Indian women’s recurve team produced a sensational performance under pressure to stun 10-time Olympic champions South Korea 5-3 and clinch a maiden Asian Games gold medal here on Friday.
Seasoned campaigner Ankita Bhakat, Kirti Sharma and 17-year-old Kumkum Mohod held their nerve in challenging windy conditions to outshoot the defending champions and script a historic triumph.
Kumkum then joined forces with Dhiraj Bommadevara to win a historic silver medal in the mixed team event. The India duo went down 3-5 (34-38 35-37 37-36 37-37) to China in the final.
Teenager Kumkum, who has been shooting sensationally all day, saw a slight dip in form in the mixed team final, managing just one 10 while hitting a slew of 8s and even a 7 as China’s Mengqi Li shot as many as five 10s to seal the win.
The victory capped an upward curve for the Indian women’s team, which had ended a five-year wait for a World Cup gold in Shanghai in May, defeating Korea in the semifinals en route to the title.
Live
Men’s archery recurve team ends with silver after losing final to Korea
October 2, 2026 1:11 pm
Nagoya: The Indian men’s recurve archery team signed off with a silver medal after going down 1-5 to defending champions Korea in a roller-coaster summit clash at the Asian Games here on Friday.
The troika of Dhiraj Bommadevara, Yashdeep Bhoge and Neeraj Chauhan started strongly after an early fumble by Korea but could not hold onto the advantage as they went down 56-56 50-57 54-56.
The first set, in which the Indians had the edge after Korea started with an 8, was tied.
The Korean team of Lee Woo-seok, Kim Je-deok and Kim Woo-jin then took the second set after striking 10s with their first three arrows. The Indians sprayed their shots all over the target board, failing to fetch a single 10 in the second set.
The last set slipped out of India’s grasp decisively after Neeraj’s 7 from the fourth arrow. PTI
Men’s recurve archery team enters final
October 2, 2026 11:52 am
Nagoya: The Indian men’s recurve archery team entered the Asian Games final, beating Iran 6-0 in the last-four-stage here on Friday.
The troika of Dhiraj Bommadevara, Yashdeep Bhoge and Neeraj Chauhan won the three sets against the Iranian team of Mohammadhossein Golshani, Sadegh Ashrafi and Reza Shabani 58-53 56-53 56-55.
The Indian team has now set up a gold clash with regional powerhouses Korea, who blanked Chinese Taipei 6-0 in the other semifinal. PTI
Lovlina punches her way to Asian games gold
October 2, 2026 10:37 am
Lovlina Borgohain ended India’s 12-year wait for an Asian Games women’s boxing gold, defeating China’s Ziyi Bao in the 75kg final here on Friday.
Olympic medallist Lovlina defeated Bao by a 5-0 unanimous decision to upgrade the silver she had won at the last edition, where she had lost to another Chinese boxer, Li Qian, in the final.
With the win, Lovlina became only the second Indian woman after legendary MC Mary Kom to win an Asian Games boxing gold.
Mary Kom had won the flyweight (51kg) title at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.
Indian boxers have bettered their performance from the last edition by assuring six medals in Aichi-Nagoya.
Priya Ghanghas (60kg), Kapil Pokhariya (90kg) and Narender Berwal (+90kg) won bronze medals, while Parveen Hooda (65kg) and Ankush Panghal (80kg) will fight for gold later in the day.
India’s best-ever boxing performance at the Asian Games came at Guangzhou 2010, when the contingent won nine medals — two gold, three silver and four bronze.
The strong showing in the continental event comes on the back of India’s record breaking campaign at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last month. PTI
