Asian Games: Aryan Thakur sweeps past Mongolian rival in soft tennis; Alisha Choudhary exits karate R16

Aichi-Nagoya: India's Aryan Thakur began his men's singles soft tennis campaign at the Asian Games 2026 with a convincing 4-0 win over Mongolia's Bold-erdene Altangerel, while Asian Championship winner Alisha Choudhary suffered an early exit in women's karate on Tuesday.

Thakur dominated his Group C contest, registering a 4-1, 4-1, 4-0, 4-1 victory over Altangerel. The Indian will next face Chen Po-yi of Chinese Taipei in his second group match at noon on Tuesday, according to ESPN.

In karate, Choudhary went down 1-6 to Indonesia's Cok Istri Agung Sanistyarin the women's kumite - 55kg round of 16.


The Indonesian established an early advantage with five points, including a Yuko and an Ippon, while Choudhary also received warnings that gave her opponent a Senshu point. The Indian managed to score a Yuko in the closing seconds, but could not overturn the deficit.

Elsewhere on Day 3, India's women's table tennis team defeated Thailand 3-2 in the round of 16 to progress in the competition.

In boxing, Sakshi Chaudhary advanced to the women's 51kg round of 16 with a unanimous 5-0 decision over Paris Olympics bronze medallist Aira Villegas of the Philippines. Sakshi, a Commonwealth Games gold medallist, will next face Kazakhstan's Alua Balkibekova on Thursday.

India's men's kabaddi team also registered a 63-31 win over South Korea in their Group A match.

In shooting, Elavenil Valarivan and Parth Mane finished fourth in the 10m air rifle mixed team final after placing second in qualification and securing a place in the gold medal match.

In swimming, the Indian men's 4x100m medley relay team of Rishabh Das, Akash Mani, Benediction Beniston and Dhanush Suresh finished seventh overall in the heats to qualify for the final.

Jay Meena defeated Pakistan's Hussain Arain 4-0 in the men's singles Group D soft tennis competition, while Aadhya Tiwari lost 1-4 to Thailand's Alisha Ziegler in the women's singles Group D.

Langlentombi Devi Hanjabam finished ninth in the women's Nanquan final in wushu. Fencers Sachin and Hemash Singh finished fourth in Pool 1 and Pool 5, respectively, in the men's individual foil event.

Aryan Nehra finished fourth in the men's 1500m freestyle final B, while Chetan Bhatt lost his men's 84kg kumite bronze medal match. India also suffered a 0-3 defeat against Malaysia in the men's team Regu Group B sepaktakraw competition.

In equestrian dressage, Ashish Limaye and Willy Be Dun finished 13th, Arjan Nagra and Cooley Goodwood were 23rd, while Fouaad Mirza and Camouflage 38 finished 26th.

India won three medals on Day 2, with Himanshu Dhillon, Rudrankksh Patil and Parth Mane securing silver in the men's 10m air rifle team event. Dhillon and Patil later added individual medals, while MMA fighter Suchika Tariyal also claimed a bronze.