India won their ninth gold medal at the Asian Games 2023 with Rohan Bopanna and Rutuja Bhosale winning the tennis mixed doubles final. Earlier, Indian boxers Lovlina Borgohain and Preeti assured India of more medals. Indian shooters Sarabjot Singh and Divya Thadigol delivered the first medal on Day 7 of the medal events at the Asian Games 2023. 

Follow live updates from Day 7 of the Asian Games 2023 below.

Asian Games 2023: India's Medal Tally

Asian Games 2023 Day 7 LIVE Updates

Historic victory in Table Tennis; Ayhika-Sutirtha pair assures medal: India's Sutirtha Mukherjee and Ayhika Mukherjee have performed brilliantly in table tennis to make a historic win. They defeated world number two pair Meng Chen and Yidi Wang 11-5, 11-5, 5-11, 11-9 to enter the semifinals. With this, India assured its first medal in table tennis at the Asian Games 2023.

India wins gold in Squash: In squash, the Indian men's team defeated Pakistan and won the gold medal. For the first time since 2014, the Indian team has won this medal in the Asian Games. For India, 18-year-old Abhay Singh performed brilliantly in the final and gave a brilliant performance in stressful conditions and won the gold medal for India. This is only the second gold medal for the Indian team in this sport at the Asian Games 2023. Earlier in 2014, India had won gold by defeating Malaysia.

Narender Berwal assures medal in Boxing: Indian heavyweight star Narender Berwal defeated Iran's Iman Ramezanpourdelavar to enter the men's +92kg semi-finals and seal his medal. There are only two quotas available in +92kg, so they will have to reach the finals to book their place at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Before Narender, Preeti and Lovlina had secured medals in boxing.

Rohan Bopanna and Rutuja Bhosale win gold in Tennis: Rohan Bopanna and Rutuja Bhosale have won the gold medal in mixed doubles tennis event. The Indian pair made a brilliant comeback after losing the opening set 6-2. They won the super tie-break 10–4. India's streak of winning gold medals in this sport continues since the 2002 Asian Games. Rohan Bopanna is now a two-time Asian Games champion. He won the men's doubles with Divij Sharan in 2018 and has now won a gold medal in the mixed doubles with Rutuja Bhosale.

Lovlina Borgohain confirms a medal: On Day 7 two Indian boxers have confirmed their medals. After Preeti, Lovlina also easily won her match against the Korean boxer and secured her medal by making it to the semi-finals. Preeti has secured medals in 54 kg and Lovlina in 75 kg weight category.

Preeti Pawar assures India of a medal; wins Olympic quota: 19 year old Preeti Pawar has made it to the semi-finals by defeating Zhaina Shekerbekova, the boxer from Kazakhstan, and is assured of at least a bronze medal. Preeti won the match by a margin of 4-1. The boxer from Kazakhstan had earlier won the bronze medal in 2022. In such a situation, Preeti created history by defeating her. Along with this, she has also got a ticket for the Paris Olympics.

Sarabjot Singh-Divya TS pair wins silver medal in Shooting: India has got its first medal of the Day 7 in shooting. The pair of Sarabjot Singh and Divya TS won the silver medal in the mixed category. The Indian pair had made a good start in the final, but in the end could not defeat the Chinese shooters. China won the match by a margin of 16-14. This is the eighth silver medal for India in shooting in the Asian Games 2023.

Ajay Kumar Saroj reaches finals in Athletics: Ajay Kumar Saroj finished second in the 1500m heats with a timing of 3:51.93 and qualified for the final. Jinson Johnson has also qualified for the 1500m final.

Jeswin Aldrin and Murali Sreeshankar reach the finals: Jeswin Aldrin cleared a distance of 7.67 and made it to the finals. Whereas, Murali Sreeshankar achieved a distance of 7.97 meters in the first attempt itself and crossed the mark of 7.90, and made it to the finals.

Indian Olympic Association President PT Usha on Monday said that the Executive Board (EB) of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has agreed to include yoga in the Asian Games and the OCA General Assembly If approved, it will get a place in the games.

Also Read: Paris Olympics 2024: IOA's members to get allowance of $300 per day, players to get $50

Usha proposed to include yoga in the Asian Games

PT Usha has written a letter to Randhir Singh, acting president of the Asian Olympic Council, on June 26, proposing to include yoga as a sport in the Asian Games. On Monday Usha confirmed that OCA acting president informed her about the EB's decision.

