As Vithya Ramraj entered the final stretch of the 400m hurdles in Aichi-Nagoya, the race for gold was still open for India at the 2026 Asian Games. Vithya and the UAE’s Mariam Kareem were neck-and-neck over the final two hurdles, with Kazakhstan’s Adelina Zems just behind them. But at the last hurdle, Vithya lost some ground as Mariam surged ahead to take gold in a Games-record 54.31 seconds, while Adelina moved past Vithya to claim silver in 54.58. The Indian crossed the line third in 54.75.

​But by then, the colour of the medal had become almost secondary. Vithya had done what she had been trying to do since 2023, when she equalled P.T. Usha’s 55.42-second national record that had stood for more than 40 years. She was 0.67 seconds faster than Usha and became the first Indian woman to break the 55-second barrier in the 400m hurdles. “I met Usha ma’am a year ago, and she said, ‘Go for 54 seconds.’ She encouraged me. So doing this today makes me so happy,” the 28-year-old said.

She is now the fastest Indian woman in the event, but her record places her 187th on the all-time world list.

That list is led by Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, followed by Femke Bol and Dalilah Muhammad, whose bests are 50.37, 50.95 and 51.58 seconds, respectively. She remains more than four seconds behind the world’s fastest mark, but has moved from 56th before the Asiad to 35th in the current world rankings, putting her among the leading athletes in the event today.

Moreover, the record places her among a relatively small group of the fastest performances in Asia, ranking 12th on the continent. Bahrain’s Kemi Adekoya leads the regional list, while athletes from China, Kazakhstan and the UAE also feature prominently. The regional landscape was very different when Usha set her record in 1984. Until then, the 55-second barrier had been breached only by European athletes, with one African athlete also having gone under the mark. In fact, Usha remained the only Asian performance on the list until 1990 because World Athletics’ historical list captures performances faster than 57.3 seconds only. Since then, the depth of competition in Asia has grown considerably, with 12 performances now under 55 seconds.

These broader improvements in performance have coincided with a steady progression in Vithya’s own performances. Her best in the 400m hurdles was 59.7 seconds in 2018, which improved to 56.57 in 2022. In 2023, she matched Usha’s record. Her best then stood at 56.04 in 2025, before she made her biggest improvement yet in 2026.

Her coach, Nepal Singh Rathore, believes the progression in the hurdles cannot be separated from her improvement in the flat 400m. When Vithya began training under him, her coach said other coaches questioned why she was being prepared for both events. “Only when she runs well in the flat, she can run hurdles well. Because speed plays a major role in all events,” he told The Hindu, explaining his approach.

And the progression in the two events, he added, has followed the same pattern: “Whenever she has improved in the flats, she has improved in the hurdles.” Vithya’s best time in that event improved from 54.48 seconds in 2018 to 51.96 seconds in 2026. Over the same period, her hurdles best fell by nearly five seconds, from 59.70 to 54.75.

The versatility her coach had sought to build through that training approach was on full display in her overall Asian Games campaign. She won a medal of each colour, anchoring India to gold in the women’s 4×400m relay and silver in the mixed 4×400m relay, alongside her record-breaking bronze.

Note: The data for the charts were sourced from World Athletics.

devyanshi.b@thehindu.co.in

Athletes from Andhra Pradesh have bagged three gold medals and a bronze at the Asian Games in Japan so far, with archery, cricket and badminton all contributing to the tally.

Nine athletes from the State are competing, according to Ramana, Section Officer (Associations), Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh. They are badminton players P.V. Sindhu, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Kidambi Srikanth and Kavipriya Selvam; cricketer Sree Charani; archers Dhiraj Bommadevara, Thirumuru Ganesh Mani Ratnam and Jyothi Surekha Vennam; and hurdler Jyothi Yarraji.

On Wednesday, (September 30, 2026) Jyothi Surekha and Ganesh clinched gold as India swept all three compound archery team titles at Okazaki City. Jyothi Surekha, with Chikitha Taniparthi and Prithika Pradeep, beat China 238-234, equalling the world record. Ganesh, from Naidupeta in Tirupati district, joined Kushal Dalal and Sahil Jadhav to edge China 238-237 after overcoming South Korea in the semi-final.

