Yashaswini Ghorpade Exits Asian Games 2026 After Loss to Japan's Miwa Harimoto

Yashaswini Ghorpade's participation in the Asian Games 2026 came to an end after a tough match against Japan's Miwa Harimoto. Despite a strong performance in the third game, Ghorpade lost 1-4. Her journey included earlier victories and participation in doubles events. Meanwhile, India's badminton and athletics teams faced challenges, with notable performances in various sports. Read on for a detailed overview of India's athletes at the Games.

By Narendra Chaudhary Sep 26, 2026, 08:43 IST

Yashaswini Ghorpade's Journey at the Asian Games

In Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, on September 26, Yashaswini Ghorpade's run in the women's singles event at the Asian Games 2026 concluded after a defeat against Japan's Miwa Harimoto, who is ranked third in the world. The match ended with a score of 1-4 in favor of Harimoto.

Despite her efforts, Yashaswini faced challenges against the more experienced Japanese player, losing the first two games 9-11 and 5-11. However, she bounced back in the third game, winning decisively 11-4, which kept her hopes alive for a comeback.

Unfortunately, Harimoto regained her momentum, taking the fourth game 11-4 and sealing the match with an 11-5 victory in the fifth game, thus moving on to the next round.

Prior to this match, Yashaswini had progressed to the third round by defeating Hend Zaza from Syria in the second round.

The 21-year-old athlete had also participated in the women's doubles and mixed doubles events earlier in the competition.

On Friday, Yashaswini and her partner Diya Chitale were eliminated in the women's doubles quarter-finals, losing 0-3 to China's Fan Shuhan and Chen Yi. Additionally, Sreeja Akula and Syndrela Das faced a similar fate, being defeated 0-3 by China's Kuai Man and Wang Manyu in the third round of women's doubles.

India's table tennis team had previously secured a bronze medal in mixed doubles, with Manush Shah and Diya Chitale reaching the semi-finals before falling to China's Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha.

In another setback for India, badminton player Lakshya Sen was knocked out in the first round of the men's singles event, losing to Singapore's former world champion Loh Kean Yew with scores of 12-21, 21-15, and 14-21. Although Sen managed to equalize after losing the first game, he could not maintain the momentum in the final game.

Earlier, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also exited the men's doubles competition prematurely, while PV Sindhu remains a strong contender in the women's singles.

In athletics, Sawan Barwal achieved a remarkable feat by winning silver in the men's marathon, setting a national record with a time of 2:11:37 on Day 7.

In canoe sprint, Harshwardhan Shaktawat advanced to Final B of the men's kayak single 500m after finishing fifth in his semifinal. Parvathy Geetha and Prasanna Kumar qualified for Final A of the mixed kayak double 500m by securing second place in their semifinal.

India's fencing team also made progress, reaching the quarter-finals of the women's foil team event after defeating Indonesia 45-24 in the round of 16.