![\"EXCLUSIVE](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-134600395,imgsize-126278,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/harita-bhadra-won-two-bronze-medals-at-the-asian-games-2026.jpg\" "\\"Harita")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nBefore the Asian Games, Harita Bhadra had a fairly modest definition of success. A personal best, she had said, would make her happy. A podium finish was what she wanted to chase.She will now leave Aichi-Nagoya with two bronze medals – one from the women\u2019s 200m and another from the mixed 4x100m relay, where she ran the anchor leg as India set a national record of 41.06 seconds.\u201cI\u2019m very happy because I got like two medals at the end of the day. Getting on the podium is like one of the best feelings, especially when you\u2019re representing India, and you\u2019re getting a medal for your country. So that was a very surreal experience for me,\u201d Bhadra told Timesofindia.com from Japan.\u201cAnd I didn\u2019t get a personal best, but considering the weather conditions and everything, I feel like I gave my best. So that\u2019s okay,\u201d she added.It was also Bhadra\u2019s first senior international competition representing India. She had not been through a junior international programme in Indian colours before arriving in Japan, so much of what she encountered in Aichi-Nagoya was new – the scale of the stadium, the pressure of the races and the closeness of the competition – but she found out quickly that training cannot reproduce all of that.\u201cI\u2019ve definitely learned a lot from this competition and definitely even discovered a lot about myself actually,\u201d she said. \u201cSuch scenarios [can be experienced] only in competition, and the level of the pressure and the level of execution will only increase as you go higher and higher.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut I discovered how strong I can be mentally. If I tell my mind to do something, it can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Watching Bhadra through the Games, there was a noticeable contrast. Before the races, she was quiet and composed, but her expressions would change once she crossed the line. The happiness was immediate.\u201cOn the start line, my only mindset is that I belong over here,\u201d she replied when asked what he goes through between those two moments.\u201cI don\u2019t have to be scared of any of my competitors because, even I\u2019m on the same start line. I just try to trust my body, and I\u2019m not thinking about anything because I\u2019m just staying in the moment, and I\u2019m just trusting my body that all the work I have done is like my body is ready to execute it.\u201dThat composure, however, did not mean the nerves had disappeared before her 200m final. Rather, Bhadra says she was nervous. The Reliance Foundation-backed athlete had already given herself a good platform in the heats, finishing second with 23.31s, behind Singapore\u2019s Shanti Pereira.\u201cEverybody on the start line is nervous, but you just accept it. You\u2019re nervous, but that doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re not confident at the same time. It\u2019s just a mix of both things: you can be nervous but also be equally confident at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n The finish, though, was nerve-racking – to say the least. Pereira won in 22.78s, with China\u2019s Chen Yujie taking silver in 22.93s. Bhadra crossed in 23.20s, but Japan\u2019s Abigeirufuka Ido was only 0.01 seconds behind in 23.21s. That meant the bronze was decided by the narrowest of margins, with the photo finish separating Bhadra from the Japanese sprinter.For a few seconds after the finish, Bhadra was unsure where she had finished. She had expected the results to appear on the screen opposite the finish line. After the race, she went across to teammate Unnati Aiyappa and sat with her. Unnati eventually pointed towards another screen. \u201cShe was like, \u2018You have come third\u2019, and that\u2019s when I realised that I have come third.\u201dThe medal was secure, but the race itself still had things Bhadra wanted to improve. \u201cYou will never be satisfied with a race. There is always something you will feel that, okay, this could have been done better. This part could have been executed better,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n For the 23-year-old, more international exposure should help with that. The stage was completely new, and she felt there were sections of the race she could have handled better.\u201cI know I had more left in me, but I trust the process, and I trusted that whenever I know I can, I will execute that race that I have in my mind.\u201dOne part of the race, though, had given her evidence that the work was moving in the right direction. The last 30 metres, something which had worked on, with her coach Rohit Mane at Reliance Foundation.\u201cYes, definitely, because I think I won the race because of the last 30 metres. So that improvement was clearly there.\u201dBhadra\u2019s coach Mane was not in Japan for the Games, but they stayed in touch through video calls and regular calls, while the relay group had the support of Reliance Foundation\u2019s Martin Owens and James Hillier, along with the AFI coaches, around them in Japan.The coaches, she said, kept reminding the four runners that the work had already been done and that they had to trust the runner alongside them. \u201cThey kept us motivated to like trust each other. And that’s how we also trusted our partners more.