Asian Games 2026: India’s medal hopefuls for September 23 (Day 4)
India will look to add to their growing medal tally at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya on Wednesday, September 23. After a Day 3 that featured the Indian women’s cricket team winning gold and further shooting medals, the contingent faces a busy Day 4 with podium opportunities across shooting, soft tennis, rowing and combat events.
Day 4’s schedule offers multiple medal pathways, with shooting presenting the clearest prospects and other opportunities in soft tennis and rowing. The women’s 10m air pistol, men’s and women’s skeet competitions and the rowing regatta are among the events where India can win medals, while individual athletes in other disciplines also have advancement matches.
In the women’s 10m air pistol, Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh and Suruchi Inder Singh will contest the qualification round that doubles as the team final; Bhaker is a Paris 2024 double-bronze medallist, Singh is a Hangzhou multi-medallist and Suruchi is described as national circuit talent. The aggregated scores of the three shooters will decide the team medals, and India aims to place multiple athletes into the 8-woman individual final.
The men’s skeet concludes its final shoot-offs on Day 4 with Anant Jeet Singh Naruka, Mairaj Ahmad Khan and Bhavtegh Singh Gill in contention for team silverware; Naruka is the Hangzhou silver medallist and Khan is a two-time Olympian. Individually, Naruka’s consistency across cross-wind layouts is cited as making him India’s primary bet to secure a top-six spot and contest an individual podium in the afternoon final.
India’s women’s skeet trio of Maheshwari Chauhan, Raiza Dhillon and Parinaaz Dhaliwal complete their multi-day qualification and medal events on Wednesday; Chauhan is a Paris 2024 mixed skeet finalist. The trio are presented as having a strong chance to claim a team medal, while Chauhan and Dhillon will aim to qualify among the top six for the individual medal round.
In soft tennis, Jay Meena faces the Philippines’ Sherwin Nuguit in the men’s singles quarterfinals; a quarterfinal victory would guarantee India an unprecedented semifinal berth and an assured continental medal in the sport, effectively becoming India’s first-ever continental medal in soft tennis. Indian rowers will also compete as the regatta reaches its first major medal day, with scullers and sweep crews contesting morning races against rivals including China and Uzbekistan.
On Wednesday India will contest the women’s 10m air pistol team final (qualification), both the men’s and women’s skeet team events, Jay Meena’s soft tennis quarterfinal versus Sherwin Nuguit and the rowing regatta’s first major medal races, with several shooters simultaneously aiming to reach individual finals and secure podium finishes.