Asian Games 2026 Day 4: India wins first gold as badminton assures medal

India opened their gold medal account through women’s cricket, while men’s badminton assured another medal and Roshibina Devi secured a wushu podium.

India finally opened their gold medal account at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Tuesday as the women’s cricket team produced a dominant performance against Sri Lanka in the final. The result also capped a busy day for the Indian contingent, with the men’s badminton team assuring another medal and Roshibina Devi securing a wushu podium.

India posted 216/3 after being sent in to bat, registering the highest total in women’s cricket at the Asian Games. Smriti Mandhana led the charge with 79 off 45 balls, while Shafali Verma made 48 from 29. Richa Ghosh then provided a late surge with an unbeaten 49 off 22 balls.

Sri Lanka were bowled out for just 69 in 15.4 overs as India won by 147 runs. Deepti Sharma, Shree Charani, Shreyanka Patil and Shafali shared the wickets as India successfully defended their title.

The men’s badminton team then secured a medal with a 3-0 quarterfinal win over Japan. Lakshya Sen recovered from losing the opening game to beat Kodai Naraoka 11-21, 21-5, 21-19. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty followed with a 21-18, 24-22 victory over former world champions Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi before Ayush Shetty defeated Koki Watanabe 21-10, 21-19.

Roshibina Devi also continued her Asian Games medal run by reaching the women’s 60kg wushu podium after progressing from her quarterfinal. She secured her third consecutive Asian Games medal.

The day had its share of disappointment too. Elavenil Valarivan and Parth Rakesh Mane finished fourth in the mixed 10m air rifle team event, missing bronze by just 0.8 points.

In table tennis, the women survived a tough 3-2 battle against Thailand in the round of 16, with Yashaswini Ghorpade winning twice and Sreeja Akula sealing the tie. They later exited in the quarterfinals after a 0-3 defeat to North Korea.

The women’s badminton team also bowed out in the quarterfinals, losing 1-3 to Japan despite a win for Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand. PV Sindhu and Unnati Hooda lost their singles matches before Tanvi Sharma was beaten by Nozomi Okuhara.

In boxing, Sakshi Chaudhary began her campaign with a 5-0 win over 2024 Olympic bronze medallist Aira Villegas, while Jadumani Singh also advanced with a unanimous victory over Nepal’s Chandra Thapa.

India also enjoyed a big win in men’s hockey, defeating Sri Lanka 16-1, with Jugraj Singh scoring four goals and Abhishek adding three. Meanwhile, Chetan Bhatt finished fifth in karate after losing his bronze-medal bout on Senshu, and India’s men’s table tennis team suffered a 0-3 defeat to South Korea.

The day also brought mixed results in swimming, fencing, equestrian, sepak takraw and soft tennis, with Jay Meena advancing to the men’s singles quarterfinals in the latter.

For India, however, the defining moment was the long-awaited arrival of gold. After a medal haul dominated by silver and bronze in the opening days, the women cricketers finally put India on top of the podium and gave the contingent fresh momentum for the days ahead.