India began their Asian Games 2026 medal haul with a silver in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan in the women’s 10m air rifle team event on Sunday. Elavenil Valarivan, Sonam Maskar and Vidarsa Vinod combined for a total of 1898.0 points to finish second behind China, who topped the standings with a world-record score of 1904.2.
Hosts Japan finished third with 1897.1 points. This is India’s first confirmed medal at the Aichi-Nagoya 20th Asian Games. Sonam was India’s top scorer with 634.1 points, followed by Elavenil with 633.5 and Vidarsa with 630.4.
Elavenil and Sonam also qualified for the individual final, with their scores placing them among the finalists. Elavenil and Sonam will look for a double in the eight-woman individual final to be held later in the day.
The silver is an encouraging start to India’s shooting campaign after the country’s shooters produced a record 22-medal haul — seven gold, nine silver and six bronze — at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Shortly before, MMA fighter Suchika Tariyal was the first Indian athlete to assure a medal, reaching the women’s Traditional MMA 60kg semifinals.