“I am delighted that the OCA Executive Board spontaneously agreed to India’s request to give yoga the recognition it deserves. The proposal shall now move through the Sports Committee to the General Assembly for confirmation,” PT Usha thanked Randhir Singh in an IOA release.

IOA is hopeful yoga will eventually become a medal sport.

An IOA source said that the first step has been taken towards including Yoga in the Asian Games as a medal sport. The final determination of whether yoga will be a medal sport or a demonstration sport will be made by the OCA General Assembly. Since yoga is widely practiced, the IOA is hopeful it will eventually become a medal sport.

“Whether it will be medal sport or demonstration sport, that will be decided by the OCA General Assembly. It’s the first step. But since Yoga is prevalent worldwide, the IOA is hoping for it to be a medal sport in due course of time,” the source said.

PT Usha indicated that it was a natural progression for the competitive sports community to adopt yoga, especially since it has gained global recognition. Yoga is an ancient Indian sport, which maintains physical and mental health.

Also Read: Mansukh Mandaviya in takes stock of India's preparation for Paris Olympics 2024 during a meeting with PT Usha

Yogasana Bharat has already received recognition from the Sports Ministry for the development of yogasana as a competitive sport in India. Additionally, Yogasana has been added as a competitive discipline in the Khelo India Youth Games and Khelo India University Games since 2020.

Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist boxer Lovlina Borgohain won a silver medal in the women's 75kg category at the Czech Grand Prix 2024 in Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic.

In the round-robin tournament, Lovlina Borgohain won against Chantelle Reid of England but lost to Cindy Ngamba and Li Qian. Borgohain lost her final match against the reigning Asian Games champion late on Saturday night by a margin of 2-3.

Also Read: Amit Panghal earns India's fifth Paris Olympics 2024 quota in Boxing

Qian is a two-time Olympic medalist and has three World Championship medals, including one gold to her name.

Four boxers were included in the women's 75 kg category in this tournament organized under the aegis of World Boxing. Borgohain, Refugee Boxing Team's Cindy Ngamba, Li Qian, and England's Chantelle Reid - and it is being held in a round-robin format.

Borgohain managed only one win in the tournament

Lovlina Borgohain managed only one win in the tournament, losing two of her three matches. This boxer from Assam had won her first match against England's Chantelle Reid by a split decision in a tough match, but later she had to face defeat from Cindy Ngamba and Li Qian. 

Lovlina gunning for her second Olympic medal

The 26-year-old boxer, who is the only Indian to participate in the tournament, is gunning for her second Olympic medal as she is one of the six Indian boxers to qualify for the Paris Olympics 2024.

Also Read: Nishant Dev achieves Paris Olympic quota, becomes the first male boxer to do so

Indian boxing team for Paris Games

The Indian boxing team for Paris 2024 is a mix of experienced Olympians and rising stars. In the women's category, Borgohain is joined by two-time world champion Nikhat Zareen (50 kg), Preeti Pawar (54 kg), and Jasmine Lamboria (57 kg). The men's team includes Amit Panghal (51 kg), and Nishant Dev (71 kg).

Asian Games silver medalist Jyothi Yarraji equaled her national record to win the women's 100m hurdles event at the Motonet GP Athletics Meet, but missed qualifying for the Paris Olympics 2024 by just 0.01 seconds. 

Also Read: Lakshya Sen and PV Sindhu to train abroad, Mission Olympics Cell gives approval

Competing in her third outdoor event of the season, Jyothi Yarraji clocked 12.78 seconds while the Paris Olympics qualification mark is 12.77 seconds. Jamaica’s Crystal Morrisson with 12.87 seconds and Finland’s Lotta Harala with 12.95 seconds settled for the second and third positions, respectively.

Interestingly, the 24-year-old athlete had missed the Olympic entry mark by the same margin at the World University Games in Chengdu, China last year. 

Most recently in April 2024, despite winning the gold medal, Jyothi Yarraji missed the qualifying mark by 0.1 seconds at the Harry Schulting Games at Vught in the Netherlands.

Tejas Shirse also missed Olympic mark

Meanwhile, Tejas Shirse won the men's 110m hurdles with a timing of 13.41 seconds. He broke the previous national record (13.48) set by Siddhanth Thingalaya at the 2017 Altice Invitational meet in the US. But his effort fell short of the Paris Olympics qualification mark of 13.27 seconds by a small margin.

Mohammed Afsal secured the top spot in the men’s 800m event

Mohammed Afsal won the men's 800m with a timing of 1:48.91. In the men's 100m race, 20-year-old Animesh Kujur finished second with a personal best timing of 10.39 seconds, while in the men's 200m national record holder Amlan Borgohain finished fourth in the 100m race with a personal best timing of 10.54 seconds.

The qualification period for the Paris Olympics ends on June 30. 

Also Read: Delhi High Court upholds Paris Olympics selection policy formulated by NRAI

Shaili Singh finished second at Trond Mohn Games

Elsewhere, at the Trond Mohn Games, which is also a World Athletics Continental Tour (silver) event in Bergen, Norway, Indian long jumper Shaili Singh finished second at 6.12m.

The star Indian badminton pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty achieved the top position in men's doubles of BWF World Rankings with 99,670 points. The Indian pair achieved this top position by winning the men's double event title of Thailand Open Super 500 badminton. They defeated China's Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi in the final.

Also Read: Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen qualifies for the Paris Olympics 2024

Satwik-Chirag toppled Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang of China to regain their position in the BWF World Rankings. Earlier, the Indian duo was in the third position before the start of the Thailand Open.

Satwik-Chirag has achieved the No. 1 position in the BWF World Rankings for the second time. Earlier, the duo had clinched the top position for the first time after winning the gold medal in the Asian Games. They also became the first Indian pair to achieve this milestone.

The excellent performance of this Indian pair before the Paris Olympics 2024 starting in July is a good sign for the country. 

Earlier, the pair had to face defeat in the pre-quarterfinals of the All England Champions and then Satwik-Chirag's performance in the Thomas Cup was also not good. However, this star pair has once again brought glory to the country by winning the Thailand Open title.

Also Read: Satwik-Chirag overtakes Saina Nehwal's record of spending the most number of weeks at No. 1 in BWF World Rankings

This was the Asian Games champion pair's second title of the season and ninth BWF World Tour title of their career. Before this, they had won the French Open Super 750 title in March. Apart from this, both were runner-ups in Malaysia Super 1000 and India Super 750.

Indian athlete Jyothi Yarraji won the women's 100m hurdles event at the Harry Schulting Games 2024 athletics meet in the Netherlands on Thursday. However, she was unlucky to miss the qualification mark for the Paris Olympics 2024 by one-tenth of a second. 

Also Read: Jyothi Yarraji to train in Spain as part of the preparations for the Paris Olympics 2024

Jyothi finished ahead of Mira Groot 

In her first event of the outdoor season in Europe, Asian Games silver medalist Jyothi Yarraji won the gold medal by clocking 12.87 seconds, ahead of Dutch hurdler Mira Groot, who finished second in 13.67 seconds, while another Dutch Runner Hanna van Baast finished in 13.84 seconds. 

Jyothi Yarraji finished first and clocked 12.87, missing the Olympic entry standard, set at 12.77, by 0.10 seconds. 

Earlier in the day, Jyothi had qualified for the 100m hurdles final with a timing of 13.04 seconds.

This is the second time Jyothi fell short of the qualifying mark

This is the second time that Jyoti, who trains at the Reliance Foundation High-Performance Center in Bhubaneswar, fell short of the qualifying mark by one hundredth of a second after she clocked a national record of 12.78 to clinch a bronze medal at the worlds.

Jyothi Yarraji, who had performed well at the Asian Indoor Season earlier in the year at the University Games in Chengdu, China, will compete in five more events during the Olympic qualifying period, which ends on June 30 this year.

Tejas Shirse won the 110m hurdles 

Meanwhile, Indian men's hurdler Tejas Shirse won the 110m hurdles in the same meet with a personal best timing of 13.56 seconds, ahead of local Dutch athletes Joas van Hellemondt (13.80 seconds) and Jamie Sesay (13.92 seconds). 

In the heats, Shirse came second overall with a timing of 13.78s. The qualifying mark in the men's 110m hurdles for the Paris Olympics is 13.27s. Meanwhile, India's national record in the event stands at 13.48s clocked by Siddhanth Thingalaya in 2017.

Also Read: Neeraj Chopra confirms his participation at Federation Cup in Bhubaneswar

Men's 200m national record holder Amlan Borgohain was also scheduled to compete in Vught on Thursday, but he did not attend the event.