Asian Games 2026 Day 8: India Win Women’s Kabaddi Gold, Sawan Barwal Takes Marathon Silver; Medal Tally Rises To 27

India produced a strong medal-winning performance on Day 8 of the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, with the women’s kabaddi team retaining its Asian Games title and Sawan Barwal ending India’s 44-year wait for a marathon medal.

India added four medals on Day 8 from the events covered here — gold in women’s kabaddi, silver in the men’s marathon, silver in women’s 50m rifle 3 positions team event and bronze in squash mixed doubles. India’s overall tally has consequently risen to 27 medals — 3 gold, 11 silver and 13 bronze.

Kabaddi: India Retain Women’s Asian Games Gold

India defeated Iran 37-34 in a thrilling women’s kabaddi final to retain their Asian Games title. The defending champions led 22-16 at half-time before Iran fought back and reduced the deficit to 27-26.

India held their nerve in the closing stages to secure their fourth Asian Games gold in women’s kabaddi, after previous titles in 2010, 2014 and 2022.

The gold is India’s third at Aichi-Nagoya, following the women’s cricket team and the 10m air pistol mixed team.

Athletics: Sawan Barwal Wins Marathon Silver

Sawan Barwal won silver in the men’s marathon in a national record and personal-best time of 2:11:37.

Japan’s Ichitaka Yamashita won gold in 2:10:49, while China’s Peiyou Feng claimed bronze in 2:12:13.

Barwal’s medal ended India’s 44-year wait for an Asian Games marathon medal. India’s previous medal in the event came in 1982, when Hosur Kukkappa Seetharan won bronze. Barwal’s silver is also India’s first Asian Games marathon medal won outside India.

Kartik Karkera, the other Indian marathoner, finished 17th in 2:22:41.

Tejaswin Shankar Makes Strong Start In Decathlon

Tejaswin Shankar began his decathlon campaign with 10.98 seconds in the 100m for 865 points before topping the long jump with a 7.53m effort for 942 points.

After two events, he had 1,807 points and was second overall. Following the shot put, he moved to third with 2,484 points.

Thowfeeq Noushad recorded 11.02 seconds in the 100m and 7.37m in the long jump before finishing fifth in the shot put with 10.76m.

Animesh Kujur also progressed to the men’s 200m semi-finals after winning his heat in 21.10 seconds.

Shooting: India Take Silver In Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions

Tilottama Sen, Vidarsa Vinod and Ashi Chouksey won silver in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions team event with a score of 1,763-90x.

Tilottama finished third with 590-32x and Vidarsa sixth with 588-29x to qualify for the individual final, while Ashi placed 15th with 585-29x.

In the individual final, Tilottama finished fourth with 337.3, while Vidarsa placed fifth with 327.4.

China’s Han Jiayu won gold with an Asian record 359.0, followed by compatriot Zhang Liyuan with 358.8. South Korea’s Kim Jieun took bronze with 348.4.

Squash: Joshna Chinappa, Velavan Senthilkumar Win Bronze

Joshna Chinappa and Velavan Senthilkumar secured the bronze medal in mixed doubles after losing their semi-final 2-1 to Hong Kong, China’s Lee Ka Yi and Tang Ming Hong.

The Indian pair lost 11-10, 2-11, 11-10.

The medal is Joshna Chinappa’s sixth Asian Games medal, extending her run of consecutive podium finishes dating back to Guangzhou 2010.

Anahat Singh, meanwhile, trailed Japan’s Satomi Watanabe in the women’s singles semi-final after losing the opening game 11-9.

Boxing: Kapil Pokhariya Into Quarter-Finals

Kapil Pokhariya advanced to the men’s 90kg quarter-finals with a dominant 5-0 victory over Iran’s Sam Estaki in the Round of 16.

He will face either South Korea’s Kim Gichae or Pakistan’s Irfan Khan in the last eight.

Jadumani Singh exited the men’s 55kg event after losing to Olympic silver medallist Carlo Paalam of the Philippines by a 3-0 split decision.

Badminton: Ayush Shetty Advances, Lakshya Sen Exits

Ayush Shetty stormed into the men’s singles Round of 16 after defeating Kazakhstan’s Makhsut Tajibullayev 21-7, 21-7.

He will next face two-time world medallist Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei.

Unnati Hooda also progressed to the women’s singles pre-quarter-finals after beating Malaysia’s Wong Ling Ching 21-14, 20-22, 21-19.

Lakshya Sen, however, exited in the first round after losing 21-12, 15-21, 21-14 to former world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore.

Table Tennis: Manush Shah, Yashaswini Ghorpade Exit

Manush Shah lost 4-0 to China’s former world No. 1 Lin Shidong in the men’s singles pre-quarter-finals.

Earlier, Yashaswini Ghorpade lost 4-1 to Japan’s world No. 3 Miwa Harimoto in the women’s singles Round of 16.

Their exits brought India’s singles campaign in table tennis to an end.

Archery: Dhiraj Bommadevara Tops Recurve Qualification

Dhiraj Bommadevara topped the men’s recurve qualification round with an Asian Games record 698 points.

Neeraj Chauhan and Yashdeep Bhogal finished 20th and 25th with 676 and 665 points, respectively. India finished second in the team qualification with 2,039 points.

In women’s compound, Chikitha Taniparthi led the qualification with 705 points. Jyothi Surekha Vennam and Prithika Poornima finished 12th and 20th.

Fencing: India’s Two Teams Exit

India’s men’s sabre team defeated the Philippines 45-27 in the Round of 16 before losing 45-25 to South Korea in the quarter-finals.

The women’s foil team also exited in the quarter-finals after beating Indonesia 45-24 before going down 45-14 to Japan.

Canoe Sprint: India Finish Without Medal

India’s canoe sprint campaign ended without a medal.

Raju Rawat and L Neha Devi finished eighth in the mixed canoe double 500m final in 2:00.891, while Parvathy Geetha and Prasanna Kumar finished ninth in the mixed kayak double 500m final in 1:53.994.

Esports: Paritosh Knocked Out

India’s Paritosh was eliminated from the Puyo Puyo Tetris quarter-finals after a 5-0 defeat to South Korea’s Dongshin Kang.

He had earlier finished third in Group B with two wins and two losses.

Surfing Action Delayed

Surfing action was delayed and rescheduled for later in the day.

Kamali Prakash, Sugar Shanti Gayen and Sivaraj Babu are scheduled to compete in the second round of the shortboard events, while Kishore Kumar, who won his heat on the previous day, will enter directly in the third round.

India Medal Tally At Asian Games 2026

After the Day 8 events reported above, India have 27 medals at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games:

• Gold: 3
• Silver: 11
• Bronze: 13
• Total: 27 medals

India are currently 12th in the overall medal table. The tally reflects the latest reported results from September 26.