India collect medals in squash and archery at Asian Games 2026; two LA28 quotas earned in archery
India won medals in both squash and archery at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, with archery delivering Olympic qualification while squash missed LA28 quotas. The country finished with nine archery medals including five gold, and five squash medals but no golds.
Coming off strong returns from Hangzhou 2022—when squash produced five medals including two golds and archery returned a record nine medals, five of them gold with a compound sweep—India entered Aichi-Nagoya aiming to replicate that haul and to secure Olympic quota places. The extra objective for many athletes was qualification for LA28, where only singles gold medallists in squash would earn an Olympic spot, increasing pressure on the contingent.
In squash singles, 18-year-old Anahat Singh reached the final to take silver. She beat Singapore’s Au Yeong Wai Iynn in the Round of 16 and compatriot Tanvi Khanna in the quarter-finals, then recovered from two games down to defeat Japan’s world No. 6 Satomi Watanabe 9-11, 11-13, 12-10, 11-6, 11-3 in the semi-final before losing the final to Malaysia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam 4-11, 4-11, 7-11.
Abhay Singh also won silver in the men’s singles. He defeated Thailand’s Arkaradet Arkarahirunya and Sri Lanka’s Ravindu Laksiri in the early rounds, beat Japan’s Ryunosuke Tsukue 3-0 in the quarter-finals and Pakistan’s Muhammad Irfan in the semi-finals, then lost the final to Malaysia’s Ng Eain Yow 9-11, 5-11, 5-11 — his eighth defeat to the same opponent. Both singles silver medals left India without the Olympic quotas available only to the singles gold medallists at LA28.
Other squash outcomes fell short of expectations. Veer Chotrani lost to Pakistan’s Muhammad Irfan in the quarter-finals, ending his singles medal bid. In mixed doubles Joshna Chinappa and Velavan Senthilkumar lost their semi-final to Hong Kong’s Lee Ka Yi and Tang Ming Hong 10-11, 11-2, 10-11; in the deciding game India led 10-7 with three match balls before Hong Kong scored four consecutive points to win 11-10, leaving the Indian pair with bronze and Joshna with her sixth Asian Games medal.
Team events did not produce titles for India. The men, entered as defending champions, fell 1-2 to Malaysia in the semi-final after Abhay lost 0-3 to Ng, Veer beat Sanjay Jeeva to level, and Velavan then lost the decider 1-3 to Ameeshenraj Chandaran, ending the title defence. The women’s semi-final against Hong Kong also ended in defeat after Anahat surrendered a two-game lead over Chan Sin Yuk, Tanvi levelled the tie, and Joshna lost the deciding match; both teams received bronze.
Archery produced the stronger Olympic outcome, particularly in compound events where India swept all three team golds. Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Chikitha Taniparthi and Prithika Pradeep beat China in the women’s final; Chikitha and Sahil Jadhav won mixed team gold in a shoot-off, securing an LA28 quota place for the mixed compound event; and the men’s team of Sahil Jadhav, Ganesh Mani Ratnam Thirumuru and Kushal Dalal won gold, with Ganesh also taking an individual bronze.
Recurve produced landmark results for India. Kirti Sharma, Kumkum Mohod and Ankita Bhakat defeated South Korea 5-3 to claim India’s first women’s recurve team gold, ending Korea’s seven-title run, and 17-year-old Kumkum won the women’s individual recurve gold by defeating Korea’s Oh Yejin in a shoot-off after the final ended 5-5, with Oh scoring an eight and Kumkum responding with a 10; Kumkum’s victory earned India a women’s recurve quota for LA28. Kumkum finished with three medals, including two golds and one silver after adding mixed team silver with Dhiraj Bommadevara, while Neeraj Chauhan won the men’s individual bronze after beating three-time Olympic team gold medallist Kim Je-deok earlier in the event.
Archery’s nine medals, including five gold, delivered two confirmed LA28 quota places — the mixed compound team and the women’s individual recurve — while squash earned no Olympic quotas at these Games.