Admiring Virat Kohli and B. Dhiraj for their work ethics, 17-year-old women’s recurve Asian Games champion Kumkum Mohod understands the importance of staying grounded in order to win an Olympic gold.

After returning to a grand welcome and a roadshow at her home town, Amaravati, the Maharashtra girl was reminded of her main target by her personal coach Praful Dange.

“My sir (coach) said, ‘Forget what has happened. This is not our dream. Our dream is to win the LA Olympics (gold). You haven’t done anything yet. Stay grounded. Just focus on your work,’” Kumkum said, during an interaction organised by the Sports Authority of India on Friday.

Kumkum, who won individual and women’s team gold and mixed team silver in Japan, said she loved combining with Dhiraj, with whom she landed the World Cup Stage gold in Antalya.

“We could’ve won (mixed team gold) too. Dhiraj bhaiya advised me to enjoy the process irrespective of the result. He said, ‘If you make a mistake, it’s mine. If I make a mistake, it’s the coach’s. So, don’t take any load and shoot’.”

When Dhiraj couldn’t be present, he sent Kumkum a text message: ‘Don’t look at the opponent and behave like a champion.’

Kumkum, who skipped simple pleasures of childhood, calmed herself to win the tense shoot-off in the final and secured the gold and an Olympic quota place for the country. Now, she is keen to board the LA flight and win the gold there.

“My father says, ‘You’ll make history in LA,” said Kumkum, while remembering her parents’ sacrifices.

A Kohli fangirl, Kumkum wants to meet the cricket star. “I like his discipline and hard work. Despite his stature, he is so grounded. I have not thought what to ask if I meet him,” said Kumkum, who also finds seasoned Deepika Kumari’s dedication inspirational.

Kumkum bows to para archers, armless Sheetal Devi and limbless Payal Nag, for their courage. “I salute them. Their mindset is strong. They will do well in the Para Asian Games,” said Kumkum, looking forward to increasing her strength and fine-tuning technical aspects.

Wrestler Sujeet Kalkal thanks foreign coach Shako Bentinidis for encouraging him to adopt an attacking approach and employing the ‘dhobi pachhad’ (arm throw) technique, which made key contributions in his Asian Games gold medal win on debut.

Kalkal, who carried forward iconic wrestlers Yogeshwar Dutt and Bajrang Punia’s legacy to win the freestyle 65kg title, acknowledged Bentinidis’ role.

“Since my attack is good, Shako asked me to attack from the first bout,” said Kalkal, who was named India’s male athlete of the Games, during an interaction facilitated by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Wednesday.

Sujeet Kalkal with coach Shako Bentinidis after winning the men’s freestyle 65kg wrestling final in the Asian Games 2026, in Nagoya, Japan, Friday, Oct. 2, 2026.
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PTI

“I competed in Russia where I won, but Shako was not happy. He said, ‘You don’t attack much.’ I worked on that. In the Asian Games, I attacked in every bout and scored as well.”

Kalkal also added ‘dhobi pachhad’ to his attacking repertoire. “For (mastering) one technique, you need to practise it a lot so that you can show it in a competition. I thank Shako because he taught me this. I was interested, but couldn’t do it. He corrected me and made me practise it.”

India’s Sujeet Kalkal competes in the men’s freestyle 65kg wrestling final against Tajikistan’s Abdulmazhid Kudiev in the Asian Games 2026, in Nagoya, Japan, Friday, Oct. 2, 2026.
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PTI

The 23-year-old, who made a sensational comeback from 2-9 to beat Tajikistan’s Abdulmazhid Kudiev 10-9 in the Asiad final, said he needed to make the best use of his strong ground wrestling.

The resilient Kalkal, who was stranded at the Dubai airport with fellow wrestler Deepak Punia due to flooding and could not report for the Paris Olympics qualifier in Bishkek in April 2024, has taken the setback in his stride while focusing on 2028 Los Angeles.

Living in the present, Kalkal, who has claimed four international gold medals this year, wants to shine at this month’s World championships in Astana. “This competition is tougher than the Olympics (because of the quality and volume of athletes),” said Kalkal.  

A grounded athlete with strong values, Kalkal has a different way of celebrating festivals. “My father (Dayanand) says, ‘If you win a gold medal, then automatically we celebrate Diwali and Holi.’ I know there is a competition (Worlds) around Diwali. If I win a gold medal for India, then that will be Diwali for me,” said Kalkal.

