New Delhi, Sept. 22 -- Indian opened its Asian Games 2026 gold medal account on Tuesday after the Harmanpreet Kaur-led women's cricket team defended their title, beating Sri Lanka by 147 runs in the final at the Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin. It was India's first gold medal of the Aichi-Nagoya Games and seventh overall following five in shooting and one in Mixed Martial Arts.

Electing to bat in a rematch of the Hangzhou final, India racked up an imposing 216/3, propelled by blistering knocks from openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma. Richa Ghosh put the icing on the cake with an unbeaten 49 off just 22 balls to power India well beyond the 200.

The defending champions then delivered a clinical bowling performance, bundling out Sri L...