Lagatar24 Desk
Aichi-Nagoya: India got off to a strong start at the Asian Games 2026 on Sunday, claiming two silver medals in women’s 10m air rifle shooting on the opening day, with Elavenil Valarivan at the heart of the country’s early success.
Elavenil Bags Two Silvers on Opening Day
Elavenil Valarivan first helped India win silver in the women’s 10m air rifle team event alongside Sonam Maskar and Vidarsa Vinod, before going on to claim individual silver as well. In the individual final, she finished with a score of 252.4 points, behind Japan’s Hinata Taichi, who clinched gold with an Asian Games record of 253.0, while South Korea’s Hyojin Ban took bronze with 230.4. Elavenil entered the final two shots trailing Taichi by just 0.3 points and stayed in contention after a 10.4 to Taichi’s 10.6, which widened the gap slightly. She then shot a 10.1 on her final attempt, but Taichi held firm with a 10.2 to seal gold and set the new record. With these results, India now have two shooting medals at the Aichi-Nagoya Games — both silver — building on the strong momentum from the Hangzhou Games, where Indian shooters had claimed a record 22 medals, including seven gold, nine silver and six bronze.
Suchika Assures Medal, Hockey and Other Sports Begin
Mixed martial artist Suchika Tariyal also guaranteed India a medal after advancing to the semifinals of the women’s Traditional MMA 60kg category. India’s hockey campaign got underway as well, with the women’s team thrashing Uzbekistan 19-0 in their opening match, while the men’s team took on Indonesia in their first game. Indian athletes were also in action across table tennis, badminton and cricket as the country’s campaign kicked off across multiple disciplines.
India’s Day 1 Results Across Disciplines
In shooting, Elavenil Valarivan, Sonam Maskar and Vidarsa Vinod won silver in the women’s 10m air rifle team event, while Elavenil added individual silver, with Sonam Maskar finishing sixth. In wushu, Suraj Singh Mayanglambam finished 11th in the men’s Changquan final. In teqball, Quimcy Dsouza lost the women’s singles bronze medal match to Japan’s Yuina Sakamoto, while the mixed doubles pair of Dsouza and Mohamed Anas Beg lost their bronze medal match to a Vietnamese pair. In swimming, Benediction Beniston finished 12th and Akash Mani 23rd in the men’s 100m freestyle heats, while Rishabh Das qualified for the final after finishing fifth in the 100m backstroke heats, with Utkarsh Patil placing 12th. In mixed martial arts, Suchika Tariyal defeated Mongolia’s Altanchimeg Baigalmaa in the women’s Traditional 60kg quarterfinal. In hockey, India’s women beat Uzbekistan 19-0 while the men’s team defeated Indonesia 13-1. In table tennis, both the Indian men’s and women’s teams beat Indonesia 3-0 in their respective group matches. In badminton, India beat Kazakhstan 3-0 in the women’s team event, with PV Sindhu, Unnati Hooda and Tanvi Sharma winning their singles matches. In cricket, the Indian women’s team beat Bangladesh by 114 runs in the semifinal to set up a gold-medal clash against Sri Lanka.
