Asian Games 2026: Indian Women's Kabaddi team thrash Iran 37-23

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The Indian women’s kabaddi team extended their unbeaten run at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026, overcoming a tough challenge from Iran to post a dominant 37-23 group-stage victory.

India initially found themselves on the back foot, trailing 9-11 early in the opening exchanges before mounting an impressive comeback. Winning back the momentum, the squad managed a turnaround to take a 19-15 advantage into the interval. 

Bhavna Devi proved pivotal in defence with critical tackle points, while Pooja delivered offensive strikes to extend the lead. Extending their dominance throughout the second half, India wrapped up a comfortable 14-point win. The result marked their second straight success following an opening 42-21 victory over Bangladesh, setting up their next fixture against host nation Japan on Thursday.

Indian stars shine across multiple sports

India’s success extended across various sports on a busy day of Asian Games action. The women’s skeet shooting trio of Raiza Dhillon, Parinaaz Dhaliwal, and Maheshwari Chauhan secured a bronze medal with a 331 aggregate score, finishing behind gold-medallists China (346) and silver-medallists Kazakhstan.

In soft tennis, Jay Meena guaranteed a historic first medal for India by advancing to the men’s singles semi-finals, defeating the Philippines’ Sherwin Nuguit 4-3 in a thrilling quarter-final clash. Meanwhile, shooter Manu Bhaker finished fifth in the women’s 10m air pistol individual final after navigating qualification.

Indian rowers earned multiple final berths, led by Balraj Panwar in the men’s single sculls Final A and the double sculls pairing of Satnam Singh and Salman Khan. The women’s four crew of Gurbani Kaur, Aleena Anto, Tendenthoi Haobijam, and Poonam also advanced to Final A, while Jaswinder Singh and Nitin Kumar moved into Final B.

In canoe sprint, the men’s kayak four 500m team advanced to Final A, while Megha Pradeep (women’s canoe single 200m) and the duo of Parvathy Geetha and Phairembam Soniya Devi (women’s kayak double 500m) reached their respective semi-finals.

In table tennis mixed doubles, the pairs of Harmeet Desai/Yashaswini Ghorpade and Manush Shah/Diya Chitale recorded round-two wins over Maldives and Sri Lanka, respectively. Lastly, the men’s sepaktakraw team secured a 2-1 victory over the Philippines but exited before the knockout round.

(With inputs from ANI)

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