NEW DELHI: Harmanpreet Kaur-led India opened their gold medal account at the Asian Games 2026 on Tuesday, defeating Sri Lanka in the women’s cricket final at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin to end the country’s wait for a top-podium finish in Aichi-Nagoya.The defending champions produced a dominant performance in the gold-medal clash, first posting a mammoth 216/3 after opting to bat and then restricting Sri Lanka to secure a comprehensive victory.The result gave India their first gold and seventh medal overall at the Asian Games, with the tally now standing at one gold, four silver and two bronze medals.Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma and Richa Ghosh were the architects of India’s imposing total. Mandhana smashed 79 off 45 balls, while Shafali contributed 48 off 29. Richa then provided a spectacular finish, remaining unbeaten on 49 off just 22 balls.India’s batters cleared the boundary 13 times during their innings as they posted their highest-ever total in women’s cricket at the Asian Games.Mandhana and Shafali gave India a flying start, adding 99 for the opening wicket before the latter was dismissed for her brisk 48. Mandhana continued her assault and brought up her half-century before eventually falling for 79.Harmanpreet made 19, but Richa ensured there was no let-up in India’s scoring rate. Her unbeaten cameo, which included six fours and three sixes, took India past the 200-run mark and set Sri Lanka a daunting target.With the ball, India maintained their dominance. Spinners Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma and Shree Charani claimed two wickets each as Sri Lanka were bowled out for a modest total.
India join Pakistan with two Asian Games cricket golds
The triumph means India now have two women’s cricket gold medals at the Asian Games, having also won the women’s cricket gold for the country in 2023.India had not participated when cricket featured at the Asian Games in 2010 and 2014. Their 2023 title and Tuesday’s triumph now put them level with Pakistan, who won the women’s cricket gold medals in 2010 and 2014.The men’s competition will begin later in the Games, with the Shreyas Iyer-led Indian side scheduled to start their campaign in the second quarterfinal on September 28. India are also the defending men’s Asian Games champions.
Shooting, MMA add six medals before cricket gold
India had entered Tuesday’s cricket final with six medals from the first two days of competition — four silver and two bronze — with shooting accounting for five of them.On Day 2, Himanshu Dhillon won silver and Rudrankksh Patil bronze in the men’s 10m air rifle individual event. Dhillon finished second behind China’s Olympic champion Sheng Lihao, who successfully defended his Asian Games title with 254.2 points, while Patil secured bronze with 230.9.Dhillon and Patil then combined with Parth Mane to claim another silver in the men’s 10m air rifle team event, taking India’s shooting haul to five medals.India’s other Day 2 medal came from Suchika Tariyal, who made history by becoming the country’s first Asian Games medallist in mixed martial arts. She was awarded bronze after her semifinal against Singapore’s Hui Hoon Teo ended in a draw, with Teo advancing under the competition’s tie-break rule after Suchika was around 700 grams heavier at the morning weigh-in.India’s first medals of the Games had also come from shooting on Day 1. Elavenil Valarivan, Sonam Uttam Maskar and Vidarsa Vinod won silver in the women’s 10m air rifle team event before Valarivan added another silver in the individual competition.Valarivan shot 252.4 in the final, finishing behind Japan’s Hinata Taichi, who won gold with a Games-record 253.0. South Korea’s Ban Hyojin took bronze with 230.4.After two days without a gold, India’s women’s cricketers finally put the defending champions on top of the podium — and did so in emphatic fashion.The cricket gold also lifted India to seven medals: one gold, four silver and two bronze, providing a significant boost to the country’s campaign as the Aichi-Nagoya Games move into their next phase.
