India continued its rich day in the Asian Games 2026 on Saturday, September 26, with multiple medals in kabaddi, shooting, athletics, squash and boxing, among other events.

India Defeat Iran to Retain Women’s Kabaddi Gold

India fought off a strong Iranian team to win 37-34 in the women’s kabaddi final and successfully defend its Asian Games title. Iran pushed hard till the very end, but India’s defence held their ground at the most crucial moment. With a minute left on the clock, Iran needed points to stay in the game, but India’s tackle on Aynaz saw the defending champions hold on for the win.

India clinched the gold medal, which marked the second successive Asian Games triumph for the women’s kabaddi team. Sanju Devi was among the scorers who helped India register their third gold medal of the Asian Games 2026, which saw the country record a total of 27 medals so far, including three gold, 11 silver and 13 bronze and placed 12th in the medal tally.

At the time of publishing this article, India were placed 12th in the Asian Games 2026 medal tally with three gold, 11 silver and 13 bronze medals.

India Win Silver in Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions Team

• India’s shooters made the country proud of bagging a silver medal after Tilottama Sen, Vidarsa K. Vinod and Ashi Chouksey recorded a score of 1,763 to finish second in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions team event.
• China beat India to the gold medal, recording 1,773 points, which was the same score that saw China set the Games record at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou.
• Tilottama Sen and Vidarsa Vinod also qualified for the individual final after finishing third and sixth, respectively, in the qualifying rounds. However, Ashi Chouksey finished 15th and failed to make it to the individual final.

Sawan Barwal Wins Marathon Silver

India registered a memorable achievement in the marathon event after Sawan Barwal won the men’s race, which marked his first Asian Games medal. Barwal equalled the national record and bettered his personal best to finish second with a time of 2:11:37. Japan’s Ichitaka Yamashita won the gold medal with a timing of 2:10:49, finishing 48 seconds ahead of Barwal.

Joshna Chinappa and Velavan Senthilkumar Secure Squash Bronze

India’s Joshna Chinappa and Velavan Senthilkumar lost a tight match against Hong Kong, China’s Lee Ka Yi and Tang Ming Hong to finish third in the mixed doubles event at the Asian Games 2026.

The Indian pair made it to the final after defeating Singapore’s Goh Liu En and Tan Yuhan in the semifinals. In the final match against Hong Kong, Chinappa and Senthilkumar trailed 8-10 before saving four match points. However, the Indian pair failed to hold their nerve as they lost the deciding game 12-10, giving the bronze medal to the Chinese pair.

Anahat Singh Battles in Squash Semifinal

India’s teenage prodigy Anahat Singh lost the women’s singles semifinal to world number five Satomi Watanabe of Japan.

Watanabe beat Singh 11-9, 13-11 in the first two games before the Indian star made a remarkable fight in the decider game. Anahat saved game points at 8-10 before pulling through to win 12-10. The 14-year-old continued to fight as the match progressed.

Kapil Pokhariya Reaches Boxing Quarterfinal

Indian boxer Kapil Pokhariya will face the winner of South Korea’s Kim Gichae and Pakistan’s Irfan Khan in the men’s 91kg quarterfinal after defeating Iran’s Sam Estaki in the Round of 16.

Pokhariya scored 4-1, 5-0, and 5-0 points to record his win against Estaki. The Indian boxer will play in the quarterfinal match on September 28.

Unnati Hooda Advances in Badminton

India’s Unnati Hooda will compete in the pre-quarterfinal match of the women’s singles after recording a narrow win over Malaysia’s Wong Ling Ching in the second round.

Hooda won the first game 21-14 but lost the second game 20-22 as she was leading 10-20 in the deciding game. Unnati fought hard to win the final point and will face Indonesia’s Putri Kusuma Wardani in the pre-quarterfinal match.

Lakshya Sen Knocked Out

• India’s Lakshya Sen suffered a surprise defeat by world number four Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the men’s singles second round.
• Sen lost the first game 12-21 but fought hard to win the second game 21-15. However, Loh saved match points to win the decider game 21-14 and record his win over Sen.
• This comes after the surprise exit of India’s number one Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in the first round.

Animesh Kujur Advances to 200m Semifinal

Animesh Kujur won his men’s 200m heat with a timing of 21.10 seconds and advances to the semifinal round.

At the same time, decathlete Tejaswin Shankar was placed third in the shot put after recording 13.16m, which earned him 677 points, taking his overall tally to 2,484 points at the Asian Games 2026.

India’s Asian Games 2026 Medal Tally

India registered its third gold medal of the Asian Games 2026 after winning the women’s kabaddi final 37-34. India’s rich medal tally is the result of the efforts of shooting, athletics, kabaddi, squash, weightlifting, cricket, badminton, wushu, rowing, soft-tennis and other athletes.

India’s Asian Games 2026 campaign continues in Aichi-Nagoya as the country’s athletes continue to fight for medals in various sporting events.