Asian Games 2026 Day Review: India’s Golden Shooting Moment, Gulveer’s Silver and a Day of Mixed Fortunes

India experienced one of its most eventful days at the 2026 Asian Games, with medals arriving across shooting, athletics and table tennis while kabaddi and squash produced major progress towards the medal rounds. 

At the same time, several established names endured disappointing exits, particularly in badminton and table tennis. The day was defined by shooting gold, Gulveer Singh’s historic 10,000m silver, multiple bronze medals and contrasting results in several individual sports.

The biggest medal of the day came in the shooting range, where Kamaljeet and Suruchi Inder Singh won gold in the 10m air pistol mixed team event. The Indian pair converted their qualification performance into the top prize in the final, providing India with a gold medal in one of the Games' precision events.

There was further success in the shooting range in the men's 50m rifle 3 positions team event. Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Rudrankksh Patil and Niraj Kumar won silver for India.

The Indian trio finished behind China in the team competition. Individually, Aishwary and Niraj also reached the final. Aishwary finished fifth, while Niraj was eighth. Rudrankksh did not compete in the individual final because of the competition's country quota.

Together, the two shooting results made it another productive day for India's shooters.

Gulveer Upgrades Hangzhou Bronze to Silver

On the athletics track, Gulveer Singh won silver in the men's 10,000m, improving on the bronze medal he won at Hangzhou. Gulveer clocked 28:29.38 after staying in the leading group throughout a tactical race. With the race entering its final stages, Gulveer moved into second and attempted to challenge defending champion Birhanu Balew. The Ethiopian had more pace in the final 300 metres, however, and pulled clear to take gold.

Gulveer's silver was nevertheless historic. He became the first Indian to win two Asian Games medals in the men's 10,000m, adding silver to his earlier bronze. India also picked up a bronze in the women's shot put through Manpreet Kaur, who produced a best effort of 17.17m. Krishna Jayasankar Menon finished fifth in her maiden Asian Games appearance.

Baranica Elangovan added another athletics bronze in the women's pole vault. In the men's 400m, Vishal Thennarasu won his heat in 45.27 seconds to reach the final. India will also have two women's 400m finalists, with Kiran qualifying directly and Prachi progressing through the overall times after finishing third in her heat.

The day also saw contrasting results in the heptathlon. Anamika Aneesh finished sixth and Pooja tenth in the long jump, leaving them seventh and ninth overall, while they later finished sixth and eighth respectively in the 800m. In the men's hammer throw, Damneet Singh and Praveen Kumar finished ninth and 11th.

Kabaddi Provides Double Final Berths

India's kabaddi campaign continued strongly, with both teams reaching their respective finals. The Indian women's team defeated Nepal in the semifinal, booking its place in the gold-medal match. The men's team followed the same path, beating Thailand in their semifinal to reach the final.

With both Indian teams now through to the title matches, kabaddi remains one of India's major opportunities for further gold medals at the Games.

Squash was another major source of progress. Anahat Singh defeated Tanvi Khanna in an all-Indian women's singles quarterfinal and advanced to the semifinal.

In the men's singles, Abhay Singh beat Japan's Ryunosuke Tsukue 3-0 to reach the semifinals. There was disappointment for Veer Chotrani, however, as he lost his men's singles quarterfinal against Pakistan's Muhammad Irfan. The mixed doubles combination of Joshna Chinappa and Velavan Senthilkumar also moved into the medal zone after defeating the Philippines' David Pelino and Jemyca Aribado in the quarterfinal. Their victory confirmed a medal for India.

India secured another medal in table tennis through Manush Shah and Diya Chitale, who reached the mixed doubles semifinal. They subsequently lost to China's Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha, confirming a bronze medal for the Indian pair. There were several difficult results elsewhere.

Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade lost their mixed doubles quarterfinal to China's Lin Shidong and Kuai Man, while Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Harmeet Desai exited men's doubles after losing to Japan's Sora Matsushima and Shunsuke Togami. In singles, Manush Shah advanced after defeating Faraji Benyamin, while Sreeja Akula lost to Pyon Song Gyong and Manav Thakkar lost to North Korea's U Tae Ryong.

Yashaswini, however, progressed after beating Syria's Hend Zaza. The women's doubles campaign also ended for both Indian combinations, with Sreeja Akula-Syndrela Das and Diya Chitale-Yashaswini Ghorpade suffering defeats.

Badminton Sees a Major Setback

The biggest shock of the day came in badminton. Defending men's doubles champions Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were eliminated in the first round, losing 21-12, 19-21, 14-21 to Thailand's Pakkapon Teeraratsakul and Peeratchai Sukphun.

India did enjoy wins elsewhere. Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand advanced in women's doubles, while Unnati Hooda defeated North Korea's Yu Mi Song in women's singles. Dhruv Kapila and Tanisha Crasto also progressed in mixed doubles, defeating opponents from Maldives after earlier beating a Malaysian pair. But the Satwik-Chirag defeat was a major blow to India's badminton campaign given their status as defending champions.

India's women's hockey team defeated Japan 3-1, securing another important Pool B victory. In swimming, Sajan Prakash qualified for the men's 200m butterfly final after finishing third in his heat. Rishabh Das and Utkarsh Patil also advanced in the men's 200m backstroke. Dhanush Suresh finished 21st overall in the 50m breaststroke and missed the final, while Aneesh Sunil and Dhakshan Shashikumar finished 17th and 18th respectively in the 400m freestyle.

The day also featured exits in boxing, fencing, equestrian, canoe sprint and esports. Preeti lost to North Korea's Mi Chol Pang in the women's boxing Round of 16. India's men's and women's fencing teams were eliminated in the team events, while the equestrian team finished outside the medal positions.

In canoe sprint, India's women's K4 500m crew finished eighth, while Prohit Baroi and Prasanna Kumar moved into the Final B of the men's K2 500m.

India also lost 0-2 to South Korea in Pokémon Unite. Overall, the day captured the unpredictable nature of the Asian Games. Gold in shooting, silver from Gulveer Singh, bronze medals in athletics and table tennis, and final berths in kabaddi and squash provided plenty to celebrate.

Yet the early exits of Satwik-Chirag, several table tennis combinations and other medal contenders showed that expectations do not always translate into podium finishes.

With several finals and medal events still ahead, India enters the next day with opportunities across athletics, kabaddi, squash, shooting, hockey and other disciplines.