India had a fruitful day in athletics at the Asian Games 2026 on Monday, with a handful of medals, but not one was gold.
M Sreeshankar, Yashvir Singh and Gulveer Singh secured silver medals, while Vithya Ramraj and Parul Chaudhary bagged bronze medals from track & field on the ninth day of the event in Aichi-Nagoya. Vithya Ramraj's national record-breaking bronze in 400 m hurdles was a highlight of the day.
Kerala long jumper Sreeshankar cleared 8.07 m on his second jump to be placed second. He suffered an injury on his fourth attempt and could not compete in the last two rounds.
However, the one he cleared was enough to secure the silver, behind China's Shi Yuhao (8.17 m), while Uzbekistan's Anvar Anvarov (8.06 m) edged Chinese Taipei's Yu-tang Lin (8.05 m) for bronze. Sreeshankar was also the silver medallist in Hangzhou, clearing 8.19 m for the second place.
Gulveer clocked a personal best of 3:36.72 to take silver in men's 1500 m. Japan's Kazuto Iizawa struck gold with a Games Record of 3:36.35, while his compatriot Nagiya Mori was third on 3:37.92.
In men's javelin, the world-leading Sri Lankan Rumesh Pathirage was a class apart, taking gold with an effort of 88.55 m. Even as India were missing two-time Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra with an injury, two other Indians finished on the podium in the event - Yashvir Singh, with a personal best of 85.72 m took silver and Rohit Yadav, with 84.35 m claimed bronze.
Parul Chaudhary bagged her second medal at the Games by finishing third in women's 5000 m, clocking 15:14.61. She had taken bronze in the 3000 m steeplechase earlier.
Avinash Sable missed out on the podium, finishing fourth in the 3000 m steeplechase for men, but clocked a season's best of 8:21.67.