Asian Games 2026 Day 2: India win four medals as shooting delivers three and Suchika Tariyal makes MMA history amid heartbreak | Asian Games 2026 News
NEW DELHI: Gold continued to elude India, but medals kept coming on the second day of the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya as the country added four more to its tally on Monday.Three came from the shooting range, while Suchika Tariyal created history by becoming India’s first Asian Games medallist in mixed martial arts. Her bronze, however, came with heartbreak after a closely fought semifinal ended in a draw, with her higher weight denying her a place in the final.India now have six medals — four silver and two bronze — after two days of competition, but are still waiting for their first gold.
Shooting delivers three more medals
The shooting range once again proved to be India’s biggest source of medals.Himanshu Dhillon won silver and Rudrankksh Patil took bronze in the men’s 10m air rifle individual event, while both were part of the Indian team that secured silver in the team competition alongside 18-year-old Parth Mane.The trio combined for 1898.4 points, but China raised the bar yet again. Sheng Lihao, Changhong Zhang and Sihan Ma amassed 1899.0 to win gold and set a new world record, improving the previous mark of 1898.4 set in Cairo last year.For India, the individual medals added another layer to an impressive day for the young shooters. Dhillon, 21, and Mane, 18, are still finding their feet at senior level, while Rudrankksh has already established himself as a major international contender.The three medals took India’s shooting tally to five — four silver and one bronze — after the country’s opening-day silver medals.ALSO READ: Why Suchika Tariyal lost despite a draw: How 700g denied India’s MMA fighter a historic final and left her in tears
Suchika makes history, but heartbreak follows
Suchika Tariyal became the first Indian to win an Asian Games medal in MMA, but the historic bronze was not enough to hide her disappointment.The 36-year-old was involved in a tense semifinal against Singapore’s Hui Hoon Teo in the women’s traditional 60kg category. The bout ended in a draw, but MMA rules allow the lighter fighter to progress when the contest is level.Suchika was around 700 grams heavier than her opponent at the morning weigh-in and therefore missed out on a place in the final.She broke down in tears after the bout, knowing how close she had come to fighting for gold.Yet her bronze remains a landmark achievement. A resident of Kiloi village in Haryana’s Rohtak district, Suchika is a 2024 world champion in jiu-jitsu and has also represented India in judo at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and in kurash at the 2022 Asian Games.“This is more than my life. I will never forget that I came to Japan and got a medal for my country. I can now happily die,” Suchika told PTI after regaining her composure.India’s other MMA entrant, Varun Sanyal, had earlier been forced to withdraw from the competition after passing out during a sauna session while attempting to cut weight.
India’s women’s hockey team thrashed Indonesia 17-1 (Image: ANI)
Strong performances across team sports
There was plenty for India to celebrate beyond the medal tally.The women’s hockey team continued its dominant start with a 17-1 rout of Indonesia in Pool B. The defending champions in kabaddi also began strongly, with the women defeating Bangladesh 42-21 and the men beating Japan 49-24.India’s badminton campaign got off to a similarly convincing start. The men swept Bangladesh 3-0 in the opening round, with Lakshya Sen, K Srikanth and Ayush Shetty winning their singles matches to make the remaining doubles matches unnecessary.The table tennis teams also delivered identical 3-0 wins over Pakistan. The women’s team topped Group F with their third straight victory, while the men bounced back from their defeat to Iran by completing a clean sweep of Pakistan.In boxing, Sumit Kundu produced an emphatic start in the men’s 70kg category, defeating Thailand’s Bunjong Sinsiri 5-0.Wushu also produced positive results, with Roshibina Devi and Aryan progressing to their respective quarterfinals.
Swimming continues to disappoint
Swimming once again proved to be a difficult campaign for India.Two-time Olympian Srihari Nataraj finished 10th in the men’s 50m backstroke final. He clocked 25.52 seconds, slower than his 25.37 effort in the heats earlier in the day.Several other Indian swimmers failed to progress from their heats, including Akash Mani and Heer Gitesh Shah in the men’s 50m freestyle and Dhanush Suresh in the men’s 100m breaststroke.There was disappointment in soft tennis too. Aadhya Tiwari and Jay Meena’s mixed doubles campaign ended in the round of 16 after a hard-fought defeat to the Philippines’ Christy Sanosa and Sherwin Ray Nuguit.
Four medals, but gold still elusive
India’s second day produced a mixture of history, heartbreak and encouraging performances across disciplines.The shooting range again provided the medals, while Suchika’s bronze ensured India entered the record books in MMA. The strong starts in hockey, kabaddi, badminton, table tennis, boxing and wushu offered further positives.But the elusive gold remains the biggest talking point.After two days, India have six medals — four silver and two bronze. The challenge now is to convert the strong starts and near misses into gold as the Asian Games move deeper into competition.
