India added four medals on Day 3 of the Asian Games 2026 as the shooting team collected three podium finishes and Suchika Tariyal secured the country’s first Asian Games medal in mixed martial arts. The day also brought emphatic wins in hockey, kabaddi, badminton and table tennis.
Himanshu Dhillon won silver and Rudrankksh Patil took bronze in the men’s 10m air rifle individual final after combining with Parth Mane for team silver. Suchika’s bronze lifted India’s overall tally to six medals—four silver and two bronze—at the close of September 21.
Shooting remained India’s medal engine, while the women’s hockey team scored 17 goals and the men’s and women’s kabaddi teams began their title defences with commanding Group A victories.
India’s major Day 3 results and qualification status
| Sport | Event or match | Result | Stage and what comes next |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shooting | Men’s 10m air rifle team | Silver medal | Completed Rudrankksh Patil, Himanshu Dhillon and Parth Mane finished second behind China. |
| Shooting | Men’s 10m air rifle individual | Himanshu silver; Rudrankksh bronze | Completed Both qualified for the final and finished on the podium. |
| MMA | Women’s Traditional -60kg | Suchika Tariyal won bronze | Completed Her campaign ended in the semi-final; there was no separate bronze playoff. |
| Hockey | India Women 17-1 Indonesia | Second straight win | Pool B India lead the pool race; the top two teams qualify for the semi-finals. |
| Kabaddi | India Men 49-24 Japan | Won | Group A India continue round-robin play; the top two progress to the semi-finals. |
| Kabaddi | India Women 42–21 Bangladesh | Won | Group A The defending champions continue their group campaign before the semi-finals. |
| Table tennis | India Men 3-0 Pakistan | Won | Qualified Advanced from Group F into the knockout stage. |
| Table tennis | India Women 3-0 Pakistan | Won | Qualified Topped Group F and advanced to the quarter-finals. |
| Badminton | India Men 3-0 Bangladesh | Won | Quarter-finals India advanced from the Round of 16; a quarter-final win guarantees a medal. |
| Boxing | Sumit Kundu beat Bunjong Sinsiri 5-0 | Unanimous decision | Round of 16 Sumit advanced from the men’s 70kg preliminary round. |
| Swimming | Men’s 50m backstroke | Srihari Nataraj finished 10th | Completed He advanced from the heats but finished outside the medals in the final. |
| Shooting | Men’s and women’s skeet | Qualification Day 1 completed | In progress Qualification resumes on Day 4 before the individual finals. |
Shooting delivers three more medals
Raiza Dhillon was India’s leading woman in the individual skeet standings after the opening day, while Anantjeet Singh Naruka led the Indian men’s challenge. With more targets to be shot, those positions remain provisional.
Suchika Tariyal creates MMA history
India’s first Asian Games MMA medal
Suchika Tariyal officially received bronze in the women’s Traditional -60kg event, giving India its first medal in mixed martial arts at the Asian Games.
Her semi-final against Singapore’s Teo Hui Hoon remained level after regulation and a formal review. Under the competition’s technical tie-break procedure, Teo advanced because she had weighed in 700 grams lighter. With no bronze-medal playoff, Suchika completed her campaign on the podium.
India score 17 in another hockey rout
The Indian women’s hockey team overwhelmed Indonesia 17-1 in its second Pool B match. Rutuja Pisal, Navneet Kaur and Deepika Sehrawat scored hat-tricks, while Sakshi Rana, Sunelita Toppo and Lalremsiami contributed two goals each.
After opening with a 19-0 win over Uzbekistan, India have scored 36 goals in two games. They remain in the pool stage, but the successive victories have placed them in a commanding position in the race for one of the two semi-final berths.
Kabaddi champions begin with convincing wins
India’s men’s and women’s teams opened the defence of their Asian Games titles with comfortable Group A victories.
Neither victory directly secured a knockout place because the group schedule is not complete. The top two teams in each group progress to the semi-finals.
Table tennis teams sweep Pakistan
India recorded matching 3-0 victories over Pakistan in the men’s and women’s team competitions. The women’s team topped Group F and reached the quarter-finals, while the men also moved into the knockout phase.
Harmeet Desai and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran won their men’s singles contests in straight games before Payas Jain completed the sweep with an 11-2, 11-5, 11-7 victory over Muhammad Khan.
Badminton men reach the quarter-finals
India defeated Bangladesh 3-0 in the men’s team Round of 16 without dropping a game. Lakshya Sen opened with a 21-4, 21-12 win, Ayush Shetty followed 21-4, 21-13, and Kidambi Srikanth closed the tie 21-15, 21-9.
The quarter-final is the critical medal threshold. Victory there will take India into the semi-finals and guarantee at least bronze because both losing semi-finalists receive medals.
Sumit Kundu advances in boxing
Sumit Kundu began India’s boxing campaign with a unanimous 5-0 win over Thailand’s Bunjong Sinsiri in the men’s 70kg preliminary round. The result moves him into the Round of 16, where the route becomes progressively more demanding. He must reach the semi-finals to secure a guaranteed medal.
Mixed results in swimming, soft tennis and wushu
Srihari Nataraj qualified for the men’s 50m backstroke final after the heats but finished 10th overall. Most of India’s other swimmers did not progress from the morning sessions.
In soft tennis, Aadhya Tiwari and Jay Meena began the mixed doubles group phase with wins over Cambodia and Mongolia, but losses to South Korea and the Philippines ended their campaign in the knockout round. Nyeman Wangsu finished 15th in the women’s Changquan final, while India also suffered defeat against Japan in men’s team regu sepaktakraw.
India’s medal tally after Day 3
| Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
The bottom line
Day 3 strengthened India’s campaign through another shooting surge and a historic MMA bronze. Just as importantly, India advanced or improved its position in badminton, table tennis, hockey, kabaddi and boxing. The next challenge is converting those strong early-stage performances into semi-final places and guaranteed medals.
Results and qualification positions are based on the completed competition programme for September 21, 2026. Provisional skeet standings may change after the remaining qualification rounds.
