India Secures Multiple Gold Medals at Asian Games 2026
Yesterday, boxer Ankush Panghal and the women's recurve archery team both captured historic gold medals for India at the Asian Games.
India's delegation at the 2026 Asian Games secured a bronze medal in the men's 4x400m relay, an achievement acknowledged by the Prime Minister. Concurrently, the country dispatched its largest-ever skill contingent to the WorldSkills competition in Shanghai. Domestically, the 11th Ayurveda Day was observed at the National Institute of Ayurveda in Jaipur.
Indian boxers delivered a historic hat-trick of gold medals on Friday at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, capping a day that also brought the country's first-ever women's recurve team archery title and a bronze for the men's 4x400m relay squad.
Lovlina Borgohain opened the account in the women's 75kg final, outclassing China's reigning Asian champion Bao Ziyi with a unanimous 5-0 verdict on her 29th birthday. "It was a very special birthday, I'm feeling really good. I thought I'd have to gift a gold medal on my birthday. It's the first time that I got a present for myself," Borgohain said after the bout (Google News India). The win ended a 12-year wait for a women's boxing gold at the Asian Games and made her only the second Indian woman after M.C. Mary Kom to stand atop the podium at the continental showpiece (Google News India).
Parveen Hooda followed in the women's 65kg category, edging Paris Olympics bronze medallist Chen Nien-chin of Chinese Taipei 3-2 in a split decision. The victory marked redemption for Hooda, who had lost a bronze from the previous edition due to a whereabouts failure and missed the Paris Games (Google News India).
Ankush Panghal completed the sweep in the men's 80kg final, dominating South Korea's Kim Minseong. He took the opening round 4-1, the second unanimously 5-0, and the third 4-1 for a 4-0 overall verdict (Google News India). The Commonwealth Games champion's triumph marked India's first men's boxing gold at the Asian Games since Amit Panghal's victory in 2018 (Indian Express). The three golds represented the first time India has won three boxing titles at a single Asian Games; the previous best was two golds at Guangzhou 2010 (Google News India).
Earlier in the day, the women's recurve archery trio of Ankita Bhakat, Kirti Sharma and 17-year-old Kumkum Mohod stunned 10-time Olympic champions South Korea 5-3 to claim a historic maiden team gold (Google News India). Ranked 10th, 20th and 25th in qualification against Korea's top-four finishers, India levelled the first two sets 54-54 and 56-56 before seizing the third 55-51 after the Korean trio shot three successive 8s. In the decisive fourth set, Mohod drilled a clutch 10 on the final arrow to tie the set at 28-28 and seal the match (Google News India). Mohod and Dhiraj Bommadevara added a silver in the mixed team event, losing 3-5 to China, while the men's recurve team of Bommadevara, Yashdeep Bhoge and Neeraj Chauhan took silver after a 1-5 loss to South Korea (Google News India).
On the track, the men's 4x400m relay team secured a bronze medal, a result acknowledged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who congratulated the quartet on their podium finish (PIB).
The boxing haul pushed India's overall medal tally to 75 — 15 gold, 25 silver and 35 bronze — lifting the contingent to fifth in the standings (Google News India). With the men's hockey and cricket finals against Pakistan scheduled for Saturday, India has two remaining opportunities to defend titles won at Hangzhou 2023.
Indian Express·PIB