NAGOYA, SEP 24 (IANS): India added a string of medals across rowing, shooting and athletics at the 2026 Asian Games on Thursday, with Satnam Singh and Salman Khan winning bronze in the men’s double sculls, Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Parinaaz Dhaliwal securing bronze in skeet mixed team, and Seema Kumari ending a 16-year wait for India in the women’s 10,000m. India also claimed silver in the mixed 4x400m relay.
At the Nagaragawa International Regatta Course in Gifu, Satnam and Salman clocked 6:13.25 to finish third in the men’s double sculls. China’s Xudi Yi and Yide Nie won gold in 6:09.77, while Uzbekistan’s Pavel Sorin and Mekhrojbek Mamatkulov took silver in 6:10.49.
The Indian duo were in bronze position at the halfway mark before moving into second with 500 metres remaining. They were eventually overtaken in the closing stages but held on for the bronze.
The medal was Satnam’s second at the Asian Games after he won bronze as part of India’s men’s quadruple sculls crew at the 2023 Hangzhou Games. Salman, from Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi district, is a Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) athlete and has also won a medal at the Asian Rowing Cup.
Earlier, Balraj Panwar narrowly missed out on a medal in the men’s single sculls, finishing fourth in 6:54.80. Balraj was in the silver-medal position at the halfway stage but was overtaken by Uzbekistan’s Shakhboz Kholmurzaev with 500 metres remaining.
China’s Zhiwei Deng won gold in 6:38.98, Kholmurzaev claimed silver in 6:41.83 and Japan’s Tatsuya Sakurama took bronze in 6:46.78.
In shooting, Naruka and Parinaaz secured bronze in the skeet mixed team event after a closely fought final. The Indian pair finished with 44 hits from 48 shots, level with South Korea, but were placed third after the tie-break criteria favoured the Koreans based on their superior qualifying score.
China won gold with 45 hits, while South Korea took silver with 44. India remained in medal contention throughout the final, trailing China and South Korea by narrow margins before producing a perfect eight hits in the final series to finish on 44.
The bronze marked India’s first-ever medal in the skeet mixed event at the Asian Games. Naruka had previously finished fourth in the skeet mixed team event at the Paris Olympics alongside Maheshwari Chauhan.
Athletics also brought significant success, with Seema Kumari winning bronze in the women’s 10,000m to end India’s 16-year wait for a medal in the event at the Asian Games.
Seema clocked 32:50.05 to finish behind Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi, who won gold in 32:39.18, and Japan’s Nozomi Tanaka, who took silver in 32:41.54.
The Indian runner made an impressive start and led the field through the opening 2,000 metres. She slipped to fourth as the pace increased but moved back into third with 1,000 metres remaining and maintained her position to secure the bronze.
Seema became only the third Indian woman to win an Asian Games medal in the 10,000m, following Preeja Sreedharan’s gold and Kavita Raut’s silver at the 2010 edition.
India also won silver in the mixed 4x400m relay, clocking 3:14.46 to finish behind Bahrain at the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium. The Indian quartet of Machettira Poovamma, Vishal Thennarasu, Ramraj Vithya and Thekkinalil Manu finished just 0.08 seconds ahead of Vietnam, who clocked 3:14.54.
Bahrain won gold in a Games-record 3:12.87, while Japan finished fourth in 3:15.52.
The result extended India’s medal-winning run in the mixed 4x400m relay to three successive Asian Games editions. India won gold at Jakarta 2018 and silver at Hangzhou 2023.
The silver also added to a breakthrough period for Vishal Thennarasu, who earlier this year became the first Indian athlete to break the 45-second barrier in the men’s 400m, clocking 44.98 seconds at the National Federation Senior Athletics Championships in Ranchi.
Meanwhile, India’s Animesh Kujur and national record holder Gurindervir Singh advanced to the men’s 100m semi-finals. Kujur finished third in Heat 1 in 10.36 seconds, while Gurindervir was second in Heat 4 in 10.38 seconds. Both advanced automatically after finishing inside the top three in their respective heats.
The men’s 100m semi-finals are scheduled for Friday.