Olympic medallists Manu Bhaker and Mirabai Chanu will headline India’s campaign on Wednesday, with shooting, weightlifting, badminton and several other disciplines offering medal opportunities, according to Olympics.com.
Double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker will compete in the women’s 10m air pistol event. The Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medallist had missed out on an individual medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023.
Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Mirabai Chanu will also be in focus as she takes the stage in the women’s 49kg weightlifting category. Chanu narrowly missed out on a medal at Hangzhou 2023, finishing fourth after an injury prevented her from completing her final clean and jerk attempt.
Shooting will provide more medal chances for India, with the skeet shooters completing their three-day qualification rounds. Anantjeet Singh Naruka will be among the shooters to watch after recovering strongly on the second day following a difficult opening round.
The Indian men’s badminton team will face a tough challenge against the People’s Republic of China in the semi-finals. Lakshya Sen and his teammates secured a medal for India after defeating Japan in the quarterfinals and will now aim to book a place in the gold medal match.
Squash will also begin its campaign at Aichi-Nagoya, with Indian players featuring in singles first-round matches. Anahat Singh, who has received a bye, will begin her campaign from Thursday.
Wushu player Roshibina Devi will compete in the women’s 60kg sanda semi-finals, where she is assured of winning her third individual Asian Games medal in three appearances.
Indian teams will also continue their hockey and kabaddi group-stage campaigns, while boxer Ankush will compete in the men’s 80kg category. Swimming will also offer medal opportunities for Indian athletes on Wednesday.
