India’s Asian Games 2026 Day 2 Highlights: Badminton, Cricket, and More

India’s campaign at the Asian Games 2026 rolled through Tuesday like a full day in a multi-sport pressure cooker – moments of brilliance, near-misses, and a few hard landings that will sting for a while.

Badminton: Lakshya lands a statement win, women’s team bows out

In the men’s team quarterfinal, Lakshya Sen produced the kind of scrap that defines knockout badminton. Up against World No. 7 Kodai Naraoka, he was blown away 11-21 in the opening game, then flipped the script.

He tore through the second game 21-5, turning defence into attack and dragging the Japanese star into long, punishing rallies. The decider was a nerve-test. Lakshya trailed by five at one stage, but refused to blink, clawing back to seal a 2-1 (11-21, 21-5, 21-19) victory and hand India a 1-0 lead in the tie. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were next up against Takuro Hoki and Yugo Kobayashi with a chance to tighten India’s grip.

The women’s team, though, walked into a storm in Ichinomiya.

P. V. Sindhu opened against Akane Yamaguchi in a heavyweight clash that swung wildly. From 13-17 down in the first game, Sindhu surged to take it 23-21, capitalising when Yamaguchi misjudged a crucial point at 21-20. The Japanese shuttler steadied, edged the second 21-18, and then dominated the decider 21-11, outlasting Sindhu over an hour and 12 minutes to give Japan a 1-0 lead.

Unnati Hooda tried to drag India back. She trailed Tomoka Miyazaki 16-21 in the first game, then raced to an 11-4 lead in the second, only to see it slip away. Miyazaki closed out a straight-games win, 21-16, 21-18, pushing India to the brink.

Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, World Championships bronze medallists, refused to let the tie die quietly. In a must-win doubles, they outplayed Yuki Fukushima and Mayu Matsumoto 21-17, 21-16, pulling the score back to 1-2 and briefly reigniting hopes of a comeback.

Those hopes ran into Nozomi Okuhara. Facing teenager Tanvi Sharma in the third singles, the former World Champion shut the door with authority, winning 21-12, 21-10. Japan took the tie 3-1, ending India’s chase for a first women’s team medal since 2014.

Cricket: Mandhana lights up the final

On the cricket field, India’s women sent out a clear message in the gold-medal match against Sri Lanka.

Having opted to bat, the openers tore into the PowerPlay. At 67/0 after six overs, Smriti Mandhana on 38* and Shafali Verma on 29* had already seized control. The assault never really eased.

India finished on 216/3, its third-highest total in WT20Is. Mandhana top-scored with a blistering 79 off 45 balls, while Shafali’s 48 off 29 and Richa Ghosh’s 49 off 22 kept the scoring rate in the red zone. For Chamari Athapaththu and Sri Lanka, the chase is nothing short of daunting.

Shooting: High hopes, harsh reality in 10m air rifle

In the 10m air rifle mixed team event, Parth Mane and Elavenil Valarivan flirted with a medal but walked away empty-handed.

They had qualified in style, shooting 634.6 to finish second behind China, whose duo Wang Zifei and Sheng Lihao set a Qualification World Record with 638.9. Vietnam originally claimed the fourth qualifying spot but was later disqualified, allowing Japan to join China, India and Republic of Korea in the final.

Once the medal round began, the margins turned brutal. After the first 10-shot series, China led on 107.2, with Korea (104.9) and Japan (103.9) ahead of India’s 103.6. The second series saw China stretch away to 211.9, Japan climb to second, Korea slip to third, and India remain fourth on 207.9. By the third series, nothing had changed at the bottom: India still fourth with 312.3.

The final numbers told the story. China struck gold with a world-record 507.1, Republic of Korea took silver with 502.9, Japan claimed bronze on 439.7, and India’s 376.3 left Parth and Elavenil in fourth – close to the podium, but not close enough.

