On its very first day, the country won two silver medals, both in shooting. Valarivan then won her second silver in the women’s 25m rifle individual event. India started their Asian Games 2026 campaign on a positive note on September 20.
The women’s 25m air rifle team of Elavenil Valarivan , Sonam Maskar and Vidarsa Vinod was the first to open the Indian account. On the other hand, two more medals were assured. MMA star Suchika Tariyal qualified for the semi-final and assured India of at least a bronze in the women’s 60kg traditional event. On the other hand, the Indian women’s cricket team qualified for the final and ensured another silver.
On Day 3 of the Asian Games 2026, i.e September 21 (Monday), India will be looking for further medals in shooting with Parth Rakesh Mane, Himanshu Dhillon, Rudranksh Balasaheb Patil, all gunning for the men’s 10m air rifle individual and team events. 10m Air Rifle Men (Individual) – Qualification Round: Parth Rakesh Mane, Himanshu Dhillon, Rudranksh Balasaheb Patil | 06:15 IST 10m Air Rifle Men (Team) – Final (medal event): Parth Rakesh Mane, Himanshu Dhillon, Rudranksh Balasaheb Patil | 06:15 IST Skeet Men (Individual) – Qualification Day 1 (50 Targets): Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Bhavtegh Singh Gill, Mairaj Ahmad Khan | 06:30 IST Skeet Men (Team) – Final Day 1 (50 Targets) (medal event): Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Bhavtegh Singh Gill, Mairaj Ahmad Khan | 06:30 IST Skeet Women (Individual) – Qualification Day 1 (50 Targets): Parinaaz Dhaliwal, Raiza Dhillon, Maheshwari Chauhan | 06:30 IST Skeet Women (Team) – Final Day 1 (50 Targets) (medal event): Parinaaz Dhaliwal, Raiza Dhillon, Maheshwari Chauhan | 06:30 IST 10m Air Rifle Men (Individual) – Final (medal event): Parth Rakesh Mane, Himanshu Dhillon, Rudranksh Balasaheb Patil (subject to qualification) | 09:00 IST Men’s 50m Backstroke – Heats (Heat 2): Rishabh Das, Srihari Natraj | 06:32 IST Men’s 50m Freestyle – Heats: Akash Mani (Heat 2) at 06:46 IST | Heer Gitesh Shah (Heat 4) at 06:50 IST Men’s 100m Breaststroke – Heats (Heat 2): Danush Suresh | 07:10 IST Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay – Heats (Heat 2): Sajan Prakash, Aneesh Sunil Kumar Gowda, Vedaant Madhavan, Dhakshan Shashikumar | 07:44 IST Men’s 50m Backstroke – Final (medal event): Rishabh Das, Srihari Natraj (subject to qualification) | 13:30 IST Men’s 50m Freestyle – Final (medal event): Akash Mani, Heer Gitesh Shah (subject to qualification) | 13:42 IST Men’s 100m Breaststroke – Final (medal event): Danush Suresh (subject to qualification) | 14:08 IST Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay – Final (medal event): Team India (subject to qualification) | 14:43 IST Men’s Team – Round 1 (Court 1): India (Lakshya Sen, Ayush Shetty, HS Prannoy, Kidambi Srikanth, Tharun Mannepalli, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, Hariharan Amsakarunan, MR Arjun, Dhruv Kapila) vs. Bangladesh | 11:30 IST Men’s Team – Group A (Game 2): India vs. Japan | 09:45 IST Women’s Team – Group A (Game 2): India vs. Bangladesh | 16:15 IST Women’s Team – Pool Stage (Match 4): India vs. Indonesia | 09:30 IST Women’s Changquan – Final (medal event): Nyeman Wangsu | 05:30 IST Women’s Sanda 60kg – 1/8 Final (Match 5): Roshibina Devi vs. Most Shika Khatun (Bangladesh) | 14:30 IST Onwards Men’s Sanda 56kg – 1/16 Final (Match 3): Aryan vs. Shahzada Safi (Afghanistan) | 14:30 IST Onwards Men’s 70kg – Preliminaries (Round of 32, Bout 2): Sumit vs. SinSiri Bunjong (Thailand) | 08:30 IST Onwards Women’s Traditional -60kg – Semifinal: Suchika Tariyal vs. Teo Hui Hoon (Singapore) | 08:30 IST Men’s Team Regu – Preliminary Group B (2): India vs. Japan | 05:30 IST Mixed Doubles – Group B (Match 1): Jay Meena / Aadhya Tiwari vs. Viva Chao / Chanroseka Khun (Cambodia) | 05:30 IST Mixed Doubles – Group B (Match 3): Jay Meena / Aadhya Tiwari vs. Bud Nyamdorj / Enkhkhuslen Ganbaatar (Mongolia) | 06:30 IST Mixed Doubles – Group B (Match 6): Jay Meena / Aadhya Tiwari vs. Yeon-hwa Kim / Jaekyu Park (South Korea) | 07:30 IST Mixed Doubles – Quarterfinal: Jay Meena / Aadhya Tiwari (subject to qualification) | 10:30 IST Mixed Doubles – Semifinal: Jay Meena / Aadhya Tiwari (subject to qualification) | 12:00 IST Mixed Doubles – Gold Medal Match (medal event): Jay Meena / Aadhya Tiwari (subject to qualification) | 13:30 IST
Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Bhavtegh Singh Gill and Mairaj Ahmad will be gunning for medals in men’s skeet individual and team events. On the other hand, the women’s skeet individual and team events will also feature medal hopefuls Parinaaz Dhaliwal, Raiza Dhillon and Maheshwari Chauhan. Suchika Tariyal will continue her dream run in the semi-final and will be eyeing a win to assure India of a silver at least. The boxing contingent will also begin their campaign, while India and Pakistan will come face to face for the first time in these Games in the women’s team table tennis event.
Table Tennis
Women’s Team – Group F (Match 6): India (Sreeja Akula, Yashaswini Ghorpade, Diya Chitale, Sutirtha Mukherjee, Syndrela Das) vs. Pakistan | 06:30 IST Men’s Team – Group F (Match 5): India (G. Pakistan | 15:30 IST
Sathiyan, Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkar, Manush Shah, Payas Jain) vs.