President Droupadi Murmu told the women’s team that their “precision, composure and teamwork have made the nation proud”. Of the men’s win, she said, “Completing a clean sweep of Gold across all three Compound Team events, Indian archery has achieved a remarkable feat.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the women’s win “is even more special because their performance also equalled the World Record”. Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya called the men’s gold “a proud moment for Indian archery and for the entire nation”.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said Ganesh’s “path from Naidupeta to international glory stands as a testament to what focus and hard work can accomplish”. Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan said the women’s team had “brought the Tricolour to the highest podium”. IT Minister Nara Lokesh called Ganesh’s journey “a matter of immense pride for our State”.

The men’s badminton team won bronze. Every member of the squad, including Satwiksairaj and Srikanth, receives a medal, Mr. Ramana said. India lost 3-1 to China in the semi-final at Ichinomiya.

For Jyothi Surekha, Wednesday’s gold is her sixth medal across four consecutive Asian Games: four gold, one silver and one bronze. “Her experience is a major advantage,” said her father, Surendra Kumar, speaking from Vijayawada.

Sport runs in the family, he said. She began swimming as a child and, at five, swam across the Krishna, a feat recorded in the Limca Book of Records. She took up archery at 12. “Because we have seen her go through that experience from childhood, her achievements do not seem entirely unexpected to us,” Mr. Surendra Kumar said.

The Volga Archery Academy in Vijayawada, run by Cherukuri Satyanarayana, has produced several of the State’s leading archers. Mr. Satyanarayana, Vice-President of the Archery Association of India and chairman of the A.P. Archery Association, attributed the archers’ success to discipline, concentration and timing.

Among its trainees is Dhiraj, who set an Asian Games record of 698 in the recurve ranking round and has reached the individual quarter-finals and the team semi-final.

Athletes from Andhra Pradesh have bagged three gold medals and a bronze at the Asian Games in Japan so far, with archery, cricket and badminton all contributing to the tally.

Nine athletes from the State are competing, according to Ramana, Section Officer (Associations), Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh. They are badminton players P.V. Sindhu, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Kidambi Srikanth and Kavipriya Selvam; cricketer Sree Charani; archers Dhiraj Bommadevara, Thirumuru Ganesh Mani Ratnam and Jyothi Surekha Vennam; and hurdler Jyothi Yarraji.

On Wednesday, (September 30, 2026) Jyothi Surekha and Ganesh clinched gold as India swept all three compound archery team titles at Okazaki City. Jyothi Surekha, with Chikitha Taniparthi and Prithika Pradeep, beat China 238-234, equalling the world record. Ganesh, from Naidupeta in Tirupati district, joined Kushal Dalal and Sahil Jadhav to edge China 238-237 after overcoming South Korea in the semi-final.

President Droupadi Murmu told the women’s team that their “precision, composure and teamwork have made the nation proud”. Of the men’s win, she said, “Completing a clean sweep of Gold across all three Compound Team events, Indian archery has achieved a remarkable feat.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the women’s win “is even more special because their performance also equalled the World Record”. Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya called the men’s gold “a proud moment for Indian archery and for the entire nation”.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said Ganesh’s “path from Naidupeta to international glory stands as a testament to what focus and hard work can accomplish”. Deputy Chief Minister K. Pawan Kalyan said the women’s team had “brought the Tricolour to the highest podium”. IT Minister Nara Lokesh called Ganesh’s journey “a matter of immense pride for our State”.

The men’s badminton team won bronze. Every member of the squad, including Satwiksairaj and Srikanth, receives a medal, Mr. Ramana said. India lost 3-1 to China in the semi-final at Ichinomiya.

For Jyothi Surekha, Wednesday’s gold is her sixth medal across four consecutive Asian Games: four gold, one silver and one bronze. “Her experience is a major advantage,” said her father, Surendra Kumar, speaking from Vijayawada.

Sport runs in the family, he said. She began swimming as a child and, at five, swam across the Krishna, a feat recorded in the Limca Book of Records. She took up archery at 12. “Because we have seen her go through that experience from childhood, her achievements do not seem entirely unexpected to us,” Mr. Surendra Kumar said.

The Volga Archery Academy in Vijayawada, run by Cherukuri Satyanarayana, has produced several of the State’s leading archers. Mr. Satyanarayana, Vice-President of the Archery Association of India and chairman of the A.P. Archery Association, attributed the archers’ success to discipline, concentration and timing.

Among its trainees is Dhiraj, who set an Asian Games record of 698 in the recurve ranking round and has reached the individual quarter-finals and the team semi-final.