Table tennis: Women fight through thriller, men crash out

In women’s team table tennis, India rode a rollercoaster against Thailand in the round of 16.

India No. 1 Sreeja Akula looked in complete control against Orawan Paranang, leading 2-0 in games and holding match point at 10-9 in the decider. Then the match flipped. Paranang clawed back to win 3-2 (7-11, 1-11, 11-9, 11-6, 12-10), handing Thailand a 1-0 lead and leaving India rattled.

Yashaswini Ghorpade steadied the ship with a gritty 3-2 win over Suthasini Sawettabut (11-8, 5-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9), dragging India level at 1-1. Diya Chitale then fell in a five-game scrap to Jinnipa Sawettabut, 2-3 (7-11, 11-5, 11-7, 7-11, 11-13), and India again trailed, 1-2.

The pressure fell back on Yashaswini, and she delivered. A sharp 3-0 win over Orawan Paranang (11-5, 11-8, 11-9) forced a deciding fifth rubber.

Sreeja returned for redemption and found it. Against Suthasini Sawettabut, she absorbed the early blow of losing the first game and then took control, winning 3-1 (9-11, 11-6, 12-10, 11-8). Her final forehand down the line sealed a 3-2 victory for India and a place in the quarterfinals against North Korea.

The men’s team, two-time bronze medallists, had no such escape. Facing Republic of Korea in the round of 16, India went down 3-0. Harmeet Desai lost the opener to Jang Woojin (11-8, 7-11, 8-11, 9-11), Manush Shah was dragged into a decider by Oh Junsung and couldn’t close it out, and An Jaehyun finished the job with a 3-1 (12-10, 11-6, 7-11, 12-10) win over Manav Thakkar. A disappointing, straight-sets exit.

Gymnastics & Wushu: Narrow margins, respectable finishes

In artistic gymnastics, Pranati Nayak put herself in the mix on vault. She opened with a 13.000 on her first vault, followed by 12.433 on her second, for an average of 12.916. That left her sitting in fourth place in the women’s vault standings – on the fringes of the podium, where a tenth here or there can decide everything.

In Wushu, Hanjabam Langlentombi Devi tackled the combined women’s Nanquan & Nandao event. She scored 9.403 in Nanquan, finishing ninth of ten, then improved to eighth in Nandao with 9.436. Her combined total of 18.839 placed her ninth overall in the final – a solid showing in a technically unforgiving discipline.

Fencing: Early promise, tough exits

It was a day of mixed fortunes on the piste.

In women’s epee, Taniksha Khatri became the first Indian fencer of the day to win a knockout bout, beating Thailand’s Natpapat Sangngio 15-10 in the round of 32. That set up a round-of-16 clash with reigning World Champion Song Sera of Republic of Korea, where her run ended in a 9-15 defeat.

Earlier, she had finished third in Pool 4, while in the same event Mitva Chaudhari drew China’s Yang Jingwen in the round of 32.

In men’s foil, both Indian fencers – Hemash Singh Sanasam and Sachin – navigated the pool stage with identical records. Hemash bounced back from an opening 2-5 loss to Singapore’s Raphael Juan Kang Tan with wins over Japan’s Kazuki Iimura (5-1), Philippines’ Sammuel Tranquilan (5-2), and Oman’s Saeed Al Shuaibi (5-1), but also slipped to a 2-5 defeat against Macao’s Chong Kio Cheong.

Sachin started with a 5-0 win over Pakistan’s Baryal Khan, then beat Kazakhstan’s Galim Nurumov 5-3, but suffered losses to Chinese Taipei’s Chen Chih-Chieh (2-5) and Korea’s Jeonghyun Youn (0-5). Both finished fourth in their pools and advanced to the round of 32, where the day ended abruptly: Hemash lost 9-15 to Nurumov, and Sachin went down 9-15 to Timofey Semyonov, another Kazakh.

