Mirabai Chanu wins maiden Asian Games medal with womens 49kg silver

After Karnam Malleshwari, Mirabai Chanu became the 2nd Indian weightlifter to win a medal in all major international weightlifting events, i.e. Olympics, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, World Championships, Asian & Commonwealth Championships.

Chanu produced a strong performance in the competition, recording a total lift of 198kg. She completed all three of her snatch attempts successfully, lifting 83kg, 85kg and 87kg.

In the clean and jerk segment, the Indian weightlifter opened with a 107kg lift before successfully completing her second attempt of 111kg to finish with a combined total of 198kg.

North Koreas Ri Song Gum claimed the gold medal after dominating the event with a total lift of 215kg, while Chanu secured silver with her effort. Wijayana finished with the bronze medal.

The medal marked a historic achievement for Chanu, who had missed out on a podium finish at the Hangzhou Asian Games 2023 after an injury forced her to withdraw from her final clean and jerk attempt, resulting in a fourth-place finish.

Chanu, a Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medallist, entered the competition after winning gold at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games and added another major medal to her illustrious career.

The silver medal also added to Indias medal tally at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games as the country continued its campaign across multiple disciplines.

Meanwhile, India enjoyed a successful day at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026, winning medals in shooting, soft tennis and weightlifting, while athletes across kabaddi, boxing, squash, rowing, canoe sprint and table tennis produced strong performances.

Olympic medallist Mirabai Chanu clinched her maiden Asian Games medal after winning silver in the womens 49kg weightlifting category. Chanu lifted a total of 198kg, including 87kg in snatch and 111kg in clean and jerk, to secure a historic podium finish.

India also claimed two bronze medals in shooting. The womens skeet team of Raiza Dhillon, Parinaaz Dhaliwal and Maheshwari Chauhan finished third with a combined score of 331, securing Indias first-ever medal in the womens skeet team event at the Asian Games.

The mens skeet team comprising Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Mairaj Ahmed Khan and Bhavtegh Singh Gill also won bronze after finishing third with 346 points. Naruka further qualified for the mens skeet individual final.

In soft tennis, Jay Meena assured India of its first-ever Asian Games medal in the sport after reaching the mens singles semi-finals. Although Meena lost to Japans Takuya Kurosaka in the semi-final, he secured the bronze medal as all semi-finalists are guaranteed a podium finish.

Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker reached the womens 10m air pistol final and finished fifth, while Suruchi Inder Singh and Esha Singh missed out on qualification for the medal round.

Indias kabaddi teams continued their strong run, with the womens team defeating Iran 37-23 in Group A after earlier beating Bangladesh. The mens team also registered a win over Bangladesh in their Group A encounter.

In boxing, Ankush advanced to the round of 16 in the mens 80kg category after defeating Bahrains Hamsa Vogel with a unanimous 5-0 victory.

In squash, Abhay Singh began his mens singles campaign with a dominant win over Thailands Arkaradet Arkarahirunya, winning 11-1, 11-0, 11-2 in the round of 32.

India also progressed in rowing and canoe sprint events. Balraj Panwar qualified for the mens single sculls final, while Satnam Singh and Salman Khan advanced to the mens double sculls final. The mens kayak four 500m team of Harshwardhan Shaktawat, Varinder Singh, L Naocha Singh Oinam and Arun Singh also booked a place in the final.

In canoe sprint, Megha Pradeep qualified for the womens canoe single 200m semi-final, while Prasanna Kumar CS and Prohit Baroi advanced to the mens kayak double 500m semi-final. Parvathy Geetha and Phairembam Soniya Devi also progressed in the womens kayak double 500m event.

Indian paddlers continued their winning run in mixed doubles. Manush Shah and Diya Chitale defeated Maldives Moosa-Aishath, while Yashaswini Ghorpade and Harmeet Desai defeated Hong Kongs Yiu-Ng. Earlier, Indian pairs also registered wins over Maldives and Sri Lanka.

In fencing, GN Kumaresan exited in the mens sabre round of 16 after losing to Kazakhstans Artyom Sarkissyan, while Mina Devi Naorem, Ashitha Stalinraj and Karan Singh bowed out in their respective round of 32 matches.

In swimming, Benedicton Beniston finished 13th overall in the mens 100m butterfly heats, while Sajan Prakash did not start the event. Vedaant Madhavan and Aneesh Sunil failed to progress from the mens 200m freestyle heats.

In rowing, Gurbani Kaur, Aleena Anto, Tendenthoi Haobijam and Poonam qualified for Final A in the womens four event, while Jaswinder Singh and Nitin Kumar advanced to Final B in the mens pair competition.

In sepaktakraw, India defeated the Philippines 2-1 in the mens team regu Group B match but missed out on qualification for the next stage.

India continued its medal charge across disciplines as competition progressed at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. (ANI)