India Prepares for Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026 with High Hopes

India's Ambitious Goals at the Asian Games

India is set to showcase its athletic prowess at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026, scheduled from September 19 to October 4 in Japan. This event follows India's historic achievement at the Hangzhou Asian Games, where the nation secured a remarkable 107 medals, comprising 28 gold, 38 silver, and 41 bronze.

The upcoming continental event will see participation from athletes representing 45 countries and regions across 43 different sports.

Star Athletes and Medal Aspirations

Despite the absence of Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra due to an ankle injury, India's delegation includes five individual Olympic medalists. Key contenders for medals include two-time Olympic medalist PV Sindhu in badminton, Manu Bhaker, who is expected to compete in shooting, Lovlina Borgohain in boxing, Aman Sehrawat in wrestling, and Mirabai Chanu in weightlifting.

Team Events and Olympic Qualification

In cricket, the Indian men's team, led by Shreyas Iyer, aims to defend its T20 title, while the women's team, captained by Harmanpreet Kaur, seeks to retain its championship as well. Hockey will play a crucial role, with both men's and women's competitions serving as qualifiers for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, where the tournament winners will gain direct entry.

Anahat Singh returns to the Asian Games after contributing to India's success in the women's team and mixed doubles events at Hangzhou 2023.

Challenges and Changes in the Contingent

India's preparations have faced hurdles, including the removal of wrestlers Mukul Dahiya and Deepanshu due to doping violations. Shooter Gaurav Kumar Masoori was also excluded for a doping offense, replaced by Akash Bharadwaj. The show jumping team was disqualified for not meeting the Sports Ministry's selection criteria, and several top female tennis players were omitted from the squad following a government review.

Additionally, the women's cricket team experienced a late change, with Jemimah Rodrigues ruled out due to a hamstring injury, leading to Pratika Rawal's inclusion.

India's Asian Games 2026 Squad Overview

Archery Team

Dhiraj Bommadevara, Neeraj Chauhan, Yashdeep Bhoge, Kirti Sharma, Kumkum Mohod, Ankita Bhakat, Sahil Jadhav, Kushal Dalal, Ganesh Mani Ratnam Thirumuru, Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Chikitha Taniparthi, Prithika Pradeep

Artistic Gymnastics Team

Pranati Nayak

Athletics Team

Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur, Rajesh Ramesh, Vishal Thennarasu Kayalvizhi, Krishan Kumar, Mohammed Afsal Pulikkalakath, Yoonus Shah, Abhishek Pal, Gulveer Singh, Sawan Barwal, Kartik Karkera, Tejas Shirse, Yashas Palaksha, Santhosh Kumar Tamilarasan, Avinash Sable, Pranav Pramod Gurav, Mohammed Ashfaq, Dharmveer Choudhary, Jay Kumar, Manu Thekkinalil Saji, Aadarsh Ram Jothi Shankar, Sarvesh Kushare, Kuldeep Kumar, Dev Meena, Murali Sreeshankar, Shahnavaz Khan, Praveen Chithravel, Karthik Unnikrishnan, Karanveer Singh, Tajinderpal Singh Toor, Damneet Singh, Rohit Yadav, Thowfeeq Noushad, Tejaswin Shankar, Prachi Choudhary, Gowthami Jayaraman, Pooja, Parul Chaudhary, Seema, Priyanka Goswami, Manju Rani, Jyothi Yarraji, Nandhini Kongan, Unnathi Aiyappa Bolland, Anu Raghavan, Vithya Ramraj, Ankita Dhyani, Tamanna, Nithya Gandhe, Srabani Nanda, Abinaya Rajarajan, Sneha Sathyanarayana, Sudeshna Shanuvalli, Rashdeep Kaur, Ansa Babu, Machettira Raju Poovamma, Kumari Saloni, Neeru Pathak, Pooja Singh, Supriya Sindigere Basavaraju, Baranica Elangovan, Shaili Singh, Ancy Sojan Edappilly, Niharika Vashisht, Manpreet Kaur, Krishna Jayasankar Menon, Seema Kaliramna, Tanya Chaudhary, Anushka Yadav, Pooja, Anamika Kozhinjaparambil Aneesh

