The women’s 49kg weightlifting final at the Asian Games 2026 was held on September 23 in Aichi-Nagoya.

North Korea’s Ri Song-gum won gold with a world record total of 215kg.

India’s Mirabai Chanu won silver with a total lift of 198kg, made up of 87kg snatch and 111kg clean and jerk.

It is India’s first Asian Games weightlifting medal in 28 years.

Chanu had missed the podium at the 2023 Hangzhou Games.

It is Chanu’s first Asian Games medal, though she is a Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medallist.

Gold went to North Korea’s Ri Song-gum, the reigning world champion and two-time defending Asian Games champion.

Ri Song-gum set a world record total lift of 215kg in winning gold.

It is India’s 15th Asian Games medal in weightlifting overall, but the first podium finish in the sport in 28 years.

Chanu had narrowly missed the podium at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games.

The Asian Games 2026 are being held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4.

India’s medal tally at the Games has been rising steadily through the shooting, hockey, cricket and now weightlifting events.

Chanu has previously won an Olympic silver, a Commonwealth Games gold and multiple World Championship medals in her career.

The 49kg category is one of the lighter weight classes in women’s Olympic weightlifting.

Weightlifting competitions score athletes on the combined total of their best snatch and clean-and-jerk lifts.

India’s weightlifting federation has focused on strengthening its junior and youth pipelines in recent years.

The Asian Games weightlifting competition features multiple weight categories for both men and women.

Chanu’s Olympic silver came at the Tokyo 2020 Games in the same 49kg category.

Indian weightlifters have historically found the Asian Games a tougher stage than the Commonwealth Games, given the strength of East Asian competitors.

Mirabai Chanu won silver in the women’s 49kg weightlifting event at the Asian Games 2026 on September 23.

Weightlifting competition (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

India’s shooters added another medal on Day 4 of the Asian Games 2026, a bronze in the women’s skeet team event.

Raiza Dhillon, Parinaaz Dhaliwal and Maheshwari Chauhan combined for 331 points on September 23.

China won gold with 346, and Kazakhstan won silver.

It takes India’s shooting medal count to 7 at these Games.

India’s earlier shooting medals came in the 10m air rifle events.

Kazakhstan took silver.

The medal is India’s 7th in shooting at the Asian Games 2026.

India’s shooters had already won medals earlier in the Games in the men’s and women’s 10m air rifle events.

Himanshu Dhillon, Rudrankksh Patil and Parth Mane won team silver in the men’s 10m air rifle, with Dhillon and Patil adding individual medals.

Elavenil Valarivan and India’s women’s 10m air rifle team won silver medals on the opening day of shooting competition.

India’s shooting squad has performed consistently across recent multi-sport events, including previous Asian Games and the Olympics.

The Asian Games 2026 are being held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4.

Skeet shooting involves competitors shooting at clay targets launched from two trap houses at varying angles.

India’s overall medal tally at the Games has been rising steadily through the first four days of competition.

Suchika Tariyal won bronze in mixed martial arts earlier in the Games, India’s first medal in that sport at the Asian Games.

India’s men’s hockey and cricket teams have also delivered strong results at these Games, adding to the overall medal count.

Shooting events at the Asian Games are contested across rifle, pistol and shotgun disciplines, including skeet and trap.

India has traditionally fielded strong squads in rifle and pistol shooting at recent multi-sport Games.

Team events in shooting require consistent scoring from all three members, since the lowest of three individual scores can affect the overall total.

Sport shooting (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

India’s men’s hockey team remained unbeaten at the Asian Games 2026 after a 16-1 win over Sri Lanka on September 22.

It followed an earlier 13-1 win over Indonesia.

Jugraj Singh scored four goals in the Sri Lanka match.

Abhishek and Dilpreet Singh each completed hat-tricks.

India is considered one of the strongest teams in Asian hockey.

Manpreet Singh, Mandeep Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad and Sukhjeet Singh scored one goal each.

It was India’s second Pool A match of the tournament.

India had earlier beaten Indonesia 13-1 in their tournament opener.

The result keeps India’s men’s team unbeaten and dominant through the pool stage so far.

India’s women’s hockey team has also had a strong tournament, having beaten Uzbekistan 19-0 and Indonesia 17-1 in earlier matches.

Field hockey at the Asian Games 2026 is being played across the Games, running from September 19 to October 4.

India has traditionally been one of the strongest teams in Asian hockey, with multiple Asian Games gold medals in the men’s competition.

The team is expected to face stronger opposition as the tournament progresses toward the knockout stages.

India’s cricket team also won a gold medal at the same Games on September 22, beating Sri Lanka in the final.

The men’s hockey competition at the Asian Games uses a pool format followed by knockout stages to decide the medals.

India’s previous Asian Games men’s hockey gold medals include titles in 2014 and 1998, among other editions.

The Indian men’s team has featured a mix of experienced internationals and younger players in this year’s squad.

Goalkeeping and penalty-corner conversion have been highlighted by commentators as strengths of this year’s Indian side.

Match officials for Asian Games hockey fixtures are drawn from the International Hockey Federation’s panel of umpires.

The Aichi-Nagoya Games venue for hockey has hosted several high-scoring matches so far in the tournament.

Indian field hockey team (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0