NEW DELHI: India enjoyed another medal-rich day at the Asian Games 2026 on Monday, winning eight medals across athletics, shooting and kurash while also securing more medals in boxing. Yet the haul came with a familiar mix of celebration and disappointment, as several Indian athletes came agonisingly close to the podium.The eight medals included four silver and four bronze, with Yashvir Singh and Rohit Yadav winning a javelin double, Murali Sreeshankar taking long jump silver, Gulveer Singh adding his second silver of the Games and Esha Singh claiming silver in the women’s 25m pistol. Vithya Ramraj, Parul Chaudhary and Pincky Balhara completed the day’s bronze-medal haul.India also secured at least three more medals in boxing as three boxers — Lovlina Borgohain, Priya and Kapil Pokhariya — confirmed podium finishes by winning their respective quarterfinals.Asian Games Full Coverage | Medal Tally | Schedule
Javelin double, Gulveer’s second silver headline athletics haul
In the absence of defending champion Neeraj Chopra, Yashvir Singh and Rohit Yadav ensured India still finished with two athletes on the men’s javelin podium.Yashvir produced a personal best of 85.72m to win silver, while Rohit took bronze with 84.35m. Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Pathirage won gold with 88.55m.Yashvir had started strongly with 83.56m and briefly led the competition, while Rohit moved to the top with 84.35m. Pathirage eventually took control with 88.33m before improving further in his final attempt.Gulveer, meanwhile, continued his outstanding campaign by winning his second silver medal. After finishing runner-up in the 10,000m, he clocked a personal best of 3:36.72 in the 1500m final. Japan’s Kazuto Iizawa won gold, while compatriot Nagiya Mori took bronze. India’s Yoonus Shah finished ninth.ALSO READ: India win 8 medals but remain outside top 10 as gold continues to elude
Sreeshankar wins silver despite injury
Murali Sreeshankar endured a tense finish to win silver in the men’s long jump.The Indian produced a best effort of 8.07m, but injured himself during his fourth attempt and could not take either of his final two jumps. Having already moved into silver-medal position, Sreeshankar could only watch as his rivals tried to overtake his mark. None succeeded.China’s Yuhao Shi won gold with 8.17m, while Uzbekistan’s Anvar Anvarov took bronze with 8.06m. India’s Solomon David finished seventh with 7.70m.There were also bronze medals for Parul Chaudhary and Vithya Ramraj. Parul clocked 15:14.61 to finish third in the women’s 5000m, adding another bronze after her steeplechase medal.Vithya, meanwhile, set a personal best of 54.75 seconds to win bronze in the 400m hurdles and break PT Usha’s more than four-decade-old national record. Anu Raghavan finished fifth with a personal best of 55.88 seconds.
Esha fights through shoot-offs, Balhara adds kurash bronze
Esha Singh had to negotiate multiple shoot-offs before securing silver in the women’s 25m pistol.The world No. 1 finished with 38 hits, the same score as China’s Xiao Jiaruixuan. Xiao eventually won the gold after the deciding shoot-off, leaving Esha with silver.Esha’s route to the podium included three shoot-offs against South Korea’s Kim Hyon Suk during the elimination stages before she secured her place in the medal positions.Pincky Balhara also added a bronze in women’s -78kg kurash. She beat South Korea’s Garam Lim in the quarterfinal before losing 0-5 to another South Korean, Sumin Mo, in the semifinals.It was Balhara’s second Asian Games medal, eight years after her silver at Jakarta 2018.
Boxing guarantees three more medals
India’s medal count will rise further after three boxers won their quarterfinal bouts.Lovlina Borgohain defeated South Korea’s Seong Suyeon in the women’s 75kg quarterfinal to confirm a medal. Priya also advanced to the podium by beating Tajikistan’s Mijgona Samadova in the women’s 60kg quarterfinal.Kapil Pokhariya completed the boxing trio, defeating South Korea’s Kim Gichae in the men’s 90kg quarterfinal.The three victories mean India is guaranteed at least three more boxing medals, although their colour will be determined by their semifinal and final results.
Hockey sets up blockbuster Pakistan semifinal
The defending champions produced one of their most emphatic performances of the Games, crushing Bangladesh 10-0 in their final Pool A match.Captain Harmanpreet Singh scored a hat-trick, while Abhishek struck three times. Jugraj Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Shilanand Lakra, Sanjay and Mandeep Singh also got on the scoresheet.India finished top of Pool A with five wins from five matches and a +45 goal difference. The result sets up a blockbuster semifinal against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 1. Malaysia and South Korea will contest the other semifinal.
More near misses on a busy day
Not everything went India’s way. Defending champion and Games record holder Avinash Sable finished fourth in the men’s 3000m steeplechase despite producing a season-best 8:21.67. Japan’s Ryuji Miura won gold in a Games record 8:17.36.Seema Kaliramna also missed the women’s discus podium by a narrow margin, finishing fourth with a personal-best 59.88m. All three medal winners crossed 60m. India also finished fourth in the women’s 4x100m relay.Santhosh Kumar Tamilarasan was seventh in the men’s 400m hurdles, while India’s women’s 25m pistol team of Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh and Rahi Sarnobat finished fifth.Elsewhere, India qualified for the men’s 4x400m relay final and mixed 4x100m relay final, while Pooja reached the women’s 800m final. Squash produced a clean sweep of sorts, with India’s women’s team beating Japan and China and the men’s side defeating China and South Korea.Rain also affected the men’s cricket quarterfinal against Afghanistan, which was abandoned, with India advancing to the semifinal by virtue of higher seeding.After the day’s eight medals, India stood on 45 medals — four gold, 20 silver and 21 bronze. The medal haul continued to grow, but the country’s gold tally remained unchanged, leaving India 12th in the standings.
