Live, September 22: India target shooting medals as badminton, hockey and cricket loom in Aichi-Nagoya

India head into a busy programme at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya on Tuesday, September 22, with medal hopes in shooting and key quarter-final and pool matches in badminton and hockey. The defending women’s cricket side will also play Sri Lanka in the final on the same day.

Aadhya Tiwari and Jay Meena, who produced a notable mixed-doubles showing on September 21 but exited in the round of 16, return to singles action on Tuesday; Aadhya faces Alisha Ziegler (Thailand) and Jay Meena meets Hussain Arain (Pakistan) at 7:00 AM, while Aryan Thakur is scheduled to play Bold-erdene Altangerel (Mongolia). Esports features eFootball matches early, with Daniel Patel and Chinmay Sahoo set to face Uzbekistan’s Abubakir Iminjonov and Farrukh Mirkhamitov. India’s women’s cricket team reached the final after wins over Japan and a dominant semi-final victory against Bangladesh.

India’s women and Sri Lanka meet in the cricket final at 10:30 AM (medal event); Sri Lanka progressed unbeaten after victories over Malaysia and a high-scoring chase against Pakistan in their semi-final. The two sides have met three times in finals over the past three years across the Asian Games and Women’s Asia Cup, and India will be chasing back-to-back Asian Games gold medals. A win would secure India’s second consecutive Asian Games title in women’s cricket.

Both India’s men’s and women’s badminton teams face Japan in quarter-finals on Tuesday, with the women’s tie starting at 6:00 AM after India beat Kazakhstan 3-0 in the opening round and Japan entered the quarter-finals on a bye. PV Sindhu will open the tie against world No. 3 Akane Yamaguchi; Sindhu holds a 16-14 head-to-head record against Yamaguchi and won their most recent meeting at the Japan Open in July. Unnati Hooda and Tanvi Sharma are scheduled to face Tomoka Miyazaki and Nozomi Okuhara, while doubles combinations include Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, the World Championships bronze medallists, against world No. 3 Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto, and PV Sindhu partnering Tanisha Crasto in a doubles tie. Victory in the quarter-final would place the winning side into the semi-finals and guarantee at least a bronze medal.

Shooting remains a primary medal avenue: on Monday India earned three shooting medals as Himanshu Dhillon took silver in the men’s 10m air rifle individual, Rudrankksh Patil won bronze, and the duo combined with Parth Rakesh Mane to secure silver in the team competition. Elavenil Valarivan and Parth Rakesh Mane contest the 10m air rifle mixed team qualification at 6:15 AM and the mixed team final is scheduled for 8:25 AM. Skeet events continue with Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Bhavtegh Singh Gill and Mairaj Ahmad Khan in the men’s qualification and Parinaaz Dhaliwal, Raiza Dhillon and Maheshwari Chauhan in the women’s qualification at 6:30 AM.

Other notable events on the schedule include Wushu’s women’s Nanquan & Nandao final featuring Hanjabam Langlentombi Devi at 6:29 AM, soft-tennis singles with Aadhya Tiwari at 5:30 AM and Jay Meena at 7:00 AM, and the men’s hockey Pool A match India vs Sri Lanka at 3:30 PM. India’s kabaddi men meet the Republic of Korea in Group A at 7:15 AM, and fencing, boxing, swimming and karate all feature Indian entrants across the day’s programme.

By the end of Day 2 India had six medals and occupied 12th place in the standings, with a tally of four silver and two bronze medals and no gold; China led the table with 23 golds. Mixed martial arts yielded one of India’s medals on Monday when Suchika Tariyal became the country’s first Asian Games medallist in the sport, taking bronze after a semifinal draw that was decided by a weight-based tiebreak in which she missed the final by 700 grams.

India’s immediate opportunities on September 22 include the women’s cricket final against Sri Lanka at 10:30 AM, where a victory would secure a second consecutive Asian Games title and provide the contingent with its first gold of the Aichi-Nagoya Games, and the 10m air rifle mixed team final at 8:25 AM where Elavenil Valarivan and Parth Rakesh Mane compete for a medal; the badminton quarter-finals begin earlier at 6:00 AM.