Mirabai Chanu secured silver in weightlifting while Jay Meena won India's first-ever soft tennis medal on an action-packed day at the Asian Games 2026 in Nagoya.
Star Indian weightlifter Mirabai Chanu ended a 28-year wait for the country by winning silver in the women's 49kg event at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan. Chanu lifted a total of 198kg—comprising 87kg in the snatch and 111kg in the clean and jerk—to deliver India's first Asian Games weightlifting medal since Karnam Malleswari's bronze in 1998. North Korea's Ri Song Gum won gold, setting three world records with a total lift of 215kg.
India scripted history in soft tennis as 26-year-old Jay Meena secured the nation's first-ever Asian Games medal in the sport, fetching bronze in the men's singles. Competing at his third Asian Games, Meena staged a spirited fightback from three games down before losing 2-4 (3-5, 1-4, 1-4, 4-1, 6-4, 1-4) to Japan's Takuya Kurosaka in the semifinals.
In shooting, double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker finished fifth in the women's 10m air pistol final with a score of 181.1 after qualifying third with 579. Bhaker will next feature in the 25m pistol event, where she enters as the defending champion. Additionally, the Indian men's and women's skeet teams secured bronze medals, featuring shooters Raiza Dhillon, Maheshwari Chauhan, and Parinaaz Dhaliwal.
The women's cricket team clinched India's first gold medal of the Games in dominant fashion, beating Sri Lanka by 147 runs. Smriti Mandhana scored 79 to propel India to 216/3, before a disciplined bowling effort led by Deepti Sharma (1.50 economy rate) skittled Sri Lanka for just 69.
In boxing, 21-year-old Asian Games debutant Ankush Panghal stormed into the men's 80kg quarterfinals with a 5-0 unanimous decision victory over Bahrain's Hamsa Vogel. He is now one win away from a medal and will face Tajikistan's Nekruz Salimov next. In swimming, Rohit Benedicton failed to reach the men's 100m butterfly final after clocking 53.08s to finish 13th overall, while Sajan Prakash did not start. In fencing, Gisho Nidhi Kumaresan Padma exited in the pre-quarterfinals of the men's individual sabre, losing 11-15 to Kazakhstan's Artyom Sarkissyan.
Reporting sourced from The Hindu Sport. Photo courtesy The Hindu Sport.