The opening medal day of the XX Summer Asian Games in Japan began well for Kazakhstan. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

Triathlete Arlan Zhalabay took part in the distribution of the very first set of medals, winning bronze.

The third place was followed by the first gold. Cyclist Rinata Sultanova was unmatched in the individual time trial. Alexey Lutsenko in the same discipline, but in the men's event, supported Rinata's winning start, becoming a five-time champion of the Games.

Two more gold medals were brought to the team's tally by karate athletes. Zholaman Bigabyl became first in the up to 57 kg weight class, and Sofya Berultseva won in the over 68 kg category.

The second bronze for Kazakhstan at these Games was earned by the men's pentathlon team of Temirlan Abdraimov, Tikhon Varekhin, Lev Chuvashov and Kirill Stadnik. The women's pentathlon team (Yuliana Petrova, Ayana Kazbekova and Diana Shchedrova) stopped one step short of the podium.

In team sports, there were more disappointments than victories. The Kazakh women's volleyball team led in every set of the quarterfinal against South Korea but lost all three – 24:26, 25:27, 21:25. Tomorrow, Askar Shalkibekov's team will determine in a match against Chinese Taipei whether it will fight for 5th or 7th place in the final classification.

The women's basketball team lost by a humiliating score of 23:88 to a far from the strongest lineup of the Japanese national team. Minus 65 points is an anti-record for Kazakhstan's basketball team at the Asian Games.

Both the men's and women's handball teams suffered defeat. The women lost to South Korea – 18:42, the men failed against Bahrain – 20:43. The water polo women, however, pleased, starting the Asian Games with a victory over Singapore – 12:7.

Three representatives of Kazakhstan's mixed martial arts (MMA) team reached the semifinals. Sanzhar Adilov (65 kg), Kadyrbek Shynbayev (71 kg) and Yerkingali Burkutalin (77 kg) will compete for a place in the final.

Kazakh swimmers were left without medals. The only one of our athletes to break into the final was Aibat Myrzamuratov. He took 7th place in the 200 m individual medley.

Kazakh female athletes failed to reach the final of the 10 m air rifle shooting competition. In the team standings, our team (Alexandra Le, Yelizaveta Bezrukova and Sofya Shulzhenko) finished sixth.

The men's national table tennis team, consisting of Kirill Gerasimenko, Alan Kurmangaliyev and Sanzhar Zhubanov, won two matches in Group G. Against Bangladesh – 3:0 and Singapore – 3:1. The women's team lost to South Korea – 0:3.

The beach volleyball duo of Sergey Bogatu/Kirill Gurin won their opening match at the Asian Games against Indonesians. Mohammad Abdulmazhid and Dmitry Yakovlev lost to the Japanese.

17th place in the triathlon was taken by the 2026 Asian champion among girls, Diana Yerzhanova.

Today's day at the Asian Games ended with the men's basketball final. South Korea beat Japan 67:57 and won gold for the fifth time in the tournament's history. China lost to Iran in the bronze medal match – 70:79.

After the first medal day, it was the Chinese who collected the richest harvest of awards. Kazakhstan is in fourth place.

The XX Summer Asian Games in Japan officially opened yesterday, September 19. In the multi-sport competitions with athletes from 45 countries, 460 sets of medals are being contested. 217 – among men, 204 – among women and 39 – in mixed categories. The tournaments will be held in 68 disciplines of 41 sports.

Kazakhstan's team at the 2026 Asian Games includes 559 athletes.