Indian squash pair claims mixed doubles bronze in Japan
Indian squash players Joshna Chinappa and Velavan Senthilkumar earned a bronze medal in mixed doubles at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. Both athletes fought hard in a tight semifinal match against Hong Kong players Lee Ka Yi and Tang Ming Hong but eventually lost 10-11, 11-2, 10-11 on Saturday.
Both pairs traded long rallies during the opening game before Hong Kong edged ahead by a single point. Joshna and Velavan responded strongly in the second game by taking an early 7-2 lead and closing it out at 11-2 to force a decider. During the final game, the Indian duo fought back from a 2-5 deficit to lead 10-7. They needed only one point to win, but the Hong Kong pair scored four straight points to steal the match and advance to the final. This tournament marks another significant outing for Indian squash on the continental stage.
Sawan Barwal created national history by winning silver in the men’s marathon. He completed the race in 2:11:37, setting a new national record in the process.
Shooters Ashi Chouksey, Tilottama Sen, and Vidarsa Vinod captured silver in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions team event. Tilottama and Vidarsa scored 590 and 588 points respectively to reach the individual final. Indian archers also performed well during the qualification rounds. The women’s compound team secured second place with 2099 points. In the men’s recurve event, Dhiraj Bommadevara topped the individual rankings with 698 points, establishing both an Asian and national record, while helping his team finish third. Tejaswin Shankar and Thowfeeq Noushad competed strongly in the decathlon. Tejaswin won the long jump with a 7.53m mark and currently sits third overall with 2484 points. Fencing teams saw early success but the men's sabre and women's foil teams ultimately lost their quarterfinal matches. Finally, badminton star Lakshya Sen faced an early exit after dropping his second-round match to Singapore’s Loh Kean Yew.
With Inputs from Agency Threads and Image Courtesy: ANI