Having scored 49 goals so far and annihilating all opposition so far in the competition, the Indian men’s hockey team will be up against its first big challenge when it takes on Pakistan in the semifinal of the Asian Games in Gifu on Thursday (October 1, 2026)

At stake for the defending champion would not only be a spot in the final and being a step away from a ticket to the Olympics, but also its title and reputation as the best team of the continent, something which took a battering at the recent World Cup.

Finishing eighth in the competition, despite still being the highest-ranked Asian side, questions had been raised not only about India’s quality but also its temperament on the big stage, while also putting several of the senior players in the side under the scanner. All those questions can well be brushed aside if India manages to get past the arch-rival in a face-off that has lost much of its edge in the past decade but retains an emotional value for fans on both sides.

India thrashed Pakistan 10-2 the last time around in 2023, but at the recent World Cup, things were much closer than India would have liked. The biggest threat would be Sufyan Khan, leading the goal-scoring charts with 11 and with crazy consistency in his conversion rate. He got all four goals (out of seven PCs) in Pakistan’s narrow 5-4 loss to Malaysia, its only one in the pool stage courtesy Malaysia’s winner in the 57th minute.

India’s scorers, on the other hand, have been more diverse: Dilpreet, Abhishek and Harmanpreet, all among the top five. The attack has been as expected; it’s India’s defence that will be tested for the first time. On paper, India should have an easy outing; the Indians would be wary of it being anything but.

The Indian quartet of Kiran Pahal, Poovamma Machettira, Prachi, and Vithya Ramraj produced an exceptional performance to claim the gold medal in the women’s 4x400m relay at the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya on Tuesday (September 29, 2026).

Also read | Asian Games 2026: Tough draws await Sujeet, Antim, Aman in wrestling

The Indian team won the top prize with a time of 3:29.69 minutes, giving the country its first gold medal in track and field events at the ongoing games. Bahrain and China finished second and third respectively.

Earlier, Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur, Sneha Sathyanarayana and Harita Bhadra won the bronze medal in the 4x100m mixed relay final after clocking a season best time of 41.06 seconds.

India’s Pooja Singh fared well below her personal best with a leap of 1.84 metres, but that was enough to clinch a bronze medal in women’s high jump.

This was after India’s Gulveer Singh continued his spectacular run of form at the ongoing games by winning a bronze medal in men’s 5000m with a time of 13:32.75, completing a hat-trick of podium finishes in the Japanese city.

In the day’s last track and field event, Dharamveer Choudhary, Manu Thekkinalil, Jay Kumar and Vishal Thennarasu clocked 3:01.61 to finish third behind Japan and Qatar in the men’s 4x400m relay final.

This is Gulveer’s third podium finish at the 2026 games, having won silver medals in the men’s 1500m and 10000m events earlier in the multisport extravaganza.

Gulveer thus became the second Indian man and fourth from the country to win three medals in track and field events in a single edition of the continental games. Before Gulveer, Lavy Pinto (New Delhi 1951, 3 medals), P.T. Usha (Seoul, 1986, 4 medals) and K.M. Beenamol (Busan 2002, 3 medals) had achieved a similar feat.

After Gulveer, the Indian quartet finished third with a time of 41.06 in the 4x400m mixed relay, having finished second behind China in the heats.

China won the gold with a time of 40.78 seconds, while Thailand took silver after finishing in 40.87 seconds.

In the women’s hammer throw, Tanya Chaudhary finished fourth with a 65.35m throw, while compatriot Anushka Yadav ended fifth with 64.56.

India’s Dev Kumar Meena created a national record in the men’s pole vault with an effort of 5.50m, but that was only enough to take him to seventh position. India’s Pooja Olla and Mohammed Afsal finished seventh and eighth, respectively, in the men’s and women’s 800m.

The Indian men’s squash team made a flying start to its Asian Games campaign, beating China 3-0 in Pool A, while the women’s side recovered from an early setback to win 2-1 in its Pool C match against China here on Monday (September 28, 2026).

India’s men were barely troubled as Suraj Chand, Veer Chotrani and Velavan Senthilkumar all registered comfortable wins to sweep the tie.

Also Read : Asian Games 2026 LIVE

Chand set the tone by beating Du Shaoqian 11-4, 11-3, 12-10 in 30 minutes. After racing through the first two games, he was stretched in the third as Du earned a game point, but the Indian held his nerve to close it out.

Chotrani then extended India’s lead with an emphatic 11-5, 11-5, 11-3 win over U Haizhen in under 20 minutes. Senthilkumar completed the rout, beating Zhou Penglin 11-3, 11-2, 11-4.

The women’s team had to dig deep after Sameena Riaz squandered a two-game advantage against Ziuan Yin.

