Asian Games 2026: Sable, Lovlina, Nagal, Bhaker Lead India's Medal Hunt on Day 9
The Indian contingent faces one of its busiest days at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, on Monday (September 28), with athletes due to compete across more than a dozen disciplines as the team looks to add to its medal tally.
The programme opens early with surfing, archery and shooting. Team events, knockout contests and athletics finals then take up the bulk of the day's schedule, making Monday a potentially decisive one for several Indian squads and individuals.
Four of India's best-known competitors are in action. Avinash Sable, the national record holder in the 3,000m steeplechase, leads the athletics challenge. Boxer Lovlina Borgohain, an Olympic bronze medallist and a former world champion, is also in the fray. Tennis player Sumit Nagal, one of India's leading singles players, and shooter Manu Bhaker, who won two bronze medals at the Paris 2024 Olympics, make up a group that will draw much of the day's attention.
In the team events, India's men's cricket team begins its campaign directly at the quarter-final stage, where it will face Afghanistan at the Korogi Athletic Park, according to Olympics.com. Cricket returned to the Asian Games programme at Hangzhou in 2023, when India won the men's gold by beating Afghanistan in the final. The side will be aiming to defend that title, and a win on Monday would take it into the medal rounds.
India ended Day 8 with 37 medals: four gold, 16 silver and 17 bronze. The tally has come from individual events as well as team competitions, and a day that includes finals and knockout rounds offers the contingent a chance to add to it. The large number of silver medals also points to several second-place finishes that athletes will hope to improve upon in the days that remain.
Indian interest on Monday spans both individual and team competitions. For athletes such as Sable, Borgohain, Nagal and Bhaker, the day could bring a place on the podium; for the cricket team, it is a straight knockout, where a win keeps the title defence alive and a defeat ends the campaign.
For India, the benchmark at these Games remains the record haul of 107 medals, including 28 gold, at Hangzhou in 2023 — the country's best performance in the history of the continental event. That total is the standard against which the campaign in Japan will be measured.
The Asian Games, held every four years, bring together athletes from across the continent and rank among the largest multi-sport events in the world. The 2026 edition is being staged in Aichi prefecture and Nagoya, and the competition is now into its second week.
Monday's action stretches from the morning sessions in surfing, archery and shooting to cricket, tennis, boxing and the athletics finals later in the day. The results of the knockout ties in team sports will determine which Indian sides progress to medal matches, while the finals on the track and in the field offer another route to gold.
Schedules and start lists at multi-sport events can change at short notice. Results will be confirmed as competition proceeds, and the medal tally will be updated accordingly.
