India claim first gold on Day 3 as cricket, badminton and wushu deliver at Asian Games
India opened its gold-medal account on Day 3 of the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, when the women's cricket team beat Sri Lanka by 147 runs to retain the title it won in Hangzhou. The day also saw India secure medal assurances in men's badminton and in women's 60kg sanda in wushu.
The cricket gold raised India's overall medal tally to seven after two days dominated by the shooting contingent. Tuesday produced a broader spread of results, with strong performances from the hockey and boxing sides alongside the breakthroughs in badminton and wushu.
India posted 216/3 after a relatively even start in the women's cricket final, with Smriti Mandhana scoring 79 and sharing a 99-run opening stand with Shafali Verma; Richa Ghosh's unbeaten 49 off 22 balls accelerated the total. Shafali followed her batting with two wickets and Deepti Sharma took three as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 69, producing a 147-run victory that defended the gold India won in Hangzhou. Mandhana's 79 also made her the first woman cricketer to reach 11,000 international runs, while Sri Lanka finished as runners-up.
In men's badminton, Lakshya Sen mounted a comeback against Japan’s Kodai Naraoka, recovering from an 11-21 first game and trailing 14-19 in the decider to win 11-21, 21-5, 21-19 after a run of seven straight points. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty beat Hoki Takuro and Kobayashi Yugo 21-18, 24-22 and Ayush Shetty defeated Koki Watanabe 21-10, 21-19 to complete a 3-0 quarterfinal victory that assured India of a medal in the men's team event. The women's badminton team had been eliminated earlier after PV Sindhu, Unnati Hooda and Tanvi Sharma lost their singles matches; Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand accounted for India's lone win.
Roshibina Devi progressed to the semifinals of the women's 60kg sanda after edging Macau's Chu Man Sin on point difference, a result that guarantees her a third successive Asian Games medal following bronze at Jakarta in 2018 and silver at Hangzhou. Other wushu outcomes included Hanjabam Langlentombi Devi finishing ninth in the women's Nanquan and Nandao final and Aryan losing 1-2 to Uzbekistan's Saydullo Aburashitov in the men's 56kg quarterfinal.
India's men's hockey team extended its dominant start with a 16-1 victory over Sri Lanka, following a 13-1 win over Indonesia; Jugraj Singh scored four times while Abhishek and Dilpreet Singh recorded hat-tricks, and Sri Lanka's Suresh Rathnayake scored their first-ever Asian Games goal against India. Harmanpreet Singh's side will next face South Korea.
In boxing and shooting, Sakshi Chaudhary defeated Paris Olympics bronze medallist Aira Villegas 5-0 in the women's 51kg category and Jadumani Singh beat Nepal's Chandra Bahadur Thapa 5-0; Sakshi will next face reigning world champion Alua Balkibekova and Jadumani has Carlo Paalam awaiting him in the round of 16. Elavenil Valarivan and Parth Mane finished fourth in the 10m air rifle mixed team final despite entering as the second-ranked pair from qualification, while Anantjeet Singh Naruka moved into a four-way tie for the lead in men's skeet after four rounds.
Other results across sports included the women's table tennis team beating Thailand 3-2 to reach the quarterfinals before losing 0-3 to North Korea, the men's team exiting 0-3 to South Korea, Pranati Nayak qualifying seventh for the women's vault final with a score of 12.916, Jay Meena reaching the soft tennis men's singles quarterfinals, the men's kabaddi team defeating South Korea 63-31, and India's eFootball pair drawing 0-0 with Uzbekistan then receiving a walkover against Mongolia. There were defeats in sepaktakraw, fencing and karate, and the men's 4x100m medley relay team advanced to the final.
With the women's cricket gold and assured medals in men's badminton and wushu, India added its first top‑place finish of the Aichi-Nagoya Games and now faces a series of confirmed next matches: Harmanpreet Singh's hockey team will meet South Korea, Sakshi Chaudhary is due to face Alua Balkibekova, and Jadumani Singh will face Carlo Paalam in the next round.
