India face Iran in both kabaddi gold-medal matches, while Tajinderpal Singh Toor, Praveen Chithravel and the women’s rifle team lead a packed medal programme on Saturday.
Day 8 could be one of India’s most important days at the Asian Games 2026. Two direct kabaddi finals against Iran, shooting medals in the morning and a crowded athletics programme in the evening offer several opportunities to improve India’s tally of 23 medals.
India’s biggest medal events on Day 8
Women’s 50m Rifle 3P Team Final
Ashi Chouksey, Tilottama Sen and Vidarsa K Vinod compete in the team medal event and individual qualification.
Women’s Kabaddi Final
Defending champions India face Iran in the first of the day’s two kabaddi gold-medal contests.
Men’s Kabaddi Final
India and Iran renew one of Asian sport’s fiercest rivalries with gold on the line.
Men’s Shot Put Final
Tajinderpal Singh Toor targets a third consecutive Asian Games title alongside Karanveer Singh.
Men’s Triple Jump Final
Praveen Chithravel and Karthik Unnikrishnan carry India’s podium hopes.
Women’s 1500m Final
Parul Chaudhary and Pooja line up in one of the evening’s major track finals.
India Day 8 schedule: September 26
| Time | Sport | Event | Indian athlete or team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3:58 AM | Surfing | Women’s shortboard, Round 2 | Kamali Moorthy Prakash |
| 4:00 AM | Athletics | Men’s marathon final | Sawan Barwal, Kartik Jayaraj Karkera |
| 4:30 AM | Archery | Men’s recurve and women’s compound qualification | Dhiraj Bommadevara, Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Indian teams |
| 5:35 AM | Athletics | Men’s decathlon, 100m | Thowfeeq Noushad |
| 5:43 AM | Athletics | Men’s decathlon, 100m | Tejaswin Shankar |
| 6:00 AM | Badminton | Men’s singles Round of 32 | Lakshya Sen vs Loh Kean Yew; Ayush Shetty vs Maksut Tajibullayev |
| 6:00 AM | Fencing | Women’s foil team, Round of 16 | India vs Indonesia |
| 6:15 AM | Shooting | Women’s 50m rifle 3 positions qualification and team final | Ashi Chouksey, Tilottama Sen, Vidarsa K Vinod |
| 6:30 AM | Table Tennis | Women’s singles Round of 16 | Yashaswini Ghorpade vs Miwa Harimoto |
| 8:00 AM | Badminton | Women’s singles Round of 32 | PV Sindhu; Unnati Hooda |
| 8:20 AM | Canoe Sprint | Mixed canoe double 500m Final A | Raju Rawat L and Neha Devi |
| 8:30 AM | Squash | Mixed doubles semi-final | Joshna Chinappa and Velavan Senthilkumar vs Hong Kong |
| 8:32 AM | Athletics | Men’s 200m heats | Animesh Kujur |
| 9:00 AM | Archery | Women’s recurve and men’s compound qualification | Ankita Bhakat, Sahil Jadhav and Indian teams |
| 9:30 AM | Kabaddi | Women’s gold-medal match | India vs Iran |
| 9:30 AM | Shooting | Women’s 50m rifle 3P individual final | Indian qualifiers, if qualified |
| 10:15 AM | Boxing | Men’s 55kg Round of 16 | Jadumani Singh vs Carlo Paalam |
| 10:30 AM | Squash | Women’s singles semi-final | Anahat Singh vs Satomi Watanabe |
| 11:07 AM | Badminton | Women’s doubles Round of 16 | Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand vs Fukushima and Matsumoto |
| 11:15 AM | Squash | Men’s singles semi-final | Abhay Singh vs Irfan Muhammad |
| 12:30 PM | Badminton | Singles Round of 16 | Indian qualifiers, subject to progression |
| 1:30 PM | Hockey | Men’s Pool A | India vs Japan |
| 2:15 PM | Boxing | Women’s 60kg Round of 16 | Priya vs Oh Yeonji |
| 2:30 PM | Kabaddi | Men’s gold-medal match | India vs Iran |
| 4:04 PM | Athletics | Women’s 100m hurdles heats | Jyothi Yarraji |
| 4:12 PM | Athletics | Women’s 100m hurdles heats | Nandhini Kongan |
| 4:30 PM | Athletics | Men’s shot put final | Tajinderpal Singh Toor, Karanveer Singh |
| 5:05 PM | Athletics | Men’s triple jump final | Praveen Chithravel, Karthik Unnikrishnan |
| 5:21 PM | Athletics | Men’s 1500m heats | Yoonus Shah |
| 5:31 PM | Athletics | Men’s 1500m heats | Gulveer Singh |
| 6:15 PM | Athletics | Women’s 400m final | Kiran Pahal, Prachi |
| 6:33 PM | Athletics | Men’s 400m final | Vishal Thennarasu Kayalvizhi |
| 6:45 PM | Athletics | Women’s 1500m final | Parul Chaudhary, Pooja |
Five storylines to follow
India and Iran meet twice for gold
India enter both finals as defending champions, but Iran remain the strongest obstacle in Asian kabaddi. The women play at 9:30 AM before the men’s final at 2:30 PM.
Women’s rifle trio target an early podium
Ashi Chouksey, Tilottama Sen and Vidarsa K Vinod contest the team medal through qualification scores, with the top individual shooters progressing to the 9:30 AM final.
Toor chases a historic shot put hat-trick
Tajinderpal Singh Toor will attempt to win a third successive Asian Games gold. Praveen Chithravel, Parul Chaudhary and India’s 400m finalists provide further evening medal opportunities.
Three semi-finals carry Indian hopes
Joshna Chinappa and Velavan Senthilkumar, Anahat Singh and Abhay Singh are already assured medals and will compete for places in their respective finals.
Lakshya Sen faces a demanding opener
Lakshya meets former world champion Loh Kean Yew, while PV Sindhu, Unnati Hooda and Ayush Shetty begin their individual campaigns.
Medal outlook: India have direct medal opportunities in shooting, kabaddi, canoe sprint and athletics. Squash medals are already assured, but their final colour will depend on the semi-final results.
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Schedule and timings are subject to change. Qualification-dependent events will take place only if Indian athletes progress.
