Nagoya: With athletics on in full swing, and shooters coming to the party after some disappointing misses, the medals are coming at a quicker pace for Team India in the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026.
Three days after Harmanpreet Kaur & Co. opened India’s golden haul at the Games, India bagged the second gold medal through shooters Suruchi Singh and Kamaljeet in the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team event.
A last-minute change in pairing worked wonders for India as Kamaljeet replaced Kedarling Balakrishna Uchaganve to pair with 18-year-old Suruchi, based on results in men’s qualification on Thursday.
Kamaljeet and Suruchi stormed into the medal round after topping qualification with 587 points, including 29 inner 10s.
In the final, the Indians aggregated 484.6 points, an impressive 6.6 points clear of South Korea’s Suhyeon Hong and Gaeun Choo, who took silver with 478.0. Iran won bronze with 415.8.
Rudrankksh Patil, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar & Niraj Kumar then clinched silver in Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions Team event.
In track and field, Gulveer Singh was the star of the night. The long-distance runner upgraded his Hangzhou Asian Games bronze medal to silver after finishing second in Men’s 10,000m final.
Gulveer clocked 28:29.38, finishing behind Bahrain’s gold-medallist Birhanu Balew (in 28:27.51).
India will look for two more medals from Gulveer in 1,500m and 5,000m.
Two more medals came from special athletes on Friday – Baranica Elangovan and Manpreet Kaur.
Elangovan cleared 4.15 metres to clinch bronze in Women’s Pole Vault, India’s first in the event in Asian Games.
No less creditable was 36-year-old Manpreet’s bronze in Women’s Shot Put. Her fourth throw of 17.17 metres ensured third-place finish, and a what a proud moment it was for her in front of her 15-year-old daughter.
However, there was disappointment in the sprint as neither Animesh Kujur nor Gurindervir Singh qualified for the Men’s 100m finals.
India set up Iran date in kabaddi finals
Both kabaddi teams entered the finals. The Indian men thrashed Thailand 66-28 in the semifinal to set up a tough clash with Iran.
The women, on the other hand, sailed into the gold-round with a convincing 48-24 triumph over Nepal. They will also face Iran in the final.
India’s tally stands at 2 gold, 9 silver and 12 bronze medals.
