India opened their medal account at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games on Monday, with Khushbu Rajakbhai Darjada winning silver in women’s judo -63kg and Dhinidhi Desinghu claiming a historic bronze in the women’s 100m freestyle swimming.
Khushbu, 15, became only the second Indian judoka to win a medal at the Youth Olympic Games after finishing runner-up to Germany’s Jolina Reinhold, who won the final by ippon.
Thangjam Tababi Devi was the first Indian to achieve the feat, having won silver in the women’s 44kg category at Buenos Aires 2018.
“I gave my best in every bout and was happy with the way I fought my way into the final,” Khushbu said. “Of course, I would have loved to win gold, but this experience has taught me a lot and given me more motivation to work harder.”
Khushbu began her campaign with a 1-0 victory by yuko over Guinea’s Mamaissata Camara in the round of 16 before defeating Morocco’s Abir Bouazzaoui by ippon in the quarter-finals.
The Indian judoka followed it up with another ippon victory against Algeria’s Dounia Berrahoual in the semi-finals to secure her place in the gold medal bout.
Khushbu belongs to Gujarat’s Siddi community, which traces its ancestry to Africa.
Earlier in the day, Dhinidhi Desinghu became the first Indian swimmer to win a medal at the Youth Olympics after clinching bronze in the women’s 100m freestyle.
The 16-year-old from Bengaluru clocked 56.27 seconds in the final, improving her own national record by 0.40 seconds. She had previously recorded 56.67 seconds at the National Aquatic Championships earlier this year.
Croatia’s Ana Bobanovic won gold in 55.89 seconds, while New Zealand’s Alyssa Lawson took silver in 56.13 seconds.
Dhinidhi, who was India’s youngest athlete at the Paris 2024 Olympics, had qualified for the final as the third-fastest swimmer across the heats with a time of 56.80 seconds.
Despite making history, the Indian teenager admitted that she had hoped for more.
“I knew there was a chance, but I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself, thinking, ‘Oh, if you don’t win, this is the end of it for you,’ because I still have two more events,” Dhinidhi said.
“Mentally, I really wanted that medal. I wasn’t extremely thrilled with it because every athlete comes here to win gold.”
“Still, I feel really proud about it, especially being the country’s first medal.”
Dhinidhi will have further opportunities to add to her medal tally when she competes in the women’s 200m individual medley and 200m freestyle events later in the competition.
Meanwhile, Tirthank Pegu narrowly missed out on a swimming medal after finishing fourth in the men’s 100m butterfly final on Sunday. He clocked 54.98 seconds, missing the podium by just 0.27 seconds.
Two-time Olympian Srihari Nataraj was the first Indian swimmer to reach a Youth Olympic final, finishing sixth in the men’s 100m backstroke at Buenos Aires 2018.
India will also have another medal opportunity on Tuesday, with Rajkumari Lanchenbi Chanu advancing to the women’s wushu taolu changquan combined final.
The Indian finished second in the preliminary round with a total score of 17.982 to qualify for the medal event.
read more: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/youth-olympics-dakar-2026-india-judo-swimming-medal-report
