Asian Games 2026, Day 9 Highlights: Sarvesh Kushare wins men’s high jump silver, Parul Chaudhary wins women’s 3000m steeplechase bronze

Anahat Singh (who won silver in the women’s singles event at squash) is one of India's brightest young squash players from New Delhi. She was introduced to sports at a young age and initially played badminton before taking up squash at the age of eight after accompanying her elder sister to the squash courts. Her natural talent and passion for the sport helped her rise rapidly through the junior ranks, winning national and international titles from an early age. Known for her fearless and attacking style of play, Anahat has quickly established herself on the senior international circuit. She has represented India at major events, including the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, and World Championships, and is regarded as one of the country's strongest medal prospects for the future.

Achievements :

Parveen Hooda assures herself of a medal with a unanimous 5-0 win over World Championships silver medallist Navbakhor Khamidova of Uzbekistan in the women’s 65kg quarter-final.

In the women's 65kg Quarterfinals, Parveen won the first round 4-1 against Navbakhor Khamidova (Uzbekistan).

Parveen wins the first round with four judges showing a 10-9 in her favour with one disagreeing.

By Nitin Sharma

The teenage Anahat Singh loses the final to Sivasangari Subramaniam to claim a silver medal in the women's single squash event.

Anahat turns around to conjure a lovely winner in the backhand corner. She's not going down wondering. Sivasangari has a riposte waiting and zooms ahead to 8-5. Three points away.

When Anahat is on song, she harries her opponent by pushing them left and right, front and back. It's Sivasangari who's doing that currently. Anahat is doing well to stay competitive but that's about it.

The Malaysian leads 3-0 in Game 3 and is closing in on a successful title defence.

Anahat is in all sorts of trouble. Her rival is timing the ball beautifully and gliding across court effortlessly. Sivasangari is not allowing any leeway for the Indian to work her magic by way of drops or kills. She leads 8-2.

An exquisite drop, boosted by a deflection from the boast, helps Sivasangari convert the first of her six game points. Anahat loses the first game 4-11 and has a lot of work to do.

Anahat starts strongly, so does Sivasangari. It's a backhand battle so far as both players try to feel the waters and open up the forehand side of court. Anahat errs with her forehand a couple of times and the Malaysian takes the lead 7-3 in Game 1.

After a lengthy ad break that wipes away post-match visuals from viewers, Sony thankfully returns programming in the squash discipline.

It's time now for Indian squash's bonafide superstar, Anahat Singh, to take court. She walks out next to top seed and reigning champ Sivasangari Subramaniam.

Anahat has faced the Tamil-origin Malaysian twice in the past, and lost both times. The task is onerous today as well. But if anyone can do it, it's the cucumber-cool Anahat.

Eain Yow Ng is going to the LA Olympics. He stamps his authority on the final with sublime finishing towards the end to blow away Abhay 11-9, 11-5, 11-5. The Malaysian defends his title with ease and greets a graceful Abhay soon after.

Not to be for the Indian, but as the commentators put it, he was up against a brick wall. He ends with silver - only India's second in singles after Saurav Ghosal fetched one at Hangzhou.

Abhay showing some early resilience in the third game. He extracts a couple of mistakes from Yow to go up 4-2 before making an unforced error himself. Another botched drop and the lead dissipates. 4-4.

Yep, that's it for Game 2. Abhay cracks under Yow's brilliance, crashing a relatively easier shot into the pink line to concede the first of five available game points to the Malaysian.

Abhay now trails 0-2 in the best-of-five match. Anahat fought back from a similar position in yesterday's heist. But she was matching her opponent, Satomi Watanabe, stroke for stroke all the way. That is not the case with Abhay now.

Uncharacteristic errors creeping in Abhay's game now. The physical pressure of the long rallies, as also Yow's precise shotmaking seem to be subduing the Indian. He trails 5-9, needing inspiration to turn this around.

Yow exhibits some clinical volleying in the business end, opening up two game balls at 10-8. Abhay saves the first one by way of a stroke for obstruction. The Indian misses a tricky shot that cramps him for room in back court and Yow takes the first game 11-9.

Encouraging signs from Abhay with the way he played the opener. Now for him to finish stronger in the coming games.

from Bhuvan Gupta

Both players are changing direction nicely and pushing each other to the front and back of court. Abhay engineers a loose shot from Yow, leading to a putaway. He gets a stroke for obstruction on top of that to cut the deficit.

With Abhay and Yow both maintaining nimble footwork and balance, we are witnessing some really high-quality squash. Yow inches ahead to 8-6, Abhay responds with a deft turn of the wrist that opens up a backhand winner.

This one is going down to the cliched wire.

Yow is a player known for his attritional style of squash, he makes his opponents pay with the slow, rallying style of squash. And that's exactly what he's doing with Abhay here. The Malaysian leads 6-3 before Abhay gets a point his way.