\u201d<\/p>\n By the time Bhadra returned to the track for the mixed 4x100m relay, she had already raced twice. The stadium was no longer unfamiliar.\u201cI was definitely more confident because I had, like, two races’ experience,\u201d she said. \u201cI knew now how it\u2019s going to feel like, on the start, and I knew how I will feel stepping into the stadium and everything, how the call room is.\u201d\u201cI was more calm and settled because I was familiar with the environment, basically. So going into the relay, I felt more collected than I was in 200.\u201dThe quartet of Gurindervir Singh, Sneha Shanuvali, Animesh Kujjur and Bhadra had been working on the event well before arriving in Nagoya. The Asian Games camp in Bhubaneswar in August, followed by an acclimatisation camp in Tsukuba.<\/p>\n They trained the relay twice a week during the camp. As the Games approached, that came down to once a week because all four athletes also had individual events to prepare for.Bhadra ran the anchor leg in both the semifinal and final, producing strong finishes on each occasion. In the semifinal, she had to recover after a difficult baton exchange on the bend, but still produced the run that carried India into the final. In the medal race, her late surge again proved crucial as India secured bronze. The decision to use Bhadra as the anchor, she says, was made by the coaching staff and AFI team.\u201cThey decided to give me the anchor leg. So I was like, okay, I will do the anchor leg. That\u2019s it.\u201dThe semifinal did test that decision almost immediately. Kujur fell during the baton exchange before Bhadra took the baton and glanced back for a fleeting second, but with the baton in hand, she focused on the job at hand.\u201cMy only thing was I have got the baton. So he [Kujur] has done his job of giving me the baton. So my job is to make the team qualify. As soon as I finished, I was just looking out, like just trying to understand what actually happened. I was trying to see if Animesh is okay or what actually happened.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There was another decision from earlier in the year that Bhadra had wanted to test properly: putting her studies on hold and giving sprinting her full attention.She had not made the decision because she could not handle both. She wanted to find out what would happen if she did not have to divide her time.\u201cI just wanted to give myself the chance to explore how it would be like. I only have to just focus on track and I don\u2019t have to juggle two things at once,\u201d she said.Track, she said, requires time and dedication. \u201cI am very happy with the decision. It was a good decision. I\u2019m happy I gave myself the opportunity to explore how it would be.\u201dHer family being in Japan made the week different too. She had wanted them to see her compete at a major event, and they were there for it.\u201cI actually loved it that my family was there because I was just so excited that they are going to see me run at such a big event, like one of the biggest events of my athletics career so far,\u201d she said.\u201cI was very happy they could be there with me because it just made everything like 100 times more special.\u201dHaving ticked one of the big markers for this year, Bhadra is eyeing higher goals now, and her next target is already clear.\u201cI am chasing to qualify for the World Championships in 2027.\u201dThe World Championships and eventually the Olympics, which had seemed further away before Aichi-Nagoya, now feel a little closer too. \u201cYes, definitely. It\u2019s a step closer to, like, step higher, step closer. The qualifying mark is 22.45s for 200 metres.\u201dShe believes it is achievable. Bhadra\u2019s personal best in 200m currently stands at 23.14s, which she clocked in June this year.\u201cIt is doable. But yeah, it is closer but still a lot of work to do there,\u201d said Bhadra, pausing briefly before answering.The area she wants to work on most is not the one a stopwatch will immediately show. It is the mental side. \u201cOn the starting line, before even starting the race, if you are mentally not strong, you have lost the race. Everybody is so close, like I said, 0.01 seconds. Like, it\u2019s like nothing.\u201dHer answer is to stay calm enough to keep competing when the race is still there to be won. \u201cYou have to have that mental thing of not giving up, of believing that, \u2018No, I can still win.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n For Bhadra, being mentally calm and connected to the race is now part of the work alongside the physical preparation. She is not planning to choose between the 100m and 200m just yet.The two events, she says, complement each other. Training for the 100m helps the 200m, and vice versa. She will take an off-season before her coach puts together the next plan.As for a favourite?\u201cI have my days of choosing 100 and some days of choosing 200. I can\u2019t choose for sure.\u201dThe medals have not changed the way she wants to approach the next season either. Before the Games, Bhadra had spoken about taking things one day at a time. She still uses the same approach now, even with the attention that will come after two Asian Games medals.