the women’s 400m, heat 3, to the final
  • Swimming: Sajan Prakash finished third in the 3 men’s 200m butterfly to reach the final
  • Swimming: Rishabh Das finished fourth and Utkarsh Patil ninth in men’s 200m breaststroke heats, both into final
  • Table tennis: Manush Shah defeated Faraji Benyamin in the 2nd round of men’s singles to reach the 3rd round
  • Table tennis: Yashaswini Ghorpade defeated Hend Zaza in the 2nd round of women’s singles to reach the 3rd round
  • Badminton: Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto defeated Soon Huat Goh and Jemie Shevon Lai in the 2nd round of mixed doubles, advanced
  • Badminton: Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand beat Tsang Hiu Yan and Lui Lok Lok in Women’s Doubles 1st round to advance
  • Badminton: Unnati Hooda beat Yu Mi Song in Women’s Singles 1st round to advance
  • Surfing: Sugar Shanti Gayen, Kamali Prakash, Kishore Anbarashu and Sivaraj Babu advance to Round 2 on Shortboard
  • Canoe Sprint: Prohit Baroi and Prasanna Kumar finished fifth in the semi-finals, into the B final

– The end