India secured its first gold medal at the Asian Games 2026 on Tuesday when the women’s cricket team, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, defended their title. They defeated Sri Lanka by 147 runs in the final at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin. This marked India’s seventh medal overall, following five from shooting and one from Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).
India chose to bat first against Sri Lanka, scoring a strong 216/3. Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma performed exceptionally well, while Richa Ghosh added an unbeaten 49 off just 22 balls. India’s bowling attack was also impressive, led by Deepti Sharma with three wickets, supported by Shree Charani, Shreyanka Patil, and Shafali Verma, each taking two wickets.
Meanwhile, the Indian men’s badminton team secured a medal by defeating Japan in their quarterfinal match. Reaching the semifinals guarantees them at least a silver medal.
The official standings are based on the number of gold medals won. If countries have the same number of golds, silver and bronze medals are used as tiebreakers.
In the previous edition (Hangzhou 2023), India achieved a record-breaking performance with over 100 medals—28 gold, 38 silver, and 41 bronze. This made them the fourth country to win 100 or more medals in a single Asian Games edition, following China, Japan, and South Korea.
On Monday, India added four more medals. Rudrankksh Patil and Himanshu Dhillon won silver and bronze in men’s 10m air rifle shooting, respectively. The team event saw them claim another silver. Suchika Tariyal also secured a historic bronze in MMA, marking India’s first medal in the sport at the Asian Games.