Nagoya: India won a flurry of medals, especially in athletics, on Day 9 of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026. But it wasn’t quite a Super Sunday as the gold went missing in the collection of seven medals.
Two silver medals in squash, followed by two silver and three bronze in athletics meant that even though the aggregate went up by seven, there was no improvement in the medal standings.
In fact, India slipped from 10th to 12th as they ended Sunday’s competitions with 4 gold, 16 silver and 17 bronze medals.
The Indian contingent has quite a bit of catching up to do in the remaining six days if they are to even come close to their 107-medal haul, including 28 gold, in the Hangzhou Asian Games three years ago.
There were hopes of multiple gold medals on Sunday, starting with the individual Squash finals. But both Indians went down without too much of a fight.
Abhay Singh lost 9-11, 5-11, 5-11 to Malaysia’s Eain Yow Ng and 18-year-old Anahat Singh bowed 4-11, 4-11, 7-11 to Malaysia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam to settle for silver medals in men’s and women’s singles, respectively.
In track and field, India earned silver medals through Ancy Sojan (Women’s Long Jump) and Sarvesh Kushare (Men’s High Jump).
Ancy looked headed for gold with a best effort of 6.53 metres, only to be pipped to the post by China’s Huang Yingying, who leaped 6.55 metres in her final jump.
Kushare and Chao-hsuan Fu’s both achieved 2.25 metres, but the Chinese Taipei jumper cleared the height in his first attempt while Kushare did so in his second.
Harita Bhadra’s third-place finish in Women’s 200m (23.20 seconds) was quite creditable. However, there was disappointment in the Men’s 200m final as Odisha sprinter Animesh Kujur finished fifth.
Kujur, who holds the National record of 20.32 seconds, clocked a much slower 20.80. Thai sensation Puripool Boonson completed the men’s sprint double by blazing to victory in 200m in a Games-equalling time of 19.88.
In the gruelling Men’s Decathlon event, Indian champion Tejaswin Shankar settled for bronze after having led the standings on Saturday after the first five (out of 10) events. Tejaswin slipped in a couple of events on Sunday and ultimately won the 1,500m run to seal third place.
Parul Chaudhary won India’s third bronze of the day, in Women’s 3,000m Steeplechase.
PV Sindhu missed out on a medal after going down 21-11, 18-21, 10-21 to world No. 4 and Tokyo 2020 champion Chen Yufei of China in Women’s Badminton Singles.