India were in a familiar situation at the Asian Games. Victory was taken for granted, defeat would have counted as a disgrace. This is the fate of top-ranked teams: damned if you do and doubly damned if you don’t.

The repercussions would have been greater had India lost to Japan following the infamous ‘wide ball’ in the last over by Axar Patel. The right decision was made, but it needed a show of dissent by the players to get there.

That an international tournament was played without DRS (and even, as it turned out, without proper pitches) is stunning. Forget the complaints about accommodation and transport, the fact that cricket had been reduced to a ritual doesn’t speak well of the International Cricket Council which should insist on minimum standards at multi-event games. One hopes the ICC (or its representative) will do better at the Olympic Games two years from now in Los Angeles where the teams and competition will be of a higher standard.

The final had one message for cricket fans: Know the ‘passport names’ of your heroes. Thus we learnt — thanks to the amateurish television coverage — that Sanju Samson was actually Sanju Viswanath in disguise, and that the man we have been admiring as Tilak Varma is in reality Tilak Namboori. Skipper Shreyas Santosh is rumoured to have been amused by it all.

It was a great match for nostalgia buffs. Often we missed the first ball of an over or the last, and had to sit through inane advertisements to find out if a batter had been dismissed and if so how so? We were back in the 1980s, with the Justice Lodha Commission recommendations (“advertisement should be telecast to the extent of drinks and break session and unnecessary advertisement after every over and fall of wicket should be avoided”) decades into the future.

Target audience?

It does raise a fundamental question: for whom is cricket played? The players, who have a personal stake in doing well, and who, presumably love what they are doing and can do things the rest of us can only fantasise about? The spectators, who buy into the tribal and cultural ethos without being conscious of these? The administrators, who enjoy the power and the positive impact on their business interests? Television moguls whose scorecard doesn’t have bowling or batting figures but dollar and cent signs? Columnists, who find the negatives in a positive and vice versa? Perhaps it is all of the above, some of the above or none of the above.

What Joyce Carol Oates said about boxing applies equally to cricket (or any sport at the highest level). Speaking of the three Ali-Frazier fights, she said these were “boxing’s analogues to King Lear – ordeals of unfathomable human courage and resilience raised to the level of classical tragedy.”

Still, India may have scored more runs and claimed more wickets in the tournament than viewers actually saw live, which takes us into the realm of philosophy. Does it count as a six or a wicket when no one saw it? TV can make philosophers of us all.

The Asian Games gives breath once again to the argument against having cricket in multi-event games like the Olympics. An Olympic medal will mean less to a player than winning a World Cup or World Test Championship. And if the games are in a country with little or no interest in cricket, it is unlikely to spread its message which is what the ICC hopes for. From the International Olympic Committee’s point of view, it will draw in the south Asian population, or more specifically, the television viewership (this will also call for more professional handling from TV).

Perhaps an age limit like in Olympic football (under-23) can be applied to cricket too. The argument is similar: a world cup exists already and a team would prefer to win that over an Olympic medal.

If the Asian Games cricket, which has asked more questions than provided answers, succeeds in raising the right questions ahead of the Olympic Games, then the telecast would be a minor crib. The ICC will have to find the balance between spreading the game and keeping the television viewership satisfied without diminishing the quality.

Athletes from Karnataka returned with a creditable haul of four gold medals, three silvers and two bronzes from the 2026 Asian Games, which concluded in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, on Sunday.

Pranavi Urs.

The four golds mark an improvement from the 2022 edition in Hangzhou, China, where sportspersons from the State helped India secure three gold medals.

Karnataka’s gold medallists this time were Pranavi Urs in women’s individual golf, M.R. Poovamma in the women’s 4x400m relay, H.S. Mohith in men’s hockey and Shreyanka Patil in women’s cricket.

M.R. Poovamma.

Poovamma and Pranavi also won silver medals as part of India’s 4x400m mixed relay and women’s golf teams, respectively. Golfer Aditi Ashok, who had finished runner-up in the individual event in Hangzhou, joined Pranavi on the podium in the team competition.

H.S. Mohith

Another silver medal came through shooter Tilottama Sen in the women’s 50m rifle three positions event. In 2022, athletes from Karnataka had contributed four silver medals to India’s tally, one more than in 2026.

However, compared to the absence of bronze medals from Karnataka in Hangzhou, the State produced two bronze medallists in Aichi-Nagoya — Ayush Shetty in men’s team badminton and S.S. Sneha in the women’s 4x100m mixed relay.

