India enters Day 5 of the Asian Games 2026 with a dense programme of medal opportunities, led by Manu Bhaker and the women’s 10m air pistol team, Olympic medallist Mirabai Chanu and the men’s badminton team semifinal against China.
Wednesday’s schedule begins at 5:30 AM IST and stretches into the afternoon. Shooting offers several direct routes to the podium, weightlifting brings two Group A finals, while Roshibina Devi and the men’s badminton team compete with medals already guaranteed.
Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh and Suruchi Singh open India’s medal push in shooting before Mirabai Chanu takes the weightlifting platform. Later, India face China in men’s team badminton, Roshibina Devi contests her wushu semifinal and the kabaddi teams continue their group campaigns.
India’s complete Day 5 schedule in IST
| Time | Sport | Event | Indian athlete or team | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5:30 AM | Soft tennis | Men’s singles quarter-final vs Sherwin Nuguit | Jay Meena | Knockout |
| 5:30 AM | Sepaktakraw | Men’s team regu Group B vs Philippines | India | Group match |
| 5:40 AM | Rowing | Men’s single sculls heat 2 | Balraj Panwar | Heat |
| 6:00 AM | Rowing | Men’s double sculls heat 3 | Satnam Singh, Salman Khan | Heat |
| 6:15 AM | Shooting | Women’s 10m air pistol qualification and team event | Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh, Suruchi Singh | Medal event |
| 6:30 AM | Shooting | Men’s skeet qualification Day 3 and team event | Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Bhavtegh Singh Gill, Mairaj Ahmad Khan | Team medals |
| 6:30 AM | Shooting | Women’s skeet qualification Day 3 and team event | Parinaaz Dhaliwal, Raiza Dhillon, Maheshwari Chauhan | Team medals |
| 6:30 AM | Canoe sprint | Men’s kayak four 500m heat 1 | Harshwardhan Shaktawat, Varinder Singh, L Naocha Singh Oinam, Arun Singh | Heat |
| 6:30 AM | Equestrian | Eventing individual cross-country final, Day 2 | Ashish Limaye, Fouaad Mirza | Medal event |
| 6:30 AM | Fencing | Women’s foil individual pools | Naorem Mina Devi, Joys Ashitha Stalinraj | Qualification |
| 6:30 AM | Table tennis | Mixed doubles Round of 32 vs Maldives | Harmeet Desai, Yashaswini Ghorpade | Knockout |
| 6:42 AM | Swimming | Men’s 100m butterfly heat 2 | Rohit Benedicton, Sajan Prakash | Heat |
| 6:50 AM | Rowing | Men’s pair heat 2 | Jaswinder Singh, Nitin Kumar | Heat |
| 6:50 AM | Canoe sprint | Women’s canoe single 200m heat 1 | Megha Pradeep | Heat |
| 7:03 AM | Swimming | Men’s 200m freestyle heat 2 | Aneesh Gowda, Vedaant Madhavan | Heat |
| 7:10 AM | Rowing | Women’s four heat 1 | Gurbani Kaur, Poonam, Tendenthoi Devi, Aleena Anto | Heat |
| 7:10 AM | Canoe sprint | Women’s kayak double 500m heat 1 | Parvathy Geetha, Phairembam Soniya Devi | Heat |
| 7:10 AM | Table tennis | Mixed doubles Round of 32 vs Sri Lanka | Manush Shah, Diya Chitale | Knockout |
| 8:15 AM | Fencing | Men’s sabre individual pools | Gisho Nidhi KP, Karan Singh | Qualification |
| 8:30 AM | Kabaddi | Women’s Group A: India vs Iran | India | Group match |
| 8:30 AM onwards | Boxing | Men’s 80kg Round of 16 vs Hamsa Vogel | Ankush Panghal | Knockout |
| 8:30 AM | Soft tennis | Men’s singles semi-final | Jay Meena, if qualified | Conditional |
| 9:00 AM | Shooting | Women’s 10m air pistol individual final | Indian qualifiers | If qualified |
| 9:30 AM onwards | Fencing | Women’s foil and men’s sabre knockout rounds | Indian qualifiers | If qualified |
| 9:45 AM | Kabaddi | Men’s Group A: India vs Bangladesh | India | Group match |
| 10:00 AM | Weightlifting | Women’s 49kg Group A final | Mirabai Chanu | Medal event |
| 10:15 AM | Table tennis | Mixed doubles Round of 16 | Indian pairs, if qualified | Conditional |
| 10:30 AM | Squash | Men’s singles Round of 32 vs Arkaradet Arkarahirunya | Abhay Singh | Knockout |
| 10:40 AM | Canoe sprint | Men’s kayak double 500m heat 2 | Prsanna Kumar CS, Prohit Baroi | Heat |
| 11:00 AM | Shooting | Women’s skeet individual final | Indian qualifiers | If qualified |
| 11:00 AM | Canoe sprint | Women’s canoe double 500m heat 2 | Megha Pradeep, L Neha Devi | Heat |
| 11:15 AM | Squash | Women’s singles Round of 32 vs Kim Dami | Tanvi Khanna | Knockout |
| 11:20 AM | Rowing | Men’s lightweight double sculls heat 1 | Rohit, Ujjwal Kumar Singh | Heat |
