Good morning and welcome to Olympics.com’s live coverage of India’s campaign at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
Indian athletes will compete across 10 sports on Sunday, with the country’s first medal opportunities of the Asian Games 2026 on offer in wushu, teqball and shooting.
Olympian Elavenil Valarivan, Sonam Uttam Maskar and Vidarsa K Vinod will compete in the women’s 10m air rifle individual qualification, followed by the team final. The individual final is also scheduled later in the day.
The Indian women’s team also began its title defence on Friday with an eight-wicket win over hosts Japan in the quarter-finals. Shree Charani took 4/10 as Japan were bowled out for 57 before Shafali Verma struck an unbeaten 40 off 15 balls to help India complete the chase in five overs and set up a clash against Bangladesh in the semi-finals later today.
India’s Quimcy Dsouza lost 2-0 to Japan’s Yuina Sakamoto in the women’s singles bronze medal match, narrowly losing both sets 12-11. However, she will have another opportunity to win a medal in the mixed doubles bronze medal match, where she will team up with Mohamed Anas Imran Beg and face Vietnam’s Hoang Minh Tan Nguyen and Gia Nghi Trinh later today.
On Friday, Quimcy Dsouza advanced to the women’s singles semi-finals, where she lost to Indonesia’s Sumaya. Quimcy Dsouza and Mohamed Anas Imran Beg are also in contention for a podium finish in the mixed doubles after qualifying for the bronze medal match through the repechage.
India’s Mayanglambam Suraj Singh finished 11th in the men’s changquan final with a score of 9.683. Making his third Asian Games appearance, Suraj Singh had finished 10th at Jakarta 2018 and fifth at Hangzhou 2023.
Friday also saw India’s men’s soft tennis team record 3-0 wins over Laos and Mongolia, sandwiching a 3-0 defeat to Chinese Taipei, before losing 2-0 to Indonesia in the quarter-finals.
Although the Asian Games officially began with Saturday’s opening ceremony, India’s campaign got underway on Thursday in teqball, where Declan Marshall Gonsalves and Mohamed Anas Imran Beg were eliminated in the men’s doubles group stage.
Indian athletes will also begin their badminton and hockey campaigns underway on Sunday. Two-time Olympics medallist PV Sindhu is a part of the badminton squad, while the Indian men’s hockey team are the defending Asian Games champions.
Suchika Tariyal held her nerve to beat Mongolia’s Altanchimeg Baigalmaa and book her place in the women’s traditional 60kg MMA semifinal. Baigalmaa came out attacking in the second round, but Suchika’s defence stood firm. She then produced a timely reversal and kept her opponent grounded as the final round wound down. Suchika had done enough to seal the bout and, with the win, confirmed India’s first medal at the Games.