Riaz, daughter of former India hockey Olympian and Asian Games gold medallist Mohammed Riaz, won the first two games but lost 11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 9-11, 12-14 in a gruelling 41-minute contest.

Tanvi Khanna restored parity for India with a dominant 11-3, 11-5, 11-5 win over Zhang Yuning in 17 minutes.

Veteran Joshna Chinappa completed the comeback, using her experience to beat Liu Ziyi 12-10, 11-4, 11-6 in 22 minutes and seal the tie for India.

Thirty minutes of persistence on the track followed by three of absolute drama saw day one of track and field competition end with a bronze and silver for India as the country opened its Asian Games athletics medal tally in Nagoya on Thursday (September 24, 2026).

Also read | Greco-Roman wrestler Deepak seeks urgent hearing in bid to make Asian Games squad

The 4x400m mixed relay team rode on tactical personnel changes, impressive lead-off and anchor legs and a stroke of luck to finish in 3:14.46, earning silver in the final event of the day at the Paloma Mizuho stadium. Minutes before, Seema had ended a 16-year drought in 10,000m, willing herself past the line in 32:50.05 to come third.

The Indian quartet of Vishal T.K. — India’s only sub-45-second quartermiler — M.R. Poovamma, Manu T.S. and Vithya Ramraj played their roles to perfection. Vishal ran with blistering pace before Poovamma and Manu ensured the team did not fall too far behind. Vithya, the only surviving member of the team that won silver in 2023, kicked in an extra gear, edging past Vietnam by a mere 0.08 seconds.

Interestingly, India was second in its heat in the morning, clocking 3:16.23, but replaced Jay Kumar and Kiran with Vishal and Vithya for the final.

The UAE, which had led for a large part of the race, fumbled towards the end, with Mariam Kareem dropping the baton just before the final lap. She did try to retrieve it and complete but the team was disqualified by the officials. Even though the UAE protested, the result stayed. Bahrain, led by the indefatigable Salwa Eid Naser, retained top spot with a new Games record of 3:12.87.

Seema wins 10,000m bronze

Seema, meanwhile, became only the third Indian woman to medal in the 10,000m at the Asian Games, after Preeja Sreedharan and Kavita Raut’s historic gold-silver double back in 2010. The 25-year-old, competing in her first Asiad, was impressive as much in her endurance to keep pace with the lead group — which included the likes of Yavi Winfred, Ruth Jebet and local star Nozomi Tanaka — as her race intelligence.

“I led for the first couple of laps and then realised that no one was going to [take the] lead because the best runners will always wait for the final laps. I changed my strategy and decided to run like others because this is my first competition at this level,” Seema said.

“At one point, I thought I could go for the win, but I could not push as hard as the others did. But now I have begun to understand the tactics and race strategy. The next time, I will not wait so long to push myself. I will use my learning from here in the 5000m,” she added.

Heartbreak in triple jump; sprinters reach semis

Triple jumper Asha Ilango suffered a heartbreak, coming fourth despite a best of 13.83m — it was the same as Li Yi of China but the Indian missed out on countback.

Li, the reigning Asian champion, had 13.79m as her next best jump while Asha had 13.65m. Niharika Vashisht finished 10th with a best effort of 13m. Uzbekistan’s Sharifa Davronova defended her title with a massive 14.35m, with Huang Yingying of China second with 14.12m.

Both Animesh Kujur and Gurindervir Singh advanced to the semifinals from their respective 100m heats. Anamika A.K. was seventh in heptathlon after four events with 3177 points and Pooja was ninth with 3159 points.

The Indian hockey teams’ experiment with a change in jersey colour has been partially rolled back and the players will now don the traditional blue at the upcoming Asian Games.

The saffron kit, which led to allegations of politicisation and internal tussle within Hockey India, will be the second option.

“The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had asked us our preferred choice and HI has given blue as the first choice. Saffron will be the second colour,” HI president Dilip Tirkey said.

Meanwhile, almost two months after the sports ministry asked the Indian Olympic Association to conduct an independent inquiry into former captain Asunta Lakra’s allegations of harassment and intimidation against Hockey India secretary Bholanath Singh, a four-member committee has been constituted for the same.

The committee

The committee, headed by Justice (retd.) Deepa Sharma, also includes former India striker and 2002 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Mamta Kharab and former sprinter Vandana Rao.

Supreme Court advocate Sitwat Nabi is the fourth member of the committee which is expected to begin work later this week.