Badminton Team

Lakshya Sen, Ayush Shetty, HS Prannoy, Kidambi Srikanth, Tharun Mannepalli, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, Hariharan Amsakarunan, MR Arjun, Dhruv Kapila, PV Sindhu, Unnati Hooda, Devika Sihag, Tanvi Sharma, Isharani Baruah, Treesa Jolly, Gayatri Gopichand, Kavipriya Selvam, Simran Singhi, Tanisha Crasto

Boxing Team

Jadumani Singh, Sachin Siwach, Sumit Kundu, Ankush, Kapil Pokhariya, Narender Berwal, Sakshi Chaudhary, Preeti Pawar, Priya Ghanghas, Parveen Hooda, Lovlina Borgohain

Canoeing Team

Hitesh Kewat, Pradhyumna Singh Rathod, Shikha Chouhan, Pallavi Jagtap, Rina Sen, Prohit Baroi, Prasanna Kumar Chempadiyil Sathyaprakash, Naocha Singh Laitonjam, Gyaneshwor Singh Philem, Raju Rawat, Harshwardhan Singh Shaktawat, Varinder Singh, Oinam Arun Singh, Neha Devi Leichonbam, Soniya Devi Phairembam, Megha Pradeep, Pooja, Parvathy Geetha, Dhanamanjuri Devi Khwairakpam

Cricket Teams

Men's: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi

Women's: Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Pratika Rawal, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Gunalan Kamalini, Bharti Fulmali, Sree Charani, Renuka Thakur, Kranti Gaud, Arundhati Reddy, Shreyanka Patil, Radha Yadav, Nandani Sharma

Cycling Team

Vishavjeet Singh, David Beckham Elkatohchoongo, Jemsh Singh Keithellakpam, Ronaldo Singh Laitonjam, Harshveer Singh Sekhon, Rojit Singh Yanglem, Celestina Chelobroy, Meenakshi Rohilla, Keerthi Rangaswamy Chikka, Pooja Baban Danole, Harshita Jakhar, Sarita Kumari, Triyasha Paul, Swasti Singh

Equestrian Team

Hriday Chheda, Gaurav Pundir, Jai Sud, Shruti Vora, Ahaan Kumar, Ashish Limaye, Fouaad Mirza, Arjan Singh Nagra

Esports Team

Chinmay Sahoo, Danial Shakeel Patel, Ahmed Shahid Israr, Rahul Bisht, Sanindhya Malik, Mihir Ranjan, Aakash Shandilya, Akshaj Shenoy, Adnan Mohammed Badshah, Reuben Godfrey Fernandes, Sai Krishna Nalluri, Dipjyoti Laxman Nath, Rudra Narayan Nayak, Deepkumar Vipulbhai Patel, Paritosh

Fencing Team

Sachin, Aditya Badser, Tejas Manoj Patil, Hemash Singh Sanasam, Lakshay Badser, Gisho Nidhi Kumaresan Padma, Karan Singh, Vishal Thapar, Mina Devi Naorem, Joys Ashitha Stalinraj, Kanupriya Chawla, Sonia Devi Waikhom, Mitva Jesangbhai Chaudhari, Yashkeerat Kaur Hayer, Taniksha Khatri, Prachi Lohan, CA Bhavani Devi, Shreya Gupta, Jefarlin Jani Rexlin Simla, Shruti Joshi

Golf Team

Yuvraj Sandhu, Veer Ahlawat, Saptak Talwar, Aditi Ashok, Diksha Dagar, Pranavi Urs

Hockey Teams

Men's: Harmanpreet Singh (captain), Mohith HS, Suraj Karkera, Jarmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Jugraj Singh, Sanjay, Sumit, Yashdeep Siwach, Rajinder Singh, Raj Kumar Pal, Hardik Singh, Manpreet Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Dilpreet Singh, Shilanand Lakra, Sukhjeet Singh, Mandeep Singh, Abhishek