Equestrian: Learning curve in eventing dressage

Eventing opened with dressage, and India’s trio found themselves playing catch-up from the outset.

Fouaad Mirza, a double Asian Games silver medallist, rode his 10-year-old bay gelding Camouflage 38 to a score of 38.70 and a percentile of 61.33, placing 26th. Arjan Singh Nagra, on his 12-year-old grey stallion Cooley Goodwood, edged ahead with 38.20 and a 61.80 percentile to finish 23rd.

The best Indian mark came from Ashish Limaye, astride Willy be Dun, his 14-year-old bay gelding and partner from the Hangzhou Games. Limaye posted 35.50 with a 64.47 percentile, good enough for 14th in a 32-rider field where only three combinations broke the 70-percentile barrier. China’s Tian Hua, on Irish Sport Horse gelding Manjushri, topped the standings, with Thailand’s Korntawat Samran and Japan’s Toshiyuki completing the top three.

With dressage scores converted so that lower totals mean fewer errors and higher rankings, India’s combined team score of 112.40 left it seventh out of eight nations, well outside medal range. Japan led on 91.60. With cross-country and show jumping still to come, the climb looks steep.

Soft tennis, karate, esports and more: Edges of the programme

In soft tennis, the day swung from promise to disappointment. Aryan Thakur opened Group C in men’s singles with a commanding 4-0 win over Mongolia’s Bold-erdene Altangerel, only to later fall 0-4 (1-4, 2-4, 2-4, 1-4) to Chinese Taipei’s Chen Po-Yi. That defeat consigned India to second in the group and shut the door on a place in the final eight.

On the women’s side, Aadhya Tiwari lost her Group D opener 1-4 (4-1, 0-4, 0-4, 2-4, 4-6) to Thailand’s Alisha Ziegler, then responded with a 4-0 (4-2, 5-3, 4-1, 5-3) win over Pakistan’s Kainaat Shallwani.

In karate, Chetan Bhatt’s day in the men’s kumite -84kg category was a harsh study in fine margins. Starting directly from the semifinals, he lost 0-8 to Jordan’s Mohammad Alja’Fari, then entered the bronze-medal bout against Chung Meng-yu of Chinese Taipei. The match finished 1-1, both scoring one yuko, but Chung claimed bronze by virtue of scoring the first point. In women’s kumite -55kg, Alisha Choudhary lost 1-6 to Indonesia’s Cok Istri Agung Sanistyarani in the round of 16 and later missed out on a repechage chance when Sanistyarani failed to win her semifinal.

Esports made a quiet entry into India’s day. In eFootball, the pairing of Chinmay Sahoo and Danial Patel held Uzbekistan’s Abubakir Iminjonov and Farrukh Mirkhamitov to a 0-0 draw in their first Group D match.

In sepaktakraw, India’s men’s regu team battled but fell to a strong Malaysia side in Group B. The first match went Malaysia’s way 2-1 (15-13, 11-15, 15-6), the second 2-0 (15-9, 15-12), and the third 2-0 (15-11, 15-5), sealing a 3-0 sweep. India now turns to its final group match against the Philippines.

Swimming & Kabaddi: Progress and power

In the pool, India’s men’s 4x100m medley relay team of Rishabh Das, Danush Suresh, Benedicton Rohit and Akash Mani clocked 3:40.41 in the heats, finishing seventh among 16 teams and booking a place in the final.

On the kabaddi mat, the defending men’s champions looked every inch the powerhouse. India hammered Korea 63-31 in its second Group A match, keeping the title defence firmly on track and laying down a marker for the rest of the field.

From Sindhu’s three-game epic to Lakshya’s comeback, from Mandhana’s clean striking to Chetan Bhatt’s heartbreak on first-point rule, India’s day in Aichi-Nagoya was a reminder of how thin the line is between medal glory and the long walk back to the village. The question now is simple: who turns these near-misses into podium finishes before the Games are done?