Who is Harita Bhadra? She is the 23-year-old sprinter from Mumbai who won India’s first women’s 200m medal at the Asian Games in eight years. In Nagoya she took bronze in 23.20 seconds, and two days later she anchored India to bronze in the mixed 4x100m relay.
Yet until 2025, Harita was a sports science student in England. This page therefore tells her whole story so far: her medals, her personal bests, her 2026 season race by race, and the jewellery brand she runs off the track.
Harita Bhadra at a glance
- Born: 6 June 2003, Mumbai
- Age: 23
- State: Maharashtra
- Events: 200m, 100m and 60m
- Personal bests: 60m 7.32, 100m 11.22, 200m 23.14
- Asian Games 2026: bronze in the 200m and in the mixed 4x100m relay
- Education: BSc in Sports Science, Coaching and Physical Education, Loughborough University (2025)
- Off the track: runs Dagina, a handmade jewellery brand
Who is Harita Bhadra? The short answer
Harita Bhadra is an Indian sprinter who represents Maharashtra. She was born in Mumbai on 6 June 2003, according to World Athletics, and she runs the 60m, 100m and 200m.
Her 2026 season was her first full year on the track. Within those months, she won the national indoor 60m title and the national 200m title. She then ran the second-fastest 100m by an Indian woman and won two Asian Games medals.
Asian Games 2026: 200m bronze by one hundredth
In the heats on 26 September, Harita finished second in 23.31 behind Singapore’s Shanti Pereira, who won the heat in 23.10. The final followed a day later, on Sunday 27 September.
Pereira won gold in 22.78, while China’s Chen Yujie took silver in 22.93. Harita, meanwhile, came off the bend behind and closed hard down the straight. As a result, she edged Japan’s Abigeirufuka Ido for bronze by just 0.01 seconds.
| Place | Athlete | Country | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shanti Pereira | Singapore | 22.78 |
| 2 | Chen Yujie | China | 22.93 |
| 3 | Harita Bhadra | India | 23.20 |
| 4 | Abigeirufuka Ido | Japan | 23.21 |
| 6 | Unnathi Aiyappa Bolland | India | 23.46 |
The medal also ended a long wait. Before Harita, the last Indian woman with an Asian Games 200m medal was Dutee Chand, who won silver at Jakarta in 2018. In fact, Dutee also clocked 23.20 in that final, as Scroll reported.
Mixed 4x100m relay bronze on the anchor leg
Two days after the 200m final, Harita ran the last leg of the mixed 4x100m relay. Gurindervir Singh, Sneha Sathyanarayana and Animesh Kujur ran the first three legs. Then Harita moved India into the bronze position in the final stretch.
India clocked 41.06 seconds behind China (40.78) and Thailand (40.87). In addition, DD News reported the time as a national record, an improvement on the 41.35 that an Indian team ran at the World Relays earlier in 2026.
Harita Bhadra’s 2026 season, race by race
Her rise came in steps. For example, her 200m best dropped from 23.58 in June to 23.14 at the national championships only days later. Similarly, her 100m best fell from 11.55 to 11.22 by September.
| When | Meet | Event | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 March | National Indoor Championships, Bhubaneswar | 60m | 7.32, national indoor title |
| Before June | Indian Athletics Series-6, Chennai | 100m | 11.55, a personal best then |
| June | Indian Series-10 | 200m | 23.58, won |
| June | Inter-State Championships heats, Bhubaneswar | 200m | 23.55 |
| 25 June | Inter-State Championships final, Bhubaneswar | 200m | 23.14, national title |
| August | World Athletics Continental Tour meet, Bhubaneswar | 100m | 11.46 |
| 2 September | Indian Series-15, Meerut | 200m | 23.36, won |
| 10 September | Indian Athletics Final Series, New Delhi | 100m | 11.22, won |
| 26 September | Asian Games heats, Nagoya | 200m | 23.31, second in heat |
| 27 September | Asian Games final, Nagoya | 200m | 23.20, bronze |
| 29 September | Asian Games, Nagoya | Mixed 4x100m relay | 41.06, bronze |
Harita Bhadra personal bests
All three of her personal bests came in 2026. The dates and venues below are from her World Athletics profile and our race reports.
| Event | Time | Where | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60m (indoor) | 7.32 | Kalinga Indoor Stadium, Bhubaneswar | 25 March 2026 |
| 100m | 11.22 | Indian Athletics Final Series, New Delhi | 10 September 2026 |
| 200m | 23.14 | Inter-State Championships, Bhubaneswar | 25 June 2026 |
Her 11.22 in the 100m is the second-fastest time by an Indian woman, behind only Dutee Chand’s national record of 11.17. In that race she also beat Abinaya Rajarajan (11.31), Giridharani Ravikumar (11.35) and Unnathi Bolland (11.37), according to The Logical Indian. Meanwhile, her 23.14 placed her ninth on India’s all-time 200m list.
From Loughborough to Nagoya: her story
Harita studied in England at Loughborough University, and she finished a BSc in Sports Science, Coaching and Physical Education in 2025. After that, she decided to give 2026 completely to athletics, instead of splitting her time between study and sport.
She now trains with the Reliance Foundation athletics programme in Navi Mumbai. Her season started in February, so the Asian Games came after about one year of full-time training.
However, her place in Nagoya was not certain. She was not in the first list of athletes, so the Indian Olympic Association asked the organisers to add her late. The Sports Ministry then cleared her on 2 September, PTI reported. The Games were also her first international meet for India. “This is my first time representing India,” she said after the 200m final.
Beyond the track: Dagina and Rafael Nadal
Off the track, Harita runs Dagina, a handmade jewellery brand. She designs and makes the pieces herself and sells them online. After the Asian Games, she also said she wants to design a piece inspired by Japan to mark her medal.
Her sporting idol is the tennis player Rafael Nadal, because she admires his mental strength and his humility. Her own approach is just as simple: she takes life one day at a time.
Follow Harita Bhadra on Athletics India
Her full stats and results are on Harita Bhadra’s athlete profile. In addition, results from the National Open Athletics Championships in New Delhi are on our National Open 2026 page.