Asian Games 2026 Day 2: Srihari reaches swimming final as India advances in table tennis

India enjoyed another productive day at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on September 21, adding four medals in shooting while making strong progress across hockey, kabaddi, table tennis and badminton.

The biggest haul came from the shooting range, where Himanshu Dhillon won silver and Rudrankksh Patil took bronze in the men’s 10m air rifle individual event. Their double podium marked the first time India had won two medals in the event at the Asian Games. Himanshu finished with 252.4, while Rudrankksh secured bronze with 230.9. China’s Sheng Lihao won gold.

India also claimed silver in the men’s 10m air rifle team event. Rudrankksh, Himanshu and Parth Mane combined for 1890.1, finishing behind China, who set a world record with 1899.

In MMA, Suchika Tariyal created history by winning India’s first-ever Asian Games medal in the sport. She secured bronze in the women’s Traditional 60kg category after losing her semifinal to Singapore’s Hui Hoon Teo in overtime.

India’s hockey teams continued their dominant run. The women thrashed Indonesia 17-1, with Rutuja Pisal, Deepika Sehrawat and Navneet Kaur scoring hat-tricks. The men also registered a convincing 13-1 victory over Indonesia.

The kabaddi teams had another successful day. The women defeated Bangladesh 42-21 in their Group A opener after leading 21-10 at half-time, while the men began their title defence with a 49-24 win over Japan.

There was also a clean sweep for India in table tennis against Pakistan. The men’s team completed a 3-0 victory, with Harmeet Desai, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Payas Jain winning their respective matches. The women also secured a 3-0 win over Pakistan.

In badminton, the men’s team defeated Bangladesh 3-0, with Lakshya Sen, Ayush Shetty and Kidambi Srikanth winning their singles matches. India’s women will face Japan in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Boxer Sumit Kundu advanced with a 5-0 unanimous-decision victory over Thailand’s Sinsiri Bunjong in the men’s 70kg category. Wushu fighters Roshibina Devi and Aryan also progressed to the quarterfinals in their respective Sanda categories.

Elsewhere, India’s soft tennis pair advanced to the Round of 16 before losing to the Philippines, while the men’s sepak takraw team went down 1-2 to Japan. In swimming, Srihari Nataraj finished eighth in the men’s 50m backstroke final, while India’s men’s 4x200m freestyle relay team finished ninth.

India will return on Tuesday with several medal opportunities, including the women’s cricket gold-medal match against Sri Lanka and the women’s badminton quarterfinal against Japan.