Kerala’s Vidarsa K Vinod launches India’s Asiad medal hunt with team silver in shooting

Nagoya: India opened their medal tally at the 2026 Asian Games with a silver in women’s shooting. The three-member team of Elavenil Valarivan, Sonam Uttam Maskar and Malayali shooter Vidarsa K Vinod secured silver in the women’s 10m air rifle event here on Sunday.

The Indian team finished second with a point tally of 1898.0 to clinch the country’s first medal of the 2026 edition of the competition. China came first, scoring 1904.2 points to win the gold medal. The hosts Japan finished third in the standings.

The feat comes sweeter, as Malayali shooter Vidarsa Vinod takes India to their first medal of the Games. Kozhikode-based Vidarsa tallied 630.4 points, along with Sonam (634.1) and Elavenil (633.5), to secure the medal.