Asian Games: India adds 4 medals; Suchika Tariyal wins historic MMA bronze

India's gold medal quest at the Asian Games continues as the tally rises to six. Shooters bagged three medals, while Suchika Tariyal made history by winning India's first-ever Asian Games medal, a bronze, in mixed martial arts (MMA).

India’s wait for gold continued on the second day of the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, while the country added four more medals to its tally on Monday. Three came from shooting, while Suchika Tariyal scripted history by becoming India’s first Asian Games medallist in mixed martial arts.

Suchika Tariyal Wins Historic MMA Bronze

Even though compatriot Varun Sanyal's MMA campaign at the Asian Games finished before it could even start due to medical reasons, Suchika raised the tricolour on a global level while representing the country's Indian MMA scene, finishing as a bronze medalist after a 2-0 loss to Singapore's Hui Hoon Teo. Despite the disappointment, Suchika’s bronze remains a landmark achievement.

Hailing from Kiloi village in Haryana’s Rohtak district, she is a 2024 world champion in jiu-jitsu and has previously represented India in judo at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and kurash at the 2022 Asian Games.

Following her bout, Suchika said she gave her best to win gold but felt circumstances and a minor shortcoming prevented her from doing so. "I tried my absolute best to change the colour of this medal. But due to certain circumstances, I couldn't achieve that, or perhaps there was some minor shortcoming on my part," Suchika told ANI after winning the bronze medal.

India now have six medals, four silver and two bronze, after two days of competition, but is still searching for its first gold.

Shooting Range Delivers Three More Medals

The shooting range once again proved to be India’s biggest source of medals. Himanshu Dhillon won silver and Rudrankksh Patil secured bronze in the men’s 10m air rifle individual event.

The two then joined 18-year-old Parth Mane to claim silver in the team event, as India finished with 1898.4 points. China’s Sheng Lihao, Changhong Zhang and Sihan Ma edged ahead with 1899.0 points to win gold and set a new world record, bettering the previous mark of 1898.4 set in Cairo last year.

India Dominates in Team Sports and Combat Events

India continued to make a strong impression across several disciplines on the second day of the Asian Games. The women’s hockey team maintained its dominant run with a 17-1 thrashing of Indonesia in Pool B, while the defending champions in kabaddi also began their campaigns on a winning note. The women defeated Bangladesh 42-21, while the men registered a 49-24 victory over Japan.

The badminton team enjoyed a similarly impressive start, with India’s men sweeping Bangladesh 3-0 in the opening round. Lakshya Sen, K. Srikanth and Ayush Shetty secured victories in their respective singles matches, rendering the remaining doubles ties unnecessary.

India’s table tennis teams also recorded convincing 3-0 wins over Pakistan. The women maintained their unbeaten run with a third consecutive victory to top Group F, while the men bounced back from their loss to Iran by completing a clean sweep against Pakistan.

In boxing, Sumit Kundu opened his campaign in emphatic fashion, defeating Thailand’s Bunjong Sinsiri 5-0 in the men’s 70kg category.

Wushu also added to India’s positive results, with Roshibina Devi and Aryan advancing to the quarterfinals in their respective events.

Challenges in Swimming and Soft Tennis

Swimming once again proved to be a challenging campaign for India, with Srihari Nataraj’s 10th-place finish in the men’s 50m backstroke final the highlight. The two-time Olympian clocked 25.52 seconds in the final, slower than his 25.37-second time in the heats earlier in the day.

Several other Indian swimmers also failed to make it beyond the heats, with Akash Mani and Heer Gitesh Shah bowing out in the men’s 50m freestyle and Dhanush Suresh missing out in the men’s 100m breaststroke.

India also suffered disappointment in soft tennis, with Aadhya Tiwari and Jay Meena bowing out in the round of 16 after a closely contested loss to the Philippines’ Christy Sanosa and Sherwin Ray Nuguit. (ANI)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)