Abhay Singh goes from leading the first game 3-2 to trailing 5-3.

Eain Yow unleashing his range of strokes here.

Yu Fei has started the second better, much sharper than the first and stretching the rallies longer. The longer the rallies last, the sharper she has become while Sindhu has ended up spraying her shots wide. 9-6 to Yu Fei

Tired returns - smashes in net, smashes wide .. plentiful more work needed at Rohtak to get to there. A tired attempted drop falls into net. Yamaguchi wins.

But Unnati has played really well for 66 minutes.

It amounts to nought in terms of medals. But Unnati is ready for the next step. India's next.

The best is currently battling Chen Yufei on nearby court.

That 2021 gold at Tokyo ought to have been Sindhu's. But she can get one back here at Asiads. CYF isn't in greatest forms

Unnati's defensive rigour has been tremendous. She's chased down every shuttle to give herself the best chance.

The next level will be nailing smashes when dead-tired.

Two good smashes, one right at the body and the other low on the backhand to go 7-2

Sindhu has mixed up her game well in the first, pinning Yu Fei to the back court and using the drops well to take 5-2 lead

The tosses always work against the Japanese because they are dizzying, vertiginous and hinder next returns. But they extract effort out of the toss hitter. Does Unnati have enough in the tank?

Backhand flat slap shot to go to 6-8 for Unnati. Casual hand flinging winner. Reminds of.... A certain Yamaguchi. Complete with phlegmatic expression et al.

But the Japanese leads 10-7

Unnati tosses drawing out Yamaguchi errors too. This is very smart play. Look at that effort on tosses. Stellar work by Unnati. She floated it so high, the Japanese was bound to make mistake. Then came the net tumble. Yamaguchi in net. 17-14.

19-14 now

In long jump qualification event, Sreeshankar Murali is currently second. here are his three attempts.

Note: All athletes meeting the Qualification Standard (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advance to Final

Unnati's father Upkar had correctly assessed that making her play doubles till late into juniors would aid her singles game.

He has coached her to tactically deploy the doubles net game, though not enough drives, into singles. The steep strokes are working though. Unnati 14-14.

Akane Yamaguchi for all her achievements, doesn't have more than an individual bronze at Asian Games. In 2018, when she took team gold in Teams.

There's 4 Team medals.

It's why Japan has built her up this time around, the hype around her going for that elusive gold -- like India waited for Mirabai's weightliftig silver.

Sreeshankar jumps 7.67 with his first attempt in the long jump qualification event. The young Patthuraj, meanwhile, 7.61m with his first attempt.

Note: All athletes meeting the Qualification Standard (Q) or at least 12 best performers (q) advance to Final

Unnati 13-17. The Indian is doing well here.

Attacking doubles style with backhand from the net. The Unnati attack is humming .... Beginning to.

Over in the 25m pistol event's qualification phase, Esha Singh is now in 5th spot in the qualification race while two-time Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker has slipped to 12th! These are the scores in the precision stage, the rapid stage is tomorrow.

Rahi Sarnobat is yet to come out and take aim, along with 12 other shooters.

It's a million years away, the closing ceremony of this Asian Games. But since he was deprived of the chance in opening ceremony because his dress did not reach in time, Tajinder Singh Tour should be handed the honour at closing ceremony. 2 Gold + 1 Silver is phenomenal. Why the ceremonial outfits didn't reach T&Fers remains a mystery.

(As an aside, read Nitin Sharma's exceptional piece on Toor and why he dedicated his silver medal to his young daughter)

Both Indian riders are out of medal contention now after China's Jiayi Yu and Jackpoint earns 75.050 with their routine!

This means Hriday Vipul Chheda is fourth now with a score of 72.680. And Jai Sud, who was leading the individual dressage event at the halfway mark, is now fifth.

Three more riders left.

Tejaswin Shankar clocks 14.33 in the 110m hurdles and still leads the Decathlon but his lead has thinned with both Chen and Maruyama getting more points in this.

Sadly other Indian in fray, Thowfeeq N didn't start and will not finish the event

From Pritish Raj

Tejaswin Shankar clocks 14.33 in the 110m hurdles and still leads the Decathlon but his lead has thinned with both Chen and Maruyama getting more points in this.

Sadly other Indian in fray, Thowfeeq N didn't start and will not finish the event

Shivani Naik writes: Tan-Thinaah are a gear slower than Chinese conquerors Liu-Tan who have revolutionised women's doubles badminton with power & speed. But the Malaysians are tactically very pickled in the placement arts (good 'ol Malaysian trix) and were still enough.

Going forward, Treesa-Gayatri will need to counter those.

Effectively, no medal yet in Individuals this edition.

