India got its first medal of the 2026 Asian Games on Sunday, with the women’s 10m air rifle team claiming silver on the opening day of competition in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
The trio of Sonam Uttam Maskar, Elavenil Valarivan and Vidarsa K Vinod combined for a total of 1,898.0 points in the team qualification round, finishing behind China, who set a world record with 1,904.2 points to take gold. Hosts Japan claimed bronze with 1,897.1 points, just 0.9 points behind India, making for one of the tightest podium finishes of the day.
Sonam was India’s top scorer in the event, shooting 634.1, followed by Elavenil at 633.5 and Vidarsa at 630.4. Their combined tally was enough to hold off a strong Japanese challenge on home soil, giving India an early and much-needed opening to its campaign at the 20th Asian Games.
Sonam and Elavenil advance to individual final
There was more for India to celebrate beyond the team result. Both Sonam and Elavenil also advanced to the individual women’s 10m air rifle final after finishing among the top eight in qualification, with Sonam in third place and Elavenil in seventh. Vidarsa, competing at her first Asian Games, narrowly missed out on a place in the individual final despite her contribution to the team’s medal-winning total. Speaking after the event, she said she was happy with how she’d performed and had given it her best shot.
Strong start for India’s shooting contingent
For Elavenil, an Olympian and one of India’s most decorated rifle shooters, the medal added to an already strong recent run of form. The silver also extends India’s momentum in shooting, a discipline that delivered a record 22 medals for the country at the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou in 2023.
Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya congratulated the three shooters shortly after the result, calling it India’s first medal of the Games and wishing the wider Indian contingent more success in the days ahead.
India’s broader campaign gets underway
The 20th Asian Games, officially the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Games, opened on September 19 at Paloma Mizuho Stadium in Nagoya and will run until October 4, bringing together athletes from across Asia across a wide range of sports. India’s shooting contingent, the badminton team featuring two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and the hockey squad, the defending champions, were all either already in action or set to begin their campaigns as competition got underway.
With the individual final still to come later on the same day, both Sonam and Elavenil had a fresh chance to add to India’s tally, giving the country’s shooters a genuine shot at building on their strong start in Japan.