Asian Games 2026: Women's skeet shooting team wins India's eighth medal

India's women's shooting team has won the country's eighth medal at the 2026 Asian Games. On Wednesday, India claimed bronze in the women's skeet team event. At the Games being held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, India has so far won a total of eight medals, six of them in shooting alone, underlining the dominance of Indian shooters this time.

After a three-day qualification round in skeet shooting, the Indian trio of Maheshwari Chauhan, Parinaaz Dhaliwal and Raiza Dhillon finished third with 331 points. China's team of Che Yufei, Jian Yiting and Jiang Chaoyue won gold with 347 points, while Kazakhstan's Assem Orynbay, Zoya Piskun and Adele Sadikbayeva took silver with 336 points. Notably, Dhillon and Dhaliwal have also qualified for the individual final. If the two perform well going forward, India could win two more medals.

In the 10m air pistol event, however, India missed out on a medal. Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker had reached the final after finishing third in the qualification round with a total score of 579-20x. But the Indian team of Esha, Manu and Suruchi suffered disappointment in the team final, losing to Vietnam in the bronze medal match. Manu Bhaker was then unable to win a medal in the individual event either, finishing fifth.

India has secured a medal in soft tennis. Jay Meena staged a strong comeback in the quarterfinal against Shervin Nguit to seal India's first-ever soft tennis medal at the Asian Games. After the final game was tied 3-3, Meena was trailing 3-5 but fought back to win four points in a row, eventually taking the quarterfinal 4-3 to reach the semifinal. In the semifinal, he will face the winner of the quarterfinal between Japan's Takuya Kurosaka and Chinese Taipei's Yu-Sung Chang. The losing semifinalist will get bronze, while the winner will contest for gold.

India has won another medal in shooting. The Indian men's skeet team put up a strong performance to win bronze. In addition, Anantjeet Singh Naruka has qualified for the final of the individual event, raising hopes of another medal for India.

In terms of the overall medal count, India currently stands eighth in the rankings of all countries. Since many powerful nations from around the world take part in major events like the Asian Games, staying in the top 10 is a big achievement for India. Everyone hopes that Indian athletes will win more contests from the fourth day of competition onward, adding further medals to the country's tally.