Kabaddi Double Gold and Barwal's Historic Marathon Silver Give India Their Best Day of the Nagoya Asian Games

Nagoya: India produced their best day yet at the 20th Asian Games on Saturday, September 26, collecting seven medals across five sports as both kabaddi teams beat Iran to retain their titles and army runner Sawan Barwal ended a 44-year wait for an Asian Games marathon medal with a national record. The two golds, three silvers and two bronzes on Day 8 lifted India's overall tally in Aichi-Nagoya to 30 medals, according to Outlook India's count — four gold, twelve silver and fourteen bronze — as the Games moved into their final week.

Kabaddi's golden double at the Tokai Citizen Gymnasium

The day's emotional centrepiece came on the mat at the Tokai Citizen Gymnasium, where India completed a kabaddi golden sweep against familiar rivals Iran. The women went first and edged a tense final 37-34 to defend the crown they won at Hangzhou. India led 22-16 at the break, and per ANI's match report the raiders won the out-point battle 26-21 while Iran clawed back through bonus points, taking eight to India's six. Sanju Devi's super raid and an all-out forced under captain Pushpa Rana's leadership proved decisive, with Pooja contributing key points, Asianet Newsable reported.

The men's final was tighter still. Iran, the only side ever to take this title away from India — at Jakarta in 2018 — led 18-17 at halftime before India surged after the restart to win 40-34. Arjun Deshwal's aggressive raiding provided the breakthrough, Devank Dalal kept the scoreboard moving with consistent raids, and Sunil Kumar's super tackle anchored the defence alongside Sumit and Jaideep, while Aslam Inamdar converted crucial do-or-die raids. The victory gave India a record ninth men's kabaddi gold in the ten editions since the sport joined the Asian Games programme.

Barwal rewrites the marathon record books

If kabaddi delivered the expected gold, the marathon delivered history nobody had penciled in. Sawan Barwal, 28, clocked 2:11:37 to take silver behind Japan's Ichitaka Yamashita, who won gold in 2:10:49 in front of his home crowd. China's Feng Peiyou took bronze in 2:12:13. Barwal's time sliced 21 seconds off the national record of 2:11:58 he set at the Rotterdam Marathon in April — a mark that had itself broken Shivnath Singh's 48-year-old Indian record, WION reported.

The scale of the achievement is best measured in decades. India had not won an Asian Games marathon medal since 1982, when Hosur Kukkappa Seetharan took bronze in New Delhi. Before that, the country's only marathon podiums came at the inaugural 1951 Games, also in New Delhi, through Chhota Singh's gold and Surat Singh Mathur's bronze. Barwal's silver is therefore India's first Asian Games marathon medal in 44 years — and the first ever won outside Indian soil.

The race itself was a study in patience. Barwal passed halfway in 1:05:54, sitting second in the 19-man field, and held his position as Yamashita broke away with roughly seven kilometres remaining. His compatriot Kartik Karkera finished 17th in 2:22:41.

Toor's hat-trick, and a 400m breakthrough

The Nagoya track brought two more athletics medals. Shot putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor, champion at both Jakarta 2018 and Hangzhou, was denied a third straight gold but threw 20.64m for silver — completing a hat-trick of Asian Games medals across three editions, Olympics.com noted.

In the women's 400m, Prachi Chaudhary ran 53.21 seconds for bronze, finishing behind Bahrain's Salwa Eid Naser, whose 49.20 set a Games record, and Iran's Zahra Manoujan, who took silver in 52.38. It was India's first individual Asian Games medal in the women's one-lap event since Hima Das won silver at Jakarta 2018 — a gap of eight years in a discipline India once dominated through the likes of the 4x400m relay tradition.

Silver on the range, bronze on the glass court

India's shooters, who have carried much of the medal load in Nagoya's first week, added another team silver in the women's 50m rifle 3 positions event through Ashi Chouksey, Tilottama Sen and Vidarsa Vinod, according to Outlook India's Day 8 wrap. In squash, veteran Joshna Chinappa combined with Velavan Senthilkumar to take bronze in the mixed doubles, extending Chinappa's remarkable Asian Games medal collection into a fifth edition of the Games.

Where India stand with a week to go

Seven medals in a single day marked India's best return of these Games, which run from September 19 to October 4 across Aichi prefecture and Nagoya. The tally of 30 still leaves India chasing the record 107 medals won at Hangzhou in 2023, but the calendar favours a late surge: athletics continues through the coming week, and India's hockey, boxing, archery and wrestling campaigns — traditionally reliable sources of hardware — are still to reach their medal rounds.

For one Saturday in Nagoya, though, the story belonged to a sport India invented and a race India had almost given up on. The kabaddi teams reclaimed what Jakarta took from the men eight years ago, and Sawan Barwal proved an Indian marathoner can stand on an Asian podium far from home — something no compatriot had managed in the event's 75-year Asian Games history.

Sources: Outlook India, WION, Asianet Newsable, ANI, Olympics.com.