| 11:30 AM | Badminton | Men’s team semifinal: India vs China | India | Medal assured |
| 11:30 AM | Hockey | Women’s Pool B: India vs Thailand | India | Pool match |
| 12:00 PM | Squash | Men’s singles Round of 32 vs Mohamed Shamil Wakeel | Veer Chotrani | Knockout |
| 12:10 PM | Rowing | Men’s quadruple sculls heat 2 | Arvind Singh, Kulwinder Singh, Navdeep Singh, Jakar Khan | Heat |
| 12:15 PM | Soft tennis | Men’s singles gold-medal match | Jay Meena, if qualified | Conditional |
| 12:20 PM | Rowing | Men’s four heat 1 | Ghurde Vipul Satish, Saurav Kumar, Babu Lal Yadav, Yogesh Kumar | Heat |
| 12:30 PM | Shooting | Men’s skeet individual final | Indian qualifiers | If qualified |
| 12:50 PM onwards | Fencing | Women’s foil and men’s sabre semifinals and medal bouts | Indian qualifiers | If qualified |
| 1:30 PM | Weightlifting | Women’s 53kg Group A final | Gyaneshwari Yadav | Medal event |
| 1:38 PM | Swimming | Men’s 100m butterfly final | Indian qualifiers | If qualified |
| 1:54 PM | Swimming | Men’s 200m freestyle final | Indian qualifiers | If qualified |
| 2:30 PM onwards | Wushu | Women’s Sanda 60kg semifinal vs Thania Kusumaningtyas | Naorem Roshibina Devi | Medal assured |
Confirmed and potential medal events
- 6:15 AM – Shooting: Women’s 10m air pistol team medal event.
- 6:30 AM – Shooting: Men’s and women’s skeet team events.
- 6:30 AM – Equestrian: Eventing individual cross-country final phase.
- 9:00 AM – Shooting: Women’s 10m air pistol individual final, subject to qualification.
- 10:00 AM – Weightlifting: Mirabai Chanu in the women’s 49kg Group A final.
- 11:00 AM and 12:30 PM – Shooting: Women’s and men’s skeet finals, subject to qualification.
- 11:30 AM – Badminton: India vs China men’s team semifinal; India are already guaranteed at least bronze.
- 1:30 PM – Weightlifting: Gyaneshwari Yadav in the women’s 53kg Group A final.
- 2:30 PM onwards – Wushu: Roshibina Devi’s Sanda 60kg semifinal; a medal is already secured.
Five Day 5 contests India cannot afford to miss
Manu Bhaker begins India’s shooting push
Manu Bhaker joins Esha Singh and Suruchi Singh in the women’s 10m air pistol qualification, which also decides the team medals. The top individual qualifiers return for the 9:00 AM final.
Mirabai Chanu returns to the biggest stage
Mirabai competes in the women’s 49kg Group A final at 10:00 AM. Her battle on the platform is one of India’s clearest individual medal opportunities of the day.
India face China with badminton medal secured
After defeating Japan 3-0, India meet China in the men’s team semifinal. Bronze is guaranteed, but Lakshya Sen, Satwik-Chirag and the rest of the squad will target a place in the final.
Roshibina fights to upgrade her medal
Roshibina Devi has already secured her third consecutive Asian Games medal. Victory over Indonesia’s Thania Kusumaningtyas would move her into the women’s Sanda 60kg gold-medal contest.
Kabaddi teams face important group tests
The women’s team meet Iran at 8:30 AM before the men’s side faces Bangladesh at 9:45 AM. Both fixtures will influence semifinal qualification and group position.
India women continue hockey campaign
India take on Thailand in Pool B at 11:30 AM. A strong result would maintain momentum and improve India’s position before tougher knockout-stage challenges.
Early sessions could reshape India’s day
Before the headline events begin, Jay Meena plays a soft-tennis quarter-final at 5:30 AM, India’s rowers open their campaigns and the canoe-sprint programme gets underway. A win for Jay would place him in a semifinal at 8:30 AM and potentially a gold-medal match at 12:15 PM.
Table tennis also features two Indian mixed-doubles pairs in the Round of 32. Harmeet Desai and Yashaswini Ghorpade face a Maldivian pair, while Manush Shah and Diya Chitale meet Sri Lankan opposition. Both pairs could return for the Round of 16 later in the morning.
The bottom line
Day 5 is India’s broadest medal day of the Games so far. Shooting and weightlifting offer immediate podium opportunities, badminton and wushu could improve the colour of already-secured medals, and strong results in kabaddi, hockey, squash, rowing and table tennis would build momentum for the second half of the competition.
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