Aichi-Nagoya, 29 September (H.S.): Indian archers Dhiraj Bommadevara and Neeraj Chauhan advanced to the quarter-finals of the men’s recurve individual event at the Asian Games 2026 on Tuesday after securing impressive victories in their respective Round of 16 encounters.

Top seed Dhiraj defeated Chinese Taipei’s Cheng Hsiang-Hui 6-2. Earlier, Dhiraj had beaten the Philippines’ Gervin Garcia 6-0 in the Round of 32. The contest against Cheng provided Dhiraj with a stern challenge, but he maintained his composure under pressure to secure victory. He will now face Uzbekistan’s Amirkhon Sadikov in the quarter-finals on October 3.

Meanwhile, Neeraj Chauhan pulled off a major upset by defeating South Korea’s Kim Je-deok 6-4 in the Round of 16. Kim is a multiple Olympic medallist and had finished second in the ranking round.

Neeraj made a strong start to the contest, taking a 3-1 lead, but Kim fought back to level the score at 3-3. The next set was tied, leaving the score at 4-4. In the decisive set, Neeraj displayed excellent composure under pressure and won the set to seal a 6-4 victory. In the quarter-finals, Neeraj will face Bhutan’s Dorji Lam.

Dhiraj had also produced an impressive performance against Garcia in the Round of 32. He won all three sets to complete a 6-0 victory, securing the contest with just nine arrows. Six of his nine arrows landed in the 10-point ring.

Meanwhile, India’s surfing campaign also came to an end. Kishore Kumar Anbarasu suffered a defeat against the Philippines’ Toby Espejon in the men’s shortboard quarter-finals. Kishore recorded his two best scores of 3.00 and 2.37 from eight waves, finishing with a total of 5.37 points, while Espejon accumulated 8.53 points.

India will have medal hopes across several disciplines on Tuesday, including athletics, boxing and shooting.

Gulveer Singh will compete in the men’s 5,000m final. He has already won silver medals in the 1,500m and 10,000m events. Avinash Sable will also compete in the 5,000m.

In boxing, Parveen Hooda, Ankush Panghal and Narendra Berwal will contest their respective semi-finals, with all three having already secured medals. Parveen will face China’s Li Shu in the women’s 65kg semi-final, Ankush will take on Uzbekistan’s Foziliddin Erkinboyev in the men’s 80kg category, while Narendra will face Kazakhstan’s Aibek Oralbay in the men’s 90kg category.

Indian teams will also compete in shooting, squash, volleyball, tennis, cycling, canoe slalom, sport climbing and kurash.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar