Chetan Bhatt suffers heartache, loses Asian Games bronze medal to Chinese Taipei at Senshu

Chetan Bhatt misses out on bronze after 1-1 draw, Kumite playoff loss to Chinese Taipei at Senshu (Reuters) India’s Chetan Bhatt suffered heartbreak at the 2026 Asian Games after losing the men’s 84kg kumite bronze medal to Meng-yu Chung of Chinese Taipei on Tuesday.The match at Toyohashi Gymnasium ended 1-1 after regulation time, but Chung took home the Senshu bronze medal, which is awarded to the athlete who scores the first point without first scoring one.Asian Games full coverage | Schedule | Medal totalBoth karatekas took one Yuko each during the match, but Chung struck first and that proved to be the deciding factor as the score remained tied at the end. According to the rules of Senshu karate, the athlete who wins the first uncontested point is declared the winner in a close match.Bhatt reached the bronze play-off after a tough semi-final against Jordan’s Mohammad Aljafari. The Indian lost to Aljafari 0-8, missing out on a place in the gold medal competition and having to settle for a bronze attempt.However, Bhatt could not convert the opportunity as Chung held his nerve in a closely contested play-off. The narrow defeat meant that India missed out on another karate medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.Elsewhere, India’s Jay Meena scored a remarkable victory in soft tennis when he defeated Pakistan’s Arain Hussain in their Group D clash. Jay cruised to a dominant 4-0 victory, winning in four sets 4-2, 4-0, 4-2, 4-0.Meanwhile, India’s Aadhya Tiwari suffered a 1-4 defeat to Thailand’s Alisha Ziegler in the women’s singles competition. Aadhya won the opening set 4–1, but Ziegler fought back to win the next four sets 4–0, 4–0, 2–4, 4–6.With only the group winners advancing to the quarter-finals, Aadhya’s qualification hopes now depend on her result against Pakistan’s Kainaat Shallwani and the result of Shallwani’s match against Ziegler.India also suffered another setback in men’s sepaktakraw. The Indian team lost 0-2 to Malaysia in their second Group B match, losing 9-15, 12-15. Defeat hangs in the balance for India’s campaign, with the Philippines as their final group stage opponents on Wednesday.India lost their opening Group B match 1-2 to Japan on Monday.