\u201cI really don\u2019t think about expectations. Over there, I\u2019m just running for myself. I\u2019m not running for anybody else. The only thing is, yes, every day has to be an improvement, even if it is little. But my only goal is to take it one day at a time and to improve from the previous day,\u201d she said.For now, there is no elaborate celebration planned. Her family is staying in Japan for a few more days to explore the country. Once she returns, Bhadra wants to meet her coach and \u2018show off\u2019 the two medals. Then there will be family and friends at home.And then there is Dagina.The handmade jewellery brand Bhadra started in October 2025 will turn one next month. She designs and makes the pieces herself and, because it remains a hobby, handles the work on her own. The Asian Games build-up and the last two months in camp meant she had not been able to spend much time on it.She had started Dagina as a way of taking her mind away from athletics. Now Japan has given her an idea for what comes next.\u201cNow, once I\u2019m back, I\u2019m going to start again, maybe do a collection inspired by Japan or something like that.\u201d<\/div>\n Harita Bhadra won two bronze medals at the Asian Games 2026 Before the Asian Games, Harita Bhadra had a fairly modest definition of success. A personal best, she had said, would make her happy. A podium finish was what she wanted to chase.She will now leave Aichi-Nagoya with two bronze medals – one from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-31"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/harita-bhadra-won-two-bronze-medals-at-the-asian-games-2026.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/harita-bhadra-won-two-bronze-medals-at-the-asian-games-2026.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/harita-bhadra-won-two-bronze-medals-at-the-asian-games-2026.jpg","large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/harita-bhadra-won-two-bronze-medals-at-the-asian-games-2026.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/harita-bhadra-won-two-bronze-medals-at-the-asian-games-2026.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/harita-bhadra-won-two-bronze-medals-at-the-asian-games-2026.jpg","blogsy-small":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/harita-bhadra-won-two-bronze-medals-at-the-asian-games-2026.jpg","blogsy-small-tall":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/harita-bhadra-won-two-bronze-medals-at-the-asian-games-2026.jpg","blogsy-small-square":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/harita-bhadra-won-two-bronze-medals-at-the-asian-games-2026.jpg","blogsy-small-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/harita-bhadra-won-two-bronze-medals-at-the-asian-games-2026.jpg","blogsy-medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/harita-bhadra-won-two-bronze-medals-at-the-asian-games-2026.jpg","blogsy-medium-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/harita-bhadra-won-two-bronze-medals-at-the-asian-games-2026.jpg","blogsy-large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/harita-bhadra-won-two-bronze-medals-at-the-asian-games-2026.jpg","blogsy-wide":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/harita-bhadra-won-two-bronze-medals-at-the-asian-games-2026.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"admin","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"Harita Bhadra won two bronze medals at the Asian Games 2026 Before the Asian Games, Harita Bhadra had a fairly modest definition of success. A personal best, she had said, would make her happy. A podium finish was what she wanted to chase.She will now leave Aichi-Nagoya with two bronze medals – one from the […]","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":1,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":11,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/harita-bhadra-won-two-bronze-medals-at-the-asian-games-2026.jpg",400,225,false],"medium":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/harita-bhadra-won-two-bronze-medals-at-the-asian-games-2026.jpg",300,169,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/harita-bhadra-won-two-bronze-medals-at-the-asian-games-2026.jpg",150,84,false]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/author\/admin"},"magazine_blocks_comment":0,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36<\/a>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Harita](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/imgsize-1382219,msid-134600432\/harita-bhadra-on-podium-after-winning-bronze-medal-at-asian-games.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nBefore the race, Bhadra knew she belonged<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
The 200m bronze came down to 0.01 seconds<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
![\"Harita](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/imgsize-1764178,msid-134600447\/harita-bhadra-during-womens-200m-final-at-asian-games.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe relay brought a different kind of pressure<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
![\"Harita](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/imgsize-1256656,msid-134600466\/harita-bhadra-ran-the-anchor-leg-as-india-set-a-national-record-of-41-06-seconds-during-4x100m-mixed-realy.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Animesh](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/imgsize-1511093,msid-134600481\/animesh-kujur-fell-during-the-baton-exchange-before-bhadra-took-the-baton-and-glanced-back-for-a-fleeting-second-but-with-the-baton-in-hand-she-focused-on-the-job-at-hand.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nStudies can wait. The next number is 22.45<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
She still wants to take it one day at a time<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"