Elavenil, Suchika Lead India’s Strong Asian Games Medal Push
India made an encouraging start to its Asian Games 2026 campaign on Sunday, opening its medal account with two shooting silvers while also assuring a historic medal in Mixed Martial Arts.
Elavenil Valarivan emerged as the standout performer of the day, winning silver in the women’s 10m air rifle individual event after earlier helping India secure a second-place finish in the team competition.
The 27-year-old, who had gone medal-less in her previous two Asian Games appearances, scored 252.4 points in the individual final to finish just 0.6 points behind Japan’s Hinata Taichi, who won gold with an Asian Games record 253.0.
Elavenil’s second medal came alongside Sonam Uttam Maskar and Games debutant Vidarsa Vinod in the women’s 10m air rifle team event.
Elavenil Ends Asian Games Medal Wait
Elavenil’s double-silver haul marked a significant turnaround after she missed out on medals at her first two Asian Games appearances.
The 2025 World Championship bronze-medallist remained in contention throughout the individual final but could not overhaul Taichi, settling for silver with 252.4 points.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Elavenil for winning her second medal of the day, while also praising the Indian trio for their team-event silver.
The shooting campaign has given India an early boost, with the country having won a record 22 medals in shooting at the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou.
Suchika Assures Historic MMA Medal
Hours before Elavenil’s individual final, 36-year-old Suchika Tariyal created history by reaching the semifinals of the women’s Traditional MMA 60kg category.
Tariyal defeated Mongolia’s Altanchimeg Baigalmaa 2-0 in the quarterfinal to guarantee herself at least a bronze medal.
MMA is making its Asian Games debut in Aichi-Nagoya, making Tariyal’s semifinal berth India’s first-ever medal in the discipline at the continental event.
Tariyal has competed in multiple combat sports, including judo and ju-jitsu, before moving to MMA. She won gold at the first and second MMA-SFI National Championships before claiming bronze medals at the third and fourth Asian Mixed Martial Arts Championships earlier this year.
Her semifinal will be played on Monday.
Shafali Powers India Into Cricket Final
At Nisshin, the Indian women’s cricket team moved closer to retaining its Asian Games gold medal with a commanding 114-run victory over Bangladesh in the semifinal.
Shafali Verma produced the defining performance, smashing her maiden T20 International century off just 49 balls as India posted 195/4.
Bangladesh were unable to mount a serious chase, sending India into Tuesday’s final against Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka secured the other final berth after defeating Pakistan, setting up a repeat of the previous edition’s gold-medal match.
Hockey Teams Begin With Goal Rush
India’s men’s and women’s hockey teams also made emphatic starts to their campaigns.
The women’s team demolished Uzbekistan 19-0, with Deepika Sehrawat scoring a remarkable eight goals in a dominant Pool B victory.
The men’s side were equally ruthless, defeating Indonesia 13-1 in their opening pool match, with Dilpreet Singh scoring four times.
The results provided India with strong starts in both hockey competitions.
Shuttlers, Paddlers Make Positive Starts
India’s badminton women swept Kazakhstan 3-0 in the team event, with PV Sindhu, Unnati Hooda and Tanvi Sharma completing the victory without dropping a game.
India will next face hosts Japan in the quarterfinal.
The table tennis teams also opened their campaigns with identical 3-0 victories over Indonesia.
The women followed that up with a 3-2 win over Singapore, while the men’s team suffered a 0-3 defeat against Iran in their second Group F match.
Quimcy Misses Two Medal Chances
India narrowly missed out on medals in teqball, with Quimcy D’Souza losing both her women’s singles and mixed doubles bronze-medal matches.
The 24-year-old pushed Japan’s world No.7 Yuina Sakamoto close before losing 0-2, with both games decided 11-12.
Just minutes later, D’Souza returned alongside Mohamed Anas Beg for the mixed doubles bronze-medal match, but the Indian pair lost 0-2 to Vietnam’s Hoang Minh Tan Nguyen and Gia Ngih Trinh.
MMA fighter Varun Sanyal also missed his event after passing out during a sauna session at his cruise-ship accommodation and being declared medically unfit.
Mixed Results In Swimming And Wushu
Swimmer Rishabh Das finished sixth in the men’s 100m backstroke final with a time of 54.77 seconds.
He turned at 50 metres in 26.56 seconds but finished 2.79 seconds behind China’s Xu Jiayu, who won gold in 51.98 seconds.
In wushu, Suraj Singh Mayanglambam finished 11th among 21 competitors in the men’s changquan final, scoring 9.683 points.
With shooting medals already secured, a historic MMA podium finish assured and the women’s cricket team through to the final, India will look to build on its promising opening day as the Asian Games competition gathers pace.
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Meta Description: Elavenil Valarivan led India’s Asian Games 2026 campaign with two shooting silvers, while Suchika Tariyal assured a historic MMA medal and India advanced to the women’s cricket final.
