India Add Archery Silver, Sailing Bronze on Productive Asian Games Day

AICHI-NAGOYA, Oct 2 : India added a silver and a bronze to its medal tally at the Asian Games on Friday, with Kumkum Anil Mohod and Dhiraj Bommadevara finishing runners-up in the mixed recurve archery event, while Nethra Kumanan secured bronze in the women's dinghy competition.

Kumkum and Dhiraj fought back after a difficult start but went down 3-5 to China's Zhu Jingyi and Li Mengqi in the mixed recurve final.

The Chinese pair dominated the opening two sets, winning the first 38-34 and the second 37-35 to take a 4-0 lead. With their backs to the wall, the Indian duo responded strongly in the third set, scoring 37 points to China's 36 to keep their hopes of forcing a decider alive.

India needed to win the fourth set to take the contest into a shoot-off. The set ended level at 37-37, allowing China to claim the decisive point and seal the gold 5-3.

The silver capped a memorable day for 17-year-old Kumkum, who had earlier teamed up with Ankita Bhakat and Kirti Sharma to win India's first-ever Asian Games gold in the women's recurve team event.

The mixed-team result was also significant as the gold medal carried an automatic quota place for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, which went to China.

In sailing, Nethra Kumanan clinched bronze in the women's dinghy/ILCA 6 event. Kumanan finished level on points with Hong Kong's Stephanie Louise Norton but secured the bronze on the basis of her superior head-to-head record.

The two medals added to India's growing medal haul in archery and sailing at the Aichi-Nagoya Games, with Kumkum emerging as one of the day's standout performers after winning gold and silver in two recurve events.