India’s Asian Games campaign gathered momentum on Thursday as five more medals arrived across athletics, wushu, rowing and shooting, underlining the growing depth of the contingent at the Aichi-Nagoya Games. There was no gold medal on the day, but two silver and three bronze medals took India’s overall haul to 17 medals, according to reports at the end of the day’s action.
The medals came from a wide range of disciplines, with Seema Kumari ending a 16-year wait in the women’s 10,000m, Roshibina Devi continuing her remarkable Asian Games run, and the mixed 4x400m relay team adding another silver.
The day began with India making an impact in rowing. Satnam Singh and Salman Singh secured bronze in the men’s double sculls, giving India another podium finish on the water. The pair’s performance added to the country’s growing medal collection while Balraj Panwar finished fourth in the men’s single sculls Final A.
Wushu then produced India’s first silver of the day. Naorem Roshibina Devi finished runner-up in the women’s 60kg Sanda competition after losing to China’s Xiaoyu Zhang in the final. The result was nevertheless another significant milestone for the Manipuri fighter, who has now won medals at three consecutive Asian Games. She previously claimed bronze at Jakarta 2018 and silver at Hangzhou 2022.
Roshibina’s achievement was particularly notable given the circumstances surrounding her selection for the Games. She was a late addition to India’s squad and had limited preparation before travelling to Japan. Despite that disruption, she reached the final and secured another Asian Games medal. Athletics then delivered a double boost.
Seema Kumari clocked 32:50.05 to win bronze in the women’s 10,000m final, finishing behind Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi and Japan’s Nozomi Tanaka. Her medal ended India’s 16-year wait for a women’s 10,000m podium finish at the Asian Games, with the country’s previous medal in the event coming at the 2010 edition. It was also India’s first athletics medal of the Aichi-Nagoya Games. The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Vishal TK, Poovamma MR, Manu TS and Vithya Ramaraj followed with silver. India clocked 3:14.46, finishing behind Bahrain’s 3:12.87. Vithya Ramaraj produced a strong final leg as India secured another athletics medal.
Shooting completed India’s medal haul for the day. Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Parinaaz Dhaliwal won bronze in the mixed team skeet event, adding another medal to India’s strong shooting campaign at these Games. Away from the medal events, India’s team sports continued to build momentum. The men’s hockey team maintained its perfect run with an 8-2 victory over South Korea. Shilanand Lakra, Sukhjeet Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Abhishek, Dilpreet Singh and Rajinder Singh were among India’s scorers as the defending Asian champions continued their strong start.
In kabaddi, the women’s team defeated Japan 50-25 to finish the group stage unbeaten, while the men’s side beat Chinese Taipei 37-21 to enter the semifinals and guarantee itself a medal.
Squash also produced a strong Indian presence in the knockout rounds. Veer Chotrani and Abhay Singh progressed to the men’s singles quarterfinals, while Anahat Singh and Tanvi Khanna advanced in the women’s singles, setting up an all-Indian quarterfinal. There were contrasting results in boxing. Parveen advanced to the women’s 65kg quarterfinals via walkover, while Sakshi lost 2-3 to Kazakhstan’s Alua Balkibekova in the women’s 51kg Round of 16.
Sumit Kundu’s men’s 70kg campaign ended after an injury forced him to withdraw against Iraq’s Ali Qasim Al-Sarray. In table tennis, Manush Shah progressed to the men’s singles Round of 16 with a 4-0 victory over Malaysia’s Wong Qi Shen. Pranati Nayak finished sixth in the women’s vault final, while India’s fencing campaign ended after Bhavani Devi and Shreya Gupta exited in the Round of 16.
September 24 offered a useful snapshot of India’s campaign. The medals did not come from one dominant discipline. Instead, they arrived from athletics, wushu, rowing and shooting, while India’s major team sports continued to progress towards the knockout stages. The five-medal haul also showed two different sides of India’s campaign. Seema’s 10,000m bronze represented the breaking of a 16-year wait, while Roshibina’s silver highlighted sustained excellence across three Asian Games.
The mixed relay silver, meanwhile, demonstrated India’s growing competitiveness in an event that demands coordination across both men’s and women’s squads. With the Asian Games moving deeper into the competition, the focus will now shift from accumulating medals to converting strong starts into gold. India’s team sports remain in contention, while several individual events are entering their decisive stages.
For now, however, September 24 has strengthened India’s position across the medal table and, perhaps more importantly, demonstrated that the country’s challenge in Aichi-Nagoya is being carried by athletes from across the sporting spectrum.
