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Indian archer Dhiraj Bommadevara produced a record-breaking performance in the men's recurve qualification at the Asian Games 2026, topping the field with an Asian and national record score of 698 here on Saturday.
Dhiraj's score also gave him the top seed in the individual event and put India in third place in the men's team qualification. Neeraj Chauhan finished 20th with 676 points, while Yashdeep Bhoge was 25th with 665, as India's combined score of 2039 placed them third in the team qualification. The qualification results will determine the knockout draws, with India set to enter the men's team event as the third seeds. There are no medals awarded based solely on qualification scores, with the team competition to be decided through the subsequent knockout rounds. Dhiraj's performance, however, handed him a strong position in the individual competition, where he will enter as the top seed. In the women's compound qualification, Chikitha Taniparthi also topped the individual standings after producing a score of 705 out of a possible 720. Jyothi Surekha Vennam finished 13th with 699, while Prithika Pradeep was 20th with 695. India's combined score of 2099 placed the women's compound team second in qualification. The qualification rounds in archery determine the brackets for the knockout stages, with the individual and team competitions set to continue. India also secured a silver medal in shooting on Day 7, with Ashi Chouksey, Tilottama Sen and Vidarsa Vinod finishing second in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions team event. Tilottama qualified for the individual final after finishing third in qualification with 590 points, while Vidarsa finished 65th with 588. In athletics, Sawan Barwal won silver in the men's marathon with a national record time of 2:11:37. Tejaswin Shankar continued his strong showing in the men's decathlon, winning the 100m event with 865 points and the long jump with a 7.53m effort. He stood second overall with 1807 points after the 100m and moved to third with 2484 points following the shot put. Thowfeeq Noushad was seventh in the 100m with 856 points and third in the long jump with 7.37m. He was ninth overall after the shot put. Animesh Kujur also progressed to the men's 200m semi-finals after finishing first in his heat. In fencing, India advanced to the men's sabre team quarter-finals after defeating the Philippines 45-27 but were beaten 25-45 by defending champions South Korea in the last eight. India's women's foil team also reached the quarter-finals before losing 14-41 to Japan. In canoe sprint, Harshwardhan Shaktawat progressed to Final B of the men's kayak single 500m after finishing fifth in his semifinal. Parvathy Geetha and Prasanna Kumar qualified for Final A of the mixed kayak double 500m after finishing second in their semifinal. India's table tennis campaign saw Yashaswini Ghorpade bow out in the women's singles third round after losing 1-4 to Japan's world No. 3 Miwa Harimoto. Lakshya Sen also exited the badminton men's singles competition after losing 12-21, 21-15, 14-21 to Singapore's Loh Kean Yew. India currently have 25 medals at the Asian Games, comprising two gold, 11 silver and 12 bronze, and are 12th in the overall medal standings, at the time of writing. (ANI)
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