Asian Games: India wins two athletics medals, Roshibina takes silver

India won two athletics medals at the Asian Games 2026 on Thursday. The mixed 4x400m relay team of TS Manu, MR Poovamma, Vishal TK and Vithya Ramraj clocked 3:14.46 for silver behind Bahrain, which set a Games record of 3:12.87. Seema, 25, took bronze in the women's 10,000m in 32:50.05, India's first athletics medal of these Games. In wushu, Roshibina Devi Naorem lost 0-2 to China's Zhang Xiaoyu in the women's 60kg sanda final to win silver.

Written by AI from Times of India — Top · not yet reviewed by an editor · Published 24 Sept 2026, 9:56 pm IST

Source

Times of India — Top · read the original report ↗

#asian games 2026#athletics#wushu#india#shooting

Desk check · compared with the source

What the desk checked (5)

India's mixed 4x400m relay team clocked 3:14.46 for silver behind Bahrain's Games record 3:12.87. — Times and finishing order appear in the source; no governing-body attribution cited.
Seema, 25, won bronze in women's 10,000m in 32:50.05, India's first athletics medal of these Games. — Figure appears in source; described as India's first women's 10,000m medal in the event since 2010.
India's relay silver became official after the UAE's protest and subsequent disqualification. — Stated in source without naming the deciding authority.
Roshibina Devi Naorem lost 0-2 (10-0 on aggregate) to China's Zhang Xiaoyu in the women's 60kg sanda final. — Scoreline appears in source; claim that she is India's most successful Asian Games wushu athlete with three medals is unattributed.
Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Parinaaz Dhaliwal won India's first Asian Games mixed team skeet medal, a bronze. — Presented as a first-ever in the source with no record source cited.

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Analysts’ view opinion

AI Sports Analyst

Two medals on the opening day of athletics is a solid start for India, but both came behind Bahrain — a reminder of how much the continental standard on the track has risen. A third straight medal in the mixed 4x400m relay shows this is now a dependable event for India, though the slide from gold in 2018 to silver here underlines the tightening competition. Seema's bronze ends a long wait in the women's 10,000m and hints at India returning to relevance in distance running.

India's 3:14.46 was good enough for silver but well short of Bahrain's Games record 3:12.87 in the mixed relay.
The result only became official after the UAE's protest and subsequent disqualification, showing how finely balanced the event was.
Seema, 25, clocked 32:50.05 for bronze — India's first women's 10,000m medal at the Games since Preeja Sreedharan and Kavita Raut in 2010.
Roshibina Devi Naorem lost the wushu 60kg sanda final 0-2 (10-0 on aggregate) to China's Zhang Xiaoyu, but her third Games medal makes her India's most successful wushu athlete at this event.
That she earned selection only after an injury to the original pick, having lost the trials, says something about India's depth and her big-stage temperament.

What to watch — Watch Friday's men's 100m semifinals with Animesh Kujur and Gurindervir Singh, and whether India's athletics squad can add depth to this early haul.

The story does not establish how many more athletics medals India can realistically win or where this start leaves them in the overall medal tally.

Deep dive

Research brief · 8 facts · 6 dates · exam-ready

The brief

Context

India's campaign at the Asian Games 2026 saw its athletics medal account opened on Thursday, with a silver in the mixed 4x400m relay and a bronze for Seema in the women's 10,000m. The day also produced medals in wushu, shooting (skeet) and rowing, and progress in kabaddi, hockey and squash. The mixed 4x400m relay has been an Indian stronghold since the event was introduced at the 2018 Asian Games, while Roshibina Devi Naorem extended her run of wushu sanda medals.

Key facts

India's mixed 4x400m relay team of TS Manu, MR Poovamma, Vishal TK and Vithya Ramraj clocked 3:14.46 for silver; Bahrain won gold in a Games record 3:12.87.
Seema, 25, won bronze in the women's 10,000m in 32:50.05 — India's first athletics medal of these Games; Bahrain's Winfred Yavi won gold in 32:39.18 and Japan's Nozomi Tanaka silver in 32:41.54.
Seema's bronze is India's first women's 10,000m Asian Games medal since 2010, when Preeja Sreedharan won gold and Kavita Raut silver.
The relay result was unofficial for a while after a UAE protest; the UAE was later disqualified, confirming India's silver. It is India's third consecutive medal in the event (gold 2018, silver in the previous edition).
Roshibina Devi Naorem lost 0-2 to China's Zhang Xiaoyu in the women's 60kg sanda final, Zhang winning both rounds 5-0 (10-0 aggregate).
Roshibina became India's most successful wushu player at the Asian Games with three medals — bronze 2018 Jakarta-Palembang, silver 2023 Hangzhou, silver 2026.
Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Parinaaz Dhaliwal won India's first-ever Asian Games mixed team skeet medal (bronze), completing medals in all three skeet events in two days.
Satnam Singh and Salman Khan won bronze in men's double sculls rowing in 6:13.25 — India's first Asian Games medal in the event; China took gold, Uzbekistan silver.

Timeline

2010 Asian GamesPreeja Sreedharan wins gold and Kavita Raut silver in the women's 10,000m — India's last medal in the event before 2026.
2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian GamesMixed 4x400m relay introduced; India wins gold. Roshibina Devi Naorem wins wushu bronze.
2023 Hangzhou Asian GamesIndia takes silver in the mixed 4x400m relay; Roshibina wins wushu silver.
Wednesday (Asian Games 2026)Indian skeet wins men's team bronze (Anantjeet, Bhavtegh Singh Gill, Mairaj Ahmed Khan) and women's team bronze (Parinaaz, Raiza Dhillon, Maheshwari Chauhan).
Thursday (Asian Games 2026)India wins mixed 4x400m relay silver, Seema's 10,000m bronze, Roshibina's wushu silver, mixed team skeet bronze and men's double sculls rowing bronze.
Friday (Asian Games 2026)Men's 100m semifinals scheduled, with Animesh Kujur (10.36s) and Gurindervir Singh (10.38s) qualified.

Who has a stake

Indian athletics contingent — Opened its medal account with relay silver and Seema's 10,000m bronze; 100m semifinalists Animesh Kujur and Gurindervir Singh still in contention.
Roshibina Devi Naorem — Second straight Asian Games silver in 60kg sanda; now India's most successful Asian Games wushu athlete with three medals.
Divyanshi Choudhary — Original wushu selection ruled out due to injury, which opened the place for Roshibina, who had lost the trials.
Indian shooting (skeet) team — Anantjeet Singh Naruka, Parinaaz Dhaliwal and teammates secured medals in all three skeet events, including a first-ever mixed team skeet medal.
Indian rowers — Satnam Singh and Salman Khan delivered India's first Asian Games medal in men's double sculls.
Indian kabaddi and hockey teams — Defending kabaddi champions in both sections stayed unbeaten; women assured at least bronze. Hockey team topped Pool A after an 8-2 win over Korea.
UAE relay team — Lodged a protest over the mixed relay result but was disqualified, making India's silver official.

Why it matters

Athletics and shooting traditionally drive India's Asian Games medal tally, so the first-day track medals and the clean sweep of skeet podiums shape India's overall standing. Firsts — the maiden mixed team skeet medal and a first men's double sculls rowing medal — show depth spreading beyond established disciplines. The near-misses (Asha Ilango's fourth on countback, Pranati Nayak's sixth) underline how thin the margins are between medal and no medal.

UPSC angle

Prelims pointers

Mixed 4x400m relay was introduced at the 2018 Asian Games; India has won a medal in all three editions since (gold 2018, silver in the previous edition, silver 2026).
Bahrain set a Games record of 3:12.87 in the mixed 4x400m relay at Asian Games 2026.
Sanda is the combat/full-contact discipline of wushu; Roshibina Devi Naorem competes in the women's 60kg sanda category.
India's first-ever Asian Games mixed team skeet medal came in 2026 (Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Parinaaz Dhaliwal, bronze).
Preeja Sreedharan (gold) and Kavita Raut (silver) won India's last women's 10,000m Asian Games medals, in 2010.
In the men's 100m, top three per heat plus the six fastest losers advanced to the semifinals.

Mains framing

India's opening athletics day at the 2026 Asian Games illustrates both the gains and the gaps in the country's Olympic-sport ecosystem. Sustained investment in relay squads and shooting ranges has produced consistency — a third successive mixed 4x400m relay medal and podium finishes in all three skeet events within two days — while newer breakthroughs in rowing (first men's double sculls medal) and the closing of a 16-year gap in the women's 10,000m point to widening talent identification. Yet the constraints remain visible: dominance by Bahrain (with naturalised distance runners) and China across track and combat sports, medals decided on countback margins as in Asha Ilango's fourth place, injuries forcing withdrawals in boxing, and a selection process where Roshibina Devi Naorem entered only after the original pick was injured. The way forward, as the source suggests, lies in converting near-misses into podiums through depth-building in each event, robust reserve and trials systems so that selection anomalies do not decide outcomes, and continued support to disciplines such as wushu, rowing and squash where individual athletes carry India's record almost single-handedly.

Key terms

Mixed 4x400m relay: Track relay with male and female runners in the same team; introduced at the Asian Games in 2018.
Sanda (wushu): The full-contact fighting format of wushu, scored by rounds; Roshibina competes in the women's 60kg class.
Skeet: A shotgun shooting event contested at the Asian Games in men's team, women's team and mixed team formats.
Double sculls: Rowing event in which two rowers each use two oars; India's Satnam Singh and Salman Khan took bronze in 6:13.25.
Games record: Best performance recorded in Asian Games history for an event — Bahrain's 3:12.87 in the mixed 4x400m relay.
Countback in triple jump: Tie-break rule using the second-best jump; Yi Li's 13.79m beat Asha Ilango's 13.65m after both jumped 13.83m.

Practice questions

Discuss how India's performance across athletics, shooting and rowing at the Asian Games 2026 reflects the changing base of Indian Olympic sport.
Athlete selection controversies and injury-driven replacements recur in Indian sport. Examine, with reference to the 2026 Asian Games wushu case, what reforms trials and reserve systems need.
What accounts for the dominance of countries like Bahrain and China in distance running and combat sports at the Asian Games, and what lessons does it hold for India?

Grounded only in the source report — figures and dates are the source's, not inferred.

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