Aichi-Nagoya [Japan], September 20 (ANI): India opened its Asian Games 2026 marketing campaign with two silver medals in capturing, courtesy of Elavenil Valarivan’s particular person and workforce performances, whereas blended martial artist Suchika Tariyal confirmed one other medal on the opening day of competitors in Aichi-Nagoya on Sunday.
Elavenil first mixed with Sonam Maskar and Vidarsa Vinod to win silver within the ladies’s 10m air rifle workforce occasion earlier than including a person silver later within the day. She regarded firmly heading in the right direction for gold for a lot of the person closing, however Japan’s Hinata Taichi held her nerve within the closing phases to say the highest spot.
Suchika, in the meantime, defeated Mongolia’s Altanchimeg Baigalmaa within the ladies’s conventional 60kg quarterfinal to guarantee herself of a medal. She will now look to progress additional within the competitors and attain the ultimate.
India ended Day 1 in tenth place within the medal standings with two silver medals. China topped the desk with 20 medals, together with 11 gold, whereas hosts Japan additionally collected 20 medals however had six golds to take a seat second.
The opening ceremony befell on Saturday, with India’s double Olympic medallist from Paris, Manu Bhaker, and Hangzhou Asian Games gold-winning Kabaddi participant Pawan Sehrawat main the Indian contingent through the parade.
India’s desk tennis marketing campaign produced blended outcomes throughout the lads’s and ladies’s workforce occasions. The males started with a 3-0 victory over Indonesia in Group F however have been unable to take care of that type towards Iran, happening 0-3 later within the day.
Against Indonesia, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah gained their respective matches to present India a clear sweep. Thakkar was pushed to 5 video games by Muhammad Junindra however got here by means of 11-7, 8-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-9. Shah then defeated Affan Pratama 11-9, 11-9, 12-10 to seal the tie.
India’s males struggled towards Iran, with Noshad Alamiyan defeating Manush Shah 11-3, 11-8, 12-10 within the opening match. Benyamin Faraji then beat Manav Thakkar 11-2, 11-6, 11-6 to place Iran 2-0 forward.
Harmeet Desai took on Nima Alamian within the third match and pushed the competition to 5 video games, however the Iranian prevailed 12-10, 13-15, 11-3, 10-12, 11-2 to finish the 3-0 outcome.
India’s ladies’s workforce, in the meantime, started with a 3-0 win over Indonesia earlier than edging Singapore 3-2 in one other Group F encounter.
In hockey, the Indian ladies made a commanding begin to their marketing campaign, defeating Uzbekistan 19-0 of their Pool B match. The males additionally started with a win, beating Indonesia 13-1 in Pool A.
The ladies’s workforce will look to construct on the opening outcome when it takes on Indonesia in its second group match on Monday. Hockey carries added significance on the Aichi-Nagoya Games, with each the lads’s and ladies’s tournaments serving as qualification occasions for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The winners of the 2 competitions will safe direct qualification for the Games.
India’s ladies’s cricket workforce additionally superior to the gold-medal match after defeating Bangladesh within the semifinal. They will face Sri Lanka within the closing, with the latter having crushed Pakistan within the different semifinal.
India’s ladies’s badminton workforce started its marketing campaign with a 3-0 victory over Kazakhstan within the first spherical of the workforce occasion.
In swimming, Rishabh Das completed sixth within the males’s 100m backstroke closing after qualifying for the medal race. He had completed fifth within the heats, whereas compatriot Utkarsh Patil positioned twelfth and didn’t advance.
Benediction Beniston and Akash Mani completed twelfth and twenty third, respectively, within the males’s 100m freestyle heats.
India’s wushu marketing campaign noticed Suraj Singh Mayanglambam end eleventh within the males’s Changquan closing. Aparna Dahiya and Vikrant Baliyan, in the meantime, exited the Sanda competitions within the spherical of 16.
Aparna misplaced to Iran’s Sogand Sinkaeichetan within the ladies’s 52kg class, whereas Vikrant was defeated by Iran’s Soheil Mousavi within the males’s 75kg occasion.
In teqball, Quimcy Dsouza went right down to Japan’s Yuina Sakamoto within the ladies’s singles bronze-medal match. Dsouza and Mohamed Anas Beg additionally misplaced their blended doubles bronze-medal contest towards Vietnam’s Hoang Minh Tan Nguyen and Gia Ngih Trinh.
India’s opening day featured each medal-winning performances and early exits, with the contingent now turning its consideration to a busy second day.
In capturing, Himanshu Dhillon, Parth Mane and Rudrankksh Patil will compete within the males’s 10m air rifle particular person and workforce occasions. Suchika can even return to motion, looking for a spot within the closing of the normal 60kg MMA competitors after already confirming a medal.
The Indian kabaddi groups are set to start their campaigns on Monday, whereas the desk tennis schedule will characteristic two India-Pakistan encounters.
India arrived in Japan aiming to construct on its efficiency on the Hangzhou Asian Games, the place it completed fourth within the medal standings with 106 medals, together with 28 gold, 38 silver and 40 bronze.
The Indian contingent options 5 particular person Olympic medallists, though defending javelin throw champion Neeraj Chopra withdrew resulting from an ankle harm. Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu leads India’s weightlifting contingent, whereas Lovlina Borgohain is about to compete in boxing and Aman Sehrawat will signify the nation in wrestling.
India’s boxers arrive after a record-breaking Commonwealth Games marketing campaign, the place they gained 10 medals, together with seven gold.
Athletics is anticipated to be a major a part of India’s marketing campaign, with greater than 70 observe and subject athletes set to compete. Gulveer Singh, Tejaswin Shankar and Olympian Sarvesh Kushare are among the many athletes to look at, whereas Tajinderpal Singh Toor will search to increase his dominance within the shot put after successful the title on the earlier two editions.
India can even goal to defend its males’s and ladies’s titles in cricket and kabaddi, together with the lads’s hockey crown. In males’s cricket, Shreyas Iyer will lead the title defence within the T20 competitors, with teenage batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi additionally included within the squad.
The Games will present Indian athletes with alternatives to safe qualification locations for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics in archery, crusing, squash, browsing and tennis, along with the direct qualification on supply in hockey.
In squash, younger Anahat Singh returns after contributing to India’s ladies’s workforce bronze at Hangzhou 2023. She additionally gained a blended doubles bronze alongside Abhay Singh and can be among the many gamers anticipated to characteristic in India’s marketing campaign.
The Aichi-Nagoya Games have launched a number of sports activities and disciplines, together with blended martial arts, padel, browsing, digital taekwondo and teqball. Esports and breaking, which made their Asian Games medal debuts in Hangzhou, can even characteristic.
Competition is unfold throughout Aichi Prefecture and different elements of Japan, with occasions happening in cities together with Tokyo and Osaka. The Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium is serving as the primary area.
India will look so as to add to its medal tally on Monday because the competitors gathers tempo throughout capturing, MMA, kabaddi, hockey and desk tennis. (ANI)