Neeru Dhanda and women’s relay team strike gold as India passes 50 Asian Games medals
NAGOYA, Japan, September 29, 2026: Neeru Dhanda’s landmark shooting victory and a gold-winning women’s 4x400m relay run lifted India past 50 medals at the Asian Games on Tuesday. India collected eight medals during the day: two golds, one silver and five bronzes. The results brought a milestone into view while giving the Indian team its first athletics gold of these Games.
Dhanda won the women’s individual trap title, becoming the first Indian woman to take Asian Games gold in the event. Hours later, Kiran Pahal, Prachi Choudhary, Machettira Poovamma and Vithya Ramraj won the relay in 3 minutes, 29.69 seconds. Their finishes gave India its two gold medals of the day and six golds at that stage of the competition.
Dhanda makes history at the shooting range
Dhanda hit 28 targets in the women’s trap final to finish ahead of China’s Sun Yunong, who took silver, and Kuwait’s Hajar Abdulmalik, who won bronze. Her winning score was hailed as a new Asian record. The individual gold was a first for India in women’s trap at the Asian Games, making it more than another addition to the medal tally.
It was also Dhanda’s second podium finish on Tuesday. Before the individual final, she joined Aashima Ahlawat and Manisha Keer to win silver in the women’s trap team competition. China took team gold and Kuwait bronze. The team result and Dhanda’s later victory showed two sides of India’s shooting campaign: a collective podium finish followed by an individual breakthrough.
Trap shooting requires competitors to hit clay targets launched away from them at varying angles. In a final, each missed target can quickly change the order. Dhanda’s 28-hit performance secured the title in an event where no Indian woman had previously won individual Asian Games gold.
Relay quartet delivers on the track
On the final day of the athletics programme, India’s women’s 4x400m quartet took gold ahead of Bahrain and China. Kiran, Prachi, Poovamma and Vithya completed four laps of the track in 3:29.69. It was India’s first athletics gold at Aichi-Nagoya 2026 and another Asian Games title in an event with a strong Indian history.
For Vithya, the relay win added to an already productive Games. She had earned silver in the mixed 4x400m relay and bronze in the women’s 400m hurdles, giving her three medals in Nagoya. Her hurdles run of 54.75 seconds on September 28 also bettered P.T. Usha’s long-standing Indian mark. The relay victory meant she finished the athletics programme with gold as well as individual and mixed-team podium appearances.
Bronzes deepen the day’s haul
India’s other September 29 medals came from athletics and boxing. Gulveer Singh won bronze in the men’s 5,000m in 13:32.75, completing a set of three individual medals after earlier silvers in the 10,000m and 1,500m. Pooja Singh cleared 1.84m for bronze in the women’s high jump, ending a 24-year wait for an Indian medal in that Asian Games event.
India also took bronze in the men’s 4x400m relay and the mixed 4x100m relay. In boxing, Narender Berwal earned bronze in the men’s over-90kg division after his semifinal defeat. Together with the shooting silver, those five bronzes completed the eight-medal day.
The 50-medal threshold is a measure of the breadth of India’s campaign, not just its gold-medal wins. September 29 brought podium finishes across the shooting range, track, field and boxing ring. Dhanda supplied a first in women’s trap; the relay quartet supplied the athletics gold India had been waiting for. With competition continuing beyond Tuesday, the milestone marked a point in the campaign rather than its final total.
