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 Asian Games medal tally after two days stands at four silvers and two bronzes.

Three shooting medals came on Day 2 in the men’s 10m air rifle event.

A fourth Day 2 medal came from Suchika Tariyal’s bronze in mixed martial arts.

Two silvers came on the opening day in the women’s 10m air rifle.

India was ranked 12th in the standings at that point.

Dhillon and Patil then added an individual silver and bronze respectively in the men’s 10m air rifle final.

Suchika Tariyal won bronze in the women’s traditional -60kg mixed martial arts division, India’s first Asian Games medal in the sport.

On the opening day, India’s women’s 10m air rifle team of Elavenil Valarivan, Sonam Maskar and Vidarsa Vinod won silver behind China.

Elavenil Valarivan added an individual silver in the same event, becoming the first Indian woman to win that individual medal at the Asian Games.

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

India has also reached the cricket gold medal match and has been winning big in hockey, adding to the medal prospects.

Badminton, kabaddi, boxing and table tennis are among the other sports where Indian athletes have been in action.

The medal standings at this stage of a multi-sport Games can shift quickly as more finals are contested in the coming days.

China and Japan were among the countries ahead of India in the medal standings at that stage of the Games.

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

More finals across multiple sports remain to be contested before the Games conclude on October 4.

Each medal added to the tally reflects a separate final, so the six medals came from four different results across two days.

Medal podium (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, public domain