India made a strong start to their Asian Games 2026 campaign on Sunday, with athletes making their mark across shooting, cricket, hockey, badminton, table tennis and mixed martial arts in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
The Indian women’s cricket team booked its place in the final after a commanding 114-run victory over Bangladesh in the second semi-final. Shafali Verma was the star of the contest, smashing an unbeaten 100 off 49 balls as India posted 195/4. Her century was the joint-fastest by an Indian in women’s T20Is, matching Harmanpreet Kaur’s record.
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India then produced a dominant bowling display to dismiss Bangladesh for 81. The defending champions will now face Sri Lanka in the gold-medal match on Tuesday, setting up a repeat of the previous Asian Games final.
Smriti Mandhana also reached a significant milestone during the semi-final, becoming the leading run-scorer in women’s T20I cricket after surpassing New Zealand’s Suzie Bates. Mandhana moved beyond Bates’ 4,758 runs with a boundary early in the innings.
India’s first medals of the Games came from shooting. Elavenil Valarivan won silver in the women’s 10m air rifle individual event with a score of 252.4, finishing just 0.6 points behind Japan’s Hinata Taichi. Earlier, Elavenil had also helped India secure silver in the team event alongside Sonam Uttam Maskar and Vidarsa K.
India also enjoyed a commanding opening in men’s hockey, defeating Indonesia 13-1 in their Pool A match. Dilpreet Singh led the scoring with four goals, while Shilanand Lakra and Sukhjeet Singh scored twice each.
The women’s hockey team was equally dominant, defeating Uzbekistan 19-0 in its opening Pool B match. Deepika Sehrawat scored eight goals, while Ishika added a hat-trick as India produced a one-sided performance.
Badminton also brought positive results. PV Sindhu defeated Kazakhstan’s Kamila Smagulova 21-7, 21-9 to give India the opening point in the women’s team Round of 16 tie. Unnati Hooda followed with another straight-games victory before Tanvi Sharma completed a 3-0 sweep. India will meet Japan in the quarter-finals on September 22.
In table tennis, India’s women’s team defeated Indonesia 3-0 before edging Singapore 3-2 in a thrilling Group F contest. Yashaswini Ghorpade won the deciding match to seal the victory.
India also secured a medal in mixed martial arts after Suchika Tariyal reached the semi-finals of the traditional 60kg event. She defeated Mongolia’s Altanchimeg Baigalmaa 2-0 in the quarter-finals, assuring India of at least a bronze medal in MMA’s Asian Games debut.
With cricket reaching the final and medals already secured in shooting and MMA, India’s opening day featured strong performances across several disciplines.