Overall, with an increase in the number of gold and bronze medals, and only a marginal decline in silver medals, sportspersons from Karnataka improved on their performance from the previous Asian Games.

Meanwhile, the State government is planning to fete the Asian Games medalists later this week. Sources close to the Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said that the medal winners are likely to be invited by the Chief Minister and fete them on behalf of the State government.

The signs of Aman Sehrawat’s Saturday battle were etched across his face. His lip was coated with dried blood, bruises darkened beneath both eyes, and crimson scratches marked his neck. The 23-year-old hadn’t noticed any of it.

“Pata bhi nahi kab hua yeh (I don’t know when these even happened),” he laughed, his teeth stained red.

He was laughing because he had just won his first Asian Games gold, beating reigning World champion Han Chong-song of North Korea 11-7 at the Inae Sports Center in Nagoya.

Han had fought back from 6-1 down to briefly lead 7-6, but two late takedowns sealed the win for Aman. Earlier, he had come from behind against Japan’s Yamato Ogawa and Tajikistan’s Aiaal Belolyubskii.

The gold improved on the bronze he won at Hangzhou and made him the first Indian to win two Asian Games medals in the men’s 57kg freestyle category.

More importantly, it reignited a fire that had dimmed after his bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Weight issues

Aman’s fight for gold in Nagoya had begun the night before the duel. A kilo over the weight limit, he trained hard to shed the excess and then went without food or water. He eventually weighed 200 grams under the limit. “I could have at least had some water to drink,” he quipped.

The weight struggle was a reminder of a difficult year. He failed to make weight at the 2025 World Championships and was disqualified, then suspended by the federation. After Paris, he had also struggled with motivation amid distractions and a stomach problem.

“I was very upset, for many days,” he said.

He eventually returned to Chhatrasal Stadium, where he had grown up, and changed his phone wallpaper from an Olympic gold medal to an Asian Games gold.

“Every time I looked at that picture I thought I had to win that medal.”

Now, having beaten the world champion, Aman has belief once again.

“There was a time when I didn’t have a lot of motivation. But now that hunger has come once again,” he said.

Incessant rains have deprived India of crucial training and competition time in Japan, but constant meetings and team activities have helped the players remain “switched on”, said opener Sanju Samson here on Wednesday (September 30, 2026).

India have been in Japan for the past 10 days but have only played a five-overs-a-side game against Japan on September 22. The three-time T20 World Cup winners have their first proper training session scheduled later on Wednesday.

Earlier, India’s opening match in the Asia Games — a quarterfinal against Afghanistan — was abandoned after no play was possible due to rain. India will take on Sri Lanka in the semifinal here on Thursday.

“We have had some good time [off the field]. We have been doing some team activities. We were trying to do some practice (but the weather did not allow). But we were training and conditioning in the gym,” Samson said when asked if the weather has disrupted the team’s rhythm.

“We were spending time together. We were talking [about] cricket and combinations. We were having constant meetings to switch on the players when it is required.

“… these are the times where we need to be a bit more aware that we need to switch on and suddenly play a big semifinal. We all are aware of that. Luckily, we have got a good sunny day today to practice,” said Samson on the eve of the semifinal against a second-string Sri Lanka.

Samson said the players are itching to take the field with the weather keeping them indoors mostly.

“Yes, yesterday we were having a chat in the gym. When the team is having a gym session, we are saying that ‘yes, we need to get out and play some game of cricket’. So, we all are very much excited to come and play a proper game of cricket.”

The outfield is expected to be soft and the pitch sluggish considering the wet weather.

Asked if it was safe to play in such conditions, Samson said: “Conditions are a bit different. We have never played a game here in Nagoya. Most of us are playing here for the first time, so there might be a lot of unknown factors. And it goes for the other team as well. So, both teams are coming here fresh.

“We don’t know the conditions until we go out there and play a proper game of cricket. So, that is where the fun is. I think that is where any team can compete against any team.”

India’s rain-truncated match against Japan in Sano went down to the wire after the contest was curtailed due to a wet outfield.

India are playing a three-match ODI series against the West Indies simultaneously, besides a men’s ‘A’ series against Australia at home.

Asked about the depth of Indian cricket and the ability to field multiple teams at the same time, Samson said, “It is a known fact nowadays how strong Indian cricket has grown from last so many years. So, I think there has been some constant effort. I think definitely IPL plays a huge role.

“But I feel our domestic cricket is also playing a huge role actually. We have been constantly making great efforts to go out and play all the domestic matches whenever we get a chance. And that is where we tend to develop a lot of talents also.”

A National record was broken and some personal marks were bested at the Paloma Mizuho Athletics Stadium as the Indians added more medals to their kitty on Monday (September 28, 2026), of both hues except the golden one the country desperately craved.

Three years ago, Vithya Ramraj ran the 400m hurdles in 55.42 seconds, equalling the longest standing Indian track record held by the legendary P.T. Usha for 39 long years since 1984. It helped her top the group before eventually winning bronze in Hangzhou. On Monday (September 28), the 28-year-old won another bronze but this one was a lot more special — the 54.75 seconds finally made her the sole National record holder, in the presence of Usha, now the IOA president. Anu Raghavan, meanwhile, also ran an individual best 55.88 seconds to finish fifth.

If Vithya found herself in elite company, the javelin throw continued to be the country’s reliable medal-earners with India managing a double podium finish. In Neeraj Chopra’s absence, Rohit Yadav and Yashvir Singh were expected to shoulder the burden and both stepped up on the big stage.

Yashvir, in particular, justified his last-minute inclusion as Neeraj’s replacement, throwing 85.72m for a personal best and silver. Yashvir went hard to match up to leader Rumesh Pathirage but the Sri Lankan world leader and pre-tournament favourite dug deep in wet and challenging conditions for 88.55m in his final throw and won the gold. Rohit managed 84.35m for bronze.

Gulveer celebrates after winning silver in 1,500m.
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PTI

Gulveer Singh, too, added a second silver to his tally here with a new personal mark of 3:36.72s in the 1500m — after leading for more than 1.5 laps and looking set for the top spot before Kazuto Iizawa overtook him in the final 20m. Long jumper M. Sreeshankar, too, got his second silver in as many Games with an effort of 8.07m.

Unfortunately, the constant downpour meant the track and the take-off board were extremely slippery and Sreeshankar’s left leg slipped dangerously in his fourth attempt, the 27-year-old landing awkwardly on the pit and twisting his ankle. He skipped his last two attempts but the second jump was good enough to ensure him the second spot behind China’s Shi Yuhao’s 8.17m.

India missed out on a podium for the first time 32 years in women’s discus throw. Seema Kaliramna’s personal best of 59.88m fetched her only a fourth position. Seema, who had won bronze at the Commonwealth Games recently, was unable to emulate another Seema (Punia), a legend of the sport with five consecutive medals from 2006-2022.

The biggest upset, however, was defending champion and favourite Avinash Sable finishing fourth in 8:21.67s in the 3,000m steeplechase. It was only his second race this year and a far cry from the Games record of 8:19.50 last time around. Parul Chaudhary took home a second bronze in the 5,000m.

India’s women’s doubles campaign in tennis at the Asian Games came to an early end after Ankita Raina and Rutuja Bhosale suffered a hard-fought first-round defeat against Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva and Anna Danilina on Monday (September 28, 2026).

Keep track | Asian Games 2026 LIVE: Esha Singh bags 25m pistol silver, Pincky Balhara clinches historic Kurash bronze

The Indian pair lost 7-5 3-6 5-10 to the Kazakh duo in a contest that went down to the deciding match tie-break.

In men’s singles, India’s Sumit Nagal was locked at 3-2 in the opening set against South Korea’s Hong Seongchan when rain brought the match to a halt. The match will resume on Tuesday.

Nagal had lost both his singles to Korean players at the recent Davis Cup tie in Seoul.

The Indian men’s cricket team entered the Asian Games semi-final without even taking the field after its quarter-final against Afghanistan was abandoned due to inclement weather on Monday (September 28, 2026).

Keep track | Asian Games 2026 LIVE: Esha Singh wins silver, misses 25m pistol gold by a whisker

The defending champion side made it to the last four as it is ranked No.1 in the ICC T20I rankings while Afghanistan is currently placed 10th.

India will take on winners of the quarter-final between Nepal and Sri Lanka. If that match is abandoned, then Sri Lanka, by virtue of their higher ranking, will take on India in the semi-final.

There has been consistent rain in Nagoya for the past few days and even a curtailed match was a remote possibility on the day.

The first quarterfinal between Pakistan and Hong Kong was also washed out, allowing the former to move ahead on the basis of their higher ICC ranking.