India Claims Multiple Medals in Badminton, Weightlifting and Soft Tennis at Asian Games

India secured a bronze medal in the men's badminton team event at the Asian Games on Wednesday after a 1-3 loss to China in the semifinals. Lakshya Sen and Ayush Shetty lost their matches against higher-ranked opponents, while Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty were the only Indian pair to win a match. At the last edition in Hangzhou in 2023, India had won a silver medal after losing to China in the final. In weightlifting, Mirabai Chanu won a silver medal in the women's 49kg event with a total of 198kg, consisting of 88kg in snatch and 111kg in clean and jerk. This victory marks India's first Asian Games weightlifting medal since Karnam Malleswari won a silver in 1998, and it fills the only major gap in Chanu's trophy cabinet after 12 years of waiting. Meanwhile, Jay Meena won India's first-ever soft tennis medal at the Asian Games by claiming a bronze in the men's singles event in Nagoya. The 26-year-old Meena fought back after falling three games behind against Japan's Takuya Kurosaka but eventually lost the 45-minute semifinal match 2-4 with game scores of 3-5, 1-4, 1-4, 4-1, 6-4, and 1-4. Additionally, Manu finished fifth in the 10m air pistol final, while the women's team also missed out on a medal. Indian athletes are scheduled to compete in multiple events on Thursday, including rowing finals with Balraj Panwar and Satnam Singh with Salman Khan, wushu with Roshibina Devi against China's Xiaoyu Zhang, and shooting and canoe sprint events.