Asian Games 2026 Day 2: India Reach Six Medals in Busy Start

India’s medal tally rose from two to six on Day 2 of the Asian Games 2026, with the shooting contingent delivering three medals and Suchika Tariyal adding a bronze in mixed martial arts. The men’s 10m air rifle competitions produced the biggest share of the day’s medals, while Indian teams also recorded emphatic results across table tennis, kabaddi, hockey and badminton.

Himanshu Dhillon won silver and Rudrankksh Patil took bronze in the men’s 10m air rifle individual final. Earlier, Dhillon and Patil combined with Parth Mane to secure silver in the men’s 10m air rifle team event. Tariyal’s bronze came in the women’s traditional 60kg MMA category after her semi-final against Singapore’s Hui Hoon Teo ended in a draw following arbitration, leaving her out of the final.

Shooting medals lead India’s Day 2 gains

The men’s 10m air rifle was India’s most productive event of the day. The team of Dhillon, Patil and Mane finished with silver, before Dhillon and Patil returned for individual medals in the final. Dhillon’s silver and Patil’s bronze lifted the shooting contribution to three medals on the day.

Tariyal’s result was also significant, with the live update describing it as India’s first-ever MMA medal at the Asian Games. Her semi-final was reviewed by a panel of 10 judges after an official protest and was declared a draw. She consequently settled for bronze in the women’s traditional 60kg competition.

India also remained in medal contention in wushu. Aryan beat Afghanistan’s Shahzada Safi to reach the quarter-finals of the men’s 56kg event, leaving him one win away from assuring a medal. Roshibina Devi advanced to the quarter-finals in the women’s 60kg category after defeating Bangladesh’s Most Shika Khatun by win by point difference. She too stood one victory away from a medal.

In swimming, Srihari Nataraj qualified for the men’s 50m backstroke final and finished 10th in 25.52 seconds. Rishabh Das was listed as a reserve for that final, while Akash Mani and Gitesh Shah did not qualify for the men’s 50m freestyle final. Dhanush Suresh also missed out on the men’s 100m breaststroke final. Nyeman Wangsu placed 15th in the women’s Changquan final.

Team events bring a string of Indian victories

India’s men’s and women’s table tennis teams both beat Pakistan 3-0. In the men’s Group F tie, Harmeet Desai opened with an 11-4, 11-3, 11-5 win over Muhammad Khan. Sathiyan Gnanasekaran then defeated Abbas Khan 11-1, 11-8, 11-9, before Payas Jain completed the sweep against Muhammad Khan, 11-2, 11-5, 11-7. The result was a response from the men’s team after its opening defeat to Iran, while the women’s side registered its second victory of the campaign.

The men’s kabaddi team started with a 49-24 Group A win over Japan. India’s women were also in control against Bangladesh in their Group A match, leading 17-6 with a little more than four minutes left in the first half in the latest update.

India’s women’s hockey side secured a second successive Pool B win with a 17-1 result against Indonesia. In men’s team badminton, India swept Bangladesh 3-0 in the Round of 16. Lakshya Sen beat Ayman Ibn Jaman 21-4, 21-12; Ayush Shetty defeated Gourab Singha 21-4, 21-13; and Kidambi Srikanth overcame Jumar Al Amin 21-15, 21-12.

Elsewhere, Aadhya Tiwari and Jay Meena opened their soft tennis mixed doubles Group B campaign with a 5-0 victory over Cambodia’s Viva Chao and Chanroseka Khun, but later lost 1-5 to South Korea’s Kim Yeon-hwa and Jaekyu Park and were beaten by the Philippines pair Christy Sanosa and Sherwin Nuguit in the Round of 16. India also lost 2-1 to Japan in sepaktakraw Group B.