Language Settings
Select Website Language

GDPR Compliance

We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies, Privacy Policy, and Terms of Service.

India Bag First Asian Games Gold as Women Cricketers Rout Sri Lanka

1 hour ago

3

0

India opened its 2026 Asian Games gold account as Harmanpreet Kaur's cricketers beat Sri Lanka by 147 runs, with badminton and wushu medals also secured.

India collected its opening gold medal of the 2026 Asian Games on Tuesday when the women's cricket team overwhelmed Sri Lanka by 147 runs in the final at Aichi-Nagoya, holding on to the title the country claimed at the previous edition. The result lifted India's overall count at the Games to seven medals and finally delivered the gold the contingent had been chasing.

Harmanpreet Kaur's side chose to bat and built 216 for 3, the highest score India has ever managed in women's cricket at the event. Smriti Mandhana anchored the innings with 79 from 45 deliveries, Shafali Verma struck 48 off 29, and Richa Ghosh closed the innings in a hurry with an unbeaten 49 from just 22 balls. Sri Lanka's reply never got going, and the bowlers wrapped up the innings for 69 to complete the rout.

The cricketers were not the only Indians to make the day count. The men's badminton team booked at least a bronze, wushu competitor Roshibina Devi Naorem guaranteed herself another podium finish, and the men's hockey squad extended its run of lopsided wins.

Badminton men reach semis, women fall

The men's shuttlers, runners-up at the last Asian Games, beat Japan 3-0 to reach the last four and lock in a medal. Lakshya Sen opened the tie, and after dropping the first game and falling behind 14-19 in the decider against world number seven Kodai Naraoka, he turned the match around to win 11-21, 21-5, 21-19. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty followed by beating former world champions Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi 21-18, 24-22. Ayush Shetty then closed it out 21-10, 21-19 against world number 16 Koki Watanabe.

The women's team, however, went out earlier in the day, losing 1-3 to Japan in the quarterfinals. PV Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist, pushed world number three Akane Yamaguchi before going down 23-21, 18-21, 6-21. Unnati Hooda lost to Tomoka Miyazaki, the 2022 world junior champion, 16-21, 18-21. Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand kept India in it with a 21-17, 21-16 win over Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto, but Tanvi Sharma fell 12-21, 10-21 to Nozomi Okuhara to hand Japan the tie.

Roshibina secures third straight medal

Roshibina Devi Naorem, from Manipur, reached the semifinals of the women's Sanda 60kg wushu event by beating Macau's Chu Man Sin at the Aichi Prefectural Martial Arts Hall, guaranteeing at least a bronze. She won bronze at Jakarta in 2018 and silver at Hangzhou in 2023, making this her third medal in a row. Her place in the squad came only after a selection dispute, with the federation citing an injury to Divyanshi Choudhary before naming Roshibina as the replacement.

Hockey rout, boxing upsets

The defending champion men's hockey side thrashed Sri Lanka 16-1 in its second Pool A fixture. Jugraj Singh scored four times, Abhishek Singh and Dilpreet Singh each completed hat-tricks, and Harmanpreet Singh added two. Having beaten Indonesia 13-1 in their opener, India now hold a goal difference of plus 27.

India's boxers stayed unbeaten. Sakshi Chaudhary produced a notable win, ousting Paris Olympic bronze medallist Aira Villegas in the women's 51kg class to reach the pre-quarterfinals. Jadumani Singh moved into the last 16 of the men's 55kg division with a 5-0 verdict over Nepal's Chandra Bahadur Thapa.

Gymnast Pranati Nayak advanced to the women's vault final after placing seventh out of 19 in qualifying. The three-time Asian Gymnastics Championships bronze medallist posted a combined 12.916 to reach the eight-strong final set for September 24.

Table tennis and shooting split results

The women's table tennis team squeezed past Thailand 3-2 to reach the quarterfinals. The men's team was knocked out, losing 0-3 to South Korea in the round of 16 after an earlier group-stage loss to Iran.

Shooting, usually a reliable source of medals for India, came up empty in one event. Elavenil Valarivan and Parth Mane qualified second in the 10m air rifle mixed team but finished fourth in the final with 376.3, missing the medals despite both having won in other events. In skeet there was better news, as 28-year-old Anantjeet Singh Naruka shot 96 to sit in a four-way tie for the lead after four rounds of qualification.

Asian Games 2026, India women's cricket gold, Harmanpreet Kaur, Aichi-Nagoya, Roshibina Devi wushu, India men's badminton, Smriti Mandhana, India hockey

Click here to Read More
Previous Article
Real Madrid Look to Schröder for UWCL Breakthrough
Next Article
Nepal PM Calls Bhotekoshi Flood a 'Serious Signal' of Climate Risk

Related Sports Updates:

Are you sure? You want to delete this comment..! Remove Cancel

Comments (0)

    Leave a comment