Down to Unnati (vs Akane Yamaguchi) & Sindhu (vs Chen Yufei)

Shivani Naik writes: It's a big learning for Treesa Jolly on days when the "connection" just doesn't ... buffer, for want of better word.

If the keeps and putaways don't fetch up, you can't lose confidence . Easier said than done.

.

Treesa-Gayatri go down 21-18, 21-9.

Shivani Naik writes: Pearly Tan, a World Championships silver medallist, is what Gayatri will eventually want to model her offensive game over. She really attacks ferociously from the net

Shivani Naik writes: There's enough and more former players in badminton who are supremely articulate. Ashwini Ponappa, Aparna Popat, Aravind Bhat. Even Jwala Gutta. Why can't broadcasters bring in any of them to explain doubles? Sigh

Shivani Naik writes: Pearly Tan is back from a very tough knee injury and a rehab that seems to have gone well.

What it has done, is make Thinaah Muralitharan take on more attacking responsibilities than she already did. But she's a fairly offense-friendly shuttler anyway

Meanwhile, in the Dressage Individual final, Jai Sud astride Goofy La Perle, is in gold medal contention.

His overall score is 71.490. Here's a look at the scores by judges:

Judge E: 72.825 (Rank 1)

Judge H: 70.500 (Rank 2)

Judge C: 71.250 (Rank 1)

Judge M: 71.850 (Rank 1)

Judge B: 71.025 (Rank 3)

Seven riders done. Eight more riders to go (including the second Indian rider in the fray, Hriday Chheda riding Dono di Maggio.

Shivani Naik writes

Tanisha-Dhruv and Zhe-Dongping still spotted on adjacent court. So that's still alive

Tan-Thinaah 20-16 up

Shivani Naik writes

Indians tilt the fulcrum to 12-11, though Pearly Tan is on the offensive.

Her and Treesa easily might boast of the hardest smash. Besides Liu-Tan of China

Double Olympic medallist from Paris 2024, Manu Bhaker is currently in fifth place in the 25m Pistol Women event after three series in the precision round. Of course, there are many more shooters to go, including India's Esha Singh and Rahi Sarnobat.

Here are Manu's scores:

Precision Series 1: 96

Precision Series 2: 191

Precision Series 3: 287

Shivani Naik on the Women's doubles Quarterfinals

Treesa Jolly - Gayatri Gopichand vs Pearly Tan - Thinaah Muralitharan of Malaysia

Bronze medal (minimum) up for the taking.

Oma Gill Clark was on commentary till 1 am India time. So she's unlikely to fetch up (it would be cruel to expect her to).

So it's Indian commentators, who are now busy praising each other and their long acquaintance and their experience of watching badminton.

But they try to make badminton accessible. So Yay!

Zhe-Dongping go from 6-2 to 21-14 (I think)

From Shivani Naik

Shivani Naik writes

Tanisha Crasto - Dhruv Kapila vs Feng Yang Zhe - Huang Dongping , the top pair of China, about to start

But it's on Court 3. So this shall be followed the old-style: from snatches of sightings from adjacent court to Court 1, which is on TV. Tallied with Live Score, like the good ol' Tournament Software days

So some good news from archery at the Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Multipurpose Square. The men's team of Ganesh Mani Ratnam Thirumuru, Kushal Dalal and Sahil Jadhav has brushed aside the UAE trio of Sultan Almenhali, Yousef Alhosani and Abdalla Almansoori by a 235-215 margin.

Meanwhile, the women's compound archery team of Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Prithika Pradeep, Taniparthi Chikitha has defeated Mongolia 238-223.

Both teams are already competing in the quarter-finals. While the Indian men are in action against Bhutan, the women are duelling Kazakhstan.

So Indian's sports contingents in the past have had athletes called David Beckham and Ronaldo Singh (both cyclists for India) and London Singh ( a diver). But here's another unique name, Sugar Shanti Gayen. She's a surfer competing in Nagoya for India right this moment. And she seems to be ahead against her Chinese Taipei opponent Chen Wan-yu.

The Indian men's compound archery team of Ganesh Mani Ratnam Thirumuru, Kushal Dalal and Sahil Jadhav lead the trio of United Arab Emirates archers Sultan Almenhali, Yousef Alhosani and Abdalla Almansoori by a 175-160 margin at the moment in the 1/8 elimination round.

India's Priyanka disqualified in the women's marathon racewalk event! The Indian racewalker cannot win a medal in the seven-woman event because she has been shown four cards! Two cards for knee flexion and two cards for loss of contact!

Another early morning from Nagoya awaits us sports fans. It's a day where history in squash beckons for Anahat Singh and Abhay Singh and Manu Bhaker returns to the shooting ranges to ensure she makes up for her setback in the 10m air pistol events.

It promises to be a medal-filled day, and we'll have all the live updates all throughout. Make yourself a stiff coffee and keep this blog open on a tab.