NEW DELHI: India made a strong start to its athletics campaign at the Asian Games 2026 on Thursday, winning two medals. The mixed 4x400m relay team won silver, while Seema won bronze in the women’s 10,000m. Seema’s medal was India’s first athletics medal at these Games.The relay team of TS Manu, MR Poovamma, Vishal TK and Vithya Ramraj clocked 3:14.46 to finish second behind Bahrain. Bahrain won gold in a Games record time of 3:12.87.
Seema ends India’s wait in women’s 10,000m
Seema, 25, won the bronze medal in the women’s 10,000m with a time of 32:50.05. Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi won gold in 32:39.18, while Japan’s Nozomi Tanaka took silver in 32:41.54.Seema’s bronze was India’s first women’s 10,000m medal at the Asian Games since 2010.At the 2010 Asian Games, Preeja Sreedharan won gold and Kavita Raut claimed silver in the event.
Mixed relay team adds another medal
The mixed 4x400m relay team also continued India’s medal run in the event.India won gold when the event was introduced at the 2018 Asian Games and took silver at the previous edition. Thursday’s result gave India its third consecutive medal in the event.The result was kept unofficial for some time after the UAE lodged a protest. The UAE was later disqualified, making India’s silver medal official.India had earlier qualified for the final after finishing second in Heat 2.
Roshibina wins second straight Asian Games silver
India’s Roshibina Devi Naorem won her second consecutive Asian Games silver in wushu. She lost 0-2 to China’s Zhang Xiaoyu in the women’s 60kg sanda final. Zhang won both rounds 5-0 to take the bout 10-0 on aggregate.Roshibina had also won silver at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games and bronze at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games. She became India’s most successful wushu player at the Asian Games with three medals.Roshibina had missed out on selection initially after losing the trials. She got a place in the team after original choice Divyanshi Choudhary was ruled out due to injury.
Anantjeet-Parinaaz clinch historic skeet mixed-team bronze
Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Parinaaz Dhaliwal gave Indian skeet another reason to celebrate on Thursday, shooting their way to a historic bronze in the mixed team event. It was India’s first-ever Asian Games medal in mixed team skeet.The bronze completed a remarkable three-medal haul for Indian skeet in just two days. Anantjeet, Bhavtegh Singh Gill and Mairaj Ahmed Khan had won the men’s team bronze on Wednesday, before Parinaaz, Raiza Dhillon and Maheshwari Chauhan added another bronze in the women’s team event later that day.Twenty-four hours later, Anantjeet and Parinaaz were back at the range, this time combining to ensure that India won medals in all three skeet events at the Asian Games.
Rowers finally have a medal to show
India’s rowers also finished the day with a bronze medal. Satnam Singh and Salman Khan won bronze in the men’s double sculls, India’s first medal in the event at the Asian Games.The Indian pair stayed second until the 1,500m mark before dropping to third in the final 500m. They clocked 6:13.25.China won gold, while Uzbekistan took silver.
Asha Ilango misses bronze
Asha Ilango narrowly missed out on a medal in the women’s triple jump. She finished fourth after producing a best jump of 13.83m, the same distance as China’s Yi Li.The Chinese athlete finished ahead because her second-best jump was better. Yi had a second-best effort of 13.79m, while Asha’s was 13.65m.Animesh, Gurindervir reach 100m semifinalsAnimesh Kujur qualified for the men’s 100m semifinals after finishing third in Heat 1 of Round 1. He clocked 10.36 seconds. Thailand’s Puripol Boonson won the heat in 9.95 seconds.National record holder Gurindervir Singh also reached the semifinals after finishing second in Heat 4 with a time of 10.38 seconds. The top three from each of the six heats and the next six fastest runners advanced to the semifinals, which will be held on Friday.
Kabaddi teams continue unbeaten run
Both the Indian men’s and women’s kabaddi teams continued their winning runs. The men’s team beat Chinese Taipei 37-21, while the women’s team defeated Japan 50-25 to reach the semifinals and secure at least a bronze medal.India are the defending champions in both events.
Anahat, Tanvi set up all-Indian squash quarterfinal
India had a productive day in squash, with Anahat Singh, Tanvi Khanna, Abhay Singh and Veer Chotrani reaching the singles quarterfinals. Anahat beat Singapore’s Wai Iynn Au Yeong 3-0 (11-4, 11-5, 11-7) in 19 minutes.Tanvi defeated Singapore’s Wai Yhann Au Yeong 3-1 (5-11, 11-4, 11-5, 13-11) in 39 minutes. The results set up an all-Indian women’s singles quarterfinal between Anahat and Tanvi.In men’s singles, Abhay beat Sri Lanka’s Ravindu Laksiri 3-0, while Veer defeated Malaysia’s Sanjay Jeeva 3-2 after a close contest. Joshna Chinappa and Velavan Senthilkumar also advanced to the mixed doubles quarterfinals.
Dilpreet’s hat-trick powers hockey win
Dilpreet Singh scored a hat-trick as India beat Korea 8-2 in the men’s hockey competition. It was India’s third straight win and kept the team at the top of Pool A. Dilpreet scored in the 10th, 26th and 32nd minutes. Abhishek scored twice, while Shilanand Lakra, Harmanpreet Singh and Rajinder Singh also found the net.India had earlier beaten Indonesia 13-1 and Sri Lanka 16-1.
Boxing, gymnastics and fencing disappoint
Parveen was the only Indian boxer to progress on Thursday after receiving a walkover into the women’s 65kg quarterfinals. Sakshi Chaudhary lost 2-3 to Kazakhstan’s Alua Balkibekova in the women’s 51kg pre-quarterfinals, while Sumit had to withdraw during his 70kg bout because of a knee injury.In gymnastics, Pranati Nayak finished sixth in the women’s vault final. She scored 12.900 on both vaults and finished with 13.100 after a 0.20 bonus.India’s fencing campaign also ended after C A Bhavani Devi and Shreya Gupta were eliminated in women’s individual sabre. Bhavani reached the round of 16 after beating Mongolia’s Oulen Tugsjargan 15-8, but lost 5-15 to China’s Rao Xueyi in the pre-quarterfinals.
