Asian Games 2026: RF athletes Sathiyan, Payas and Srikanth help India to commanding wins

Reliance Foundation (RF) athletes were at the heart of India’s strong performances at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya on Monday, with Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Payas Jain and Kidambi Srikanth contributing to commanding victories in table tennis and badminton.

Sathiyan and Payas helped the Indian men’s table tennis team complete a 3-0 sweep of Pakistan in their Group F encounter.

After Harmeet Desai put India ahead, G Sathiyan defeated Abbas Khan 11-1, 11-8, 11-9 before Payas completed the victory with an 11-2, 11-5, 11-7 win over Muhammad Khan.

India did not drop a game across the three matches.

In badminton, RF athletes Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty and Kidambi Srikanth were part of the Indian men’s team that beat Bangladesh 3-0 in the round of 16 to progress to the quarter-finals.

Srikanth sealed the tie with a comfortable 21-15, 21-9 victory over Jumar Al-Amin after Lakshya Sen and Ayush Shetty had won the opening two singles matches.

Satwik and Chirag were not required to take the court as India wrapped up the contest in the singles rubbers. India will face hosts Japan in the quarter-finals.

India add three shooting medals 

India enjoyed further success in shooting, with Himanshu Dhillon winning silver and Rudrankksh Patil taking bronze in the men’s 10m air rifle individual event. The duo had earlier combined with Parth Mane to claim silver in the team competition.

The Indian men’s kabaddi team also made a winning start to its title defence, beating hosts Japan 49-24 in its opening Group A match. India led 31-9 at half-time before closing out a comfortable 25-point victory.

Meanwhile, Suchika Tariyal made history by winning India’s first Asian Games medal in MMA. The 36-year-old took bronze in the women’s traditional 60kg event after going down 2-0 to Singapore’s Teo Hui Hoon in the semi-finals