Indian shot putter Manpreet Kaur made history on Friday by winning the bronze medal in the women’s shot put final at the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya.The 36-year-old became only the third Indian woman to win an Asian Games medal in women’s shot put.Manpreet secured bronze with a best throw of 17.17m, winning her first Asian Games medal. She opened with a throw of 16.32m and improved with each round before producing her medal-winning effort in the fourth round.She fouled her sixth and final attempt, but it did not affect the result as she remained third in the field.The 36-year-old Manpreet hails from Patiala and her last major international performance was a bronze at the 2023 Asian Championships. Her personal best is 18.06m that came in 2022.The bronze marks a return to the podium for Manpreet after more than a decade at the senior level. She returned to competition in 2021 after serving a four-year doping ban.At the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou, Manpreet finished fifth. Earlier this year, she narrowly missed a medal at the 2026 Commonwealth Games after finishing fourth with a throw of 17.49m.India’s other finalist, Krishna Jayasankar, finished fifth with a best throw of 16.57m.China’s Jiayuan Song won the gold medal with a throw of 19.40m, while China’s Linru Zhang took silver with 18.14m. Manpreet’s 17.17m was enough to secure bronze for India.
