Aichi-Nagoya, 21 September (H.S.): The Indian men's badminton team made an impressive start at the Asian Games 2026, defeating Bangladesh 3-0 to book its place in the quarter-finals. On Monday, Lakshya Sen, Ayush Shetty and Kidambi Srikanth won their respective singles matches in the men's team event to secure a comfortable victory for India.

Lakshya Sen gave India a flying start, defeating Ayman Ibn Zaman 21-4, 21-12 in the opening match. Lakshya remained in complete control throughout the contest to give India a 1-0 lead.

Ayush Shetty then defeated Gaurab Singha 21-4, 21-13 to extend India's lead to 2-0. With India needing just one more victory to seal the tie, experienced campaigner Kidambi Srikanth defeated Al Amin Jumar 21-15, 21-9 in straight games to give India an unassailable 3-0 lead.

With India winning all three singles matches, there was no need to play the doubles ties. With this victory, the Indian team advanced to the quarter-finals of the men's team event. India is likely to face Japan in the next round.

Monday proved to be a successful day for India at the Asian Games, with the country registering notable performances in shooting, mixed martial arts, hockey, badminton, kabaddi, boxing and table tennis. In shooting, Himanshu Dhillon won the silver medal and Rudrankksh Patil secured the bronze in the men's 10m air rifle individual event. The duo had also combined with Parth Mane to win the silver medal in the team event.

In qualification, Rudrankksh finished third, Himanshu seventh and Parth 11th.

In mixed martial arts, Suchika Tariyal won the bronze medal in the women's traditional 60kg category. She lost to Singapore's Teo Hui Hoon in the semi-final.

The Indian women's hockey team defeated Indonesia 17-1 in Pool B, while the men's kabaddi team registered a 49-23 victory over Japan in Group A. In boxing, Sumit defeated Bunjong Singsiri in the Round of 32 in the men's 70kg category to advance to the next round. The Indian women's table tennis team defeated Pakistan 3-0 in Group F.

In swimming, Srihari Nataraj finished last in the men's 50m backstroke final. Srihari was unable to match the performances of China's Xu Jiayu, who won the gold medal, and Wang Zicheng, who claimed silver. The Indian swimmer finished 10th and last with a time of 25.52 seconds. Mani Akash and Gitesh Shah failed to qualify for the men's 50m freestyle final, while Dhanush Suresh could not qualify for the men's 100m breaststroke final.

In soft tennis, Aadya Tiwari and Jai Meena defeated Cambodia's Viva Chao-Chanrosekha Khun 5-0 in the mixed doubles and also registered a victory over Mongolia's Bud Nyamdorj-Enkhkhuslen Ganbaatar pair. However, the Indian duo lost to South Korea's Kim Yeon-hwa-Jackyu Park pair and subsequently saw their campaign end with a defeat against the Philippines' Krizzy Sanuosa-Sherwin Nuguit pair in the Round of 16.

In wushu, Nyeman Wangsu finished 15th in the women's Changquan final. In sepak takraw, the Indian men's team lost to Japan in its Group B team regu match.

In the women's individual skeet shooting qualification, Raiza Dhillon was ninth, Parinaaz Dhaliwal 14th and Maheshwari Chauhan 16th after the first day's competition. In the men's skeet qualification, Anantjeet Singh Naruka stood 21st, Mairaj Ahmad Khan 26th and Bhavtegh Singh Gill 27th.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar