Disappointing Day for India in Canoe Sprint and Rowing at Asian Games 2026

Canoe Sprint: A Day of Disappointments

On the fifth day of the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, India faced a series of disappointing results in Canoe Sprint. In the men's kayak four 500 m final, the Indian team comprising Harshwardhan Shaktawat, Varinder Singh, L Naocha Singh Oinam, and Arun Singh secured seventh place out of nine, finishing with a time of 1:28.982. The gold, silver, and bronze medals were claimed by South Korea, China, and Japan, respectively.

In the men's double 500 m final A, the pair of Gyaneshwor Singh and Raju Rawat ended up in ninth place, clocking a time of 1:56.121.

In the women's events, Megha Pradeep finished fourth out of five in the women's canoe single 200 m semifinal, with a time of 51.093, leading to her elimination. Additionally, the duo of Soniya Devi and Parvathy Geetha finished last in the women's kayak double 500 m semifinal, recording a time of 2:01.020.

Rowing: Mixed Fortunes on the Water

In rowing, India's team of Gurbani Kaur, Poonam, Tendenthoi Devi Haobijam, and Aleena Anto finished sixth in the women's four final, clocking a time of 6:55.32. China won the gold medal with a time of 6:34.87, followed by Uzbekistan and Vietnam taking silver and bronze, respectively.

Wushu: Roshibina Devi Secures Historic Silver

Roshibina Devi made history by winning her second consecutive silver medal at the Asian Games, losing to China's Zhang Xiaoyu in the women's sanda 60 kg final. Roshibina, who also secured a silver medal at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, lost both rounds with a score of 0-5, with the Chinese opponent winning the match 2-0.

Having previously won a bronze at the 2018 Asian Games, Roshibina is now the first Indian woman to achieve three consecutive medals in Wushu at the Asian Games. Her impressive journey in Japan included a victory over the 2023 world champion, Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy from Vietnam.

On Wednesday, she defeated Indonesia’s Thania Kusumaningtyas 2-0 in the semi-final to reach the final. This marks India's 14th medal at the ongoing event, which includes one gold, six silvers, and seven bronze medals.

Rowers Add Bronze to India's Tally

Earlier, the rowing team of Satnam Singh and Salman Khan clinched a bronze medal in the men's double sculls final, finishing with a time of 6:13.25. They were 3.48 seconds behind the gold medalists Yi Xudi and Nie Yide from China and 2.76 seconds behind the silver medalists Mekhrojbek Mamatkulov and Pavel Sorin.

The duo maintained second place at the 500m, 1000m, and 1500m marks but lost momentum towards the end. At one point, they were just half a second behind the Chinese team.

In the men's singles sculls, Balraj Panwar finished fourth. He held second place at the 500m, 1000m, and 1500m marks but was overtaken by Shakhboz Kholmurzaev from Uzbekistan and Tatsuya Sakurama from Japan in the final stretch. Balraj clocked a time of 6:54.80, finishing eight seconds behind Sakurama and 15 seconds behind the gold medalist Zhiwei Deng from China.