Lovlina assures India of Asian Games medal as Bhaker misses 25m pistol final
Lovlina Borgohain secured at least a bronze medal for India at the 2026 Asian Games on Monday, September 28, by advancing to the women’s 75kg boxing semifinals. Her quarterfinal victory over South Korea’s Seong Suyeon gave India a guaranteed place on the podium, while double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker’s bid for a women’s 25m pistol medal ended in qualification.
The contrasting results were two of India’s most closely watched developments on Day 10 of the Aichi-Nagoya Games. Borgohain still has a chance to turn her assured medal into silver or gold; reaching the semifinals does not settle its colour. For Bhaker, 11th place in the individual qualification standings put the eight-shooter final out of reach.
Borgohain moves into medal contention
Borgohain’s win over Seong took her through the last-eight stage of the women’s 75kg division. Boxing awards bronze medals to semifinalists who do not reach the final, so her quarterfinal result was enough to guarantee a medal before her next bout. A semifinal win would put her in the gold-medal contest.
The result adds another chapter to Borgohain’s record in major competitions. She won Olympic bronze in Tokyo and silver in the women’s 75kg event at the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou. Those results give context to Monday’s win, but neither determines what happens next: she must still contest her semifinal to improve on the bronze now assured.
Seong’s defeat ended her run in this division, while Borgohain remains in the tournament. The immediate distinction matters in a boxing update: India has secured a medal, not yet a final berth or a particular medal colour.
Bhaker misses final, Singh takes silver
At the shooting range, Bhaker scored 579 in women’s 25m pistol qualification and finished 11th. Teammate Esha Singh scored 580 and took the eighth and final qualifying place. The narrow difference in their totals produced different outcomes: Bhaker was eliminated from the individual event, while Singh advanced to compete for a medal.
Singh made that opportunity count, winning silver after the individual final went to a shoot-off for gold. It was a medal for India in the same event in which Bhaker had missed the cutoff, rather than a medal for Bhaker herself. Bhaker had also reached the women’s 10m air pistol final earlier in these Games but finished fifth.
India’s women’s 25m pistol team, comprising Bhaker, Singh and Rahi Sarnobat, finished fifth. The team result and individual result are separate: Singh’s silver did not change the team placing, and Bhaker’s qualification exit did not prevent her teammate from reaching the podium. India had won team gold in the event at the previous Asian Games, with Bhaker and Singh both part of that lineup.
For Bhaker, the Day 10 result closes her 25m pistol individual campaign without a final appearance. For India’s shooters, Singh’s silver offered a sharply different finish to the day after the team missed the medals. Together with Borgohain’s assured boxing medal, it gave the contingent both a completed podium result and another medal whose colour remains to be decided.
Separate development: cricket quarterfinal washed out
India’s men also advanced to the cricket semifinals after rain forced the abandonment of their quarterfinal against Afghanistan in Nisshin on September 28. The match ended without a ball being bowled. India progressed under the knockout rules applying to the abandoned fixture; the result was not a victory decided on the field.
That weather-affected passage to the last four was separate from the boxing and shooting results. India will have to play its semifinal for a chance to contest the cricket gold medal, while Borgohain’s next bout will determine whether her already-assured boxing medal can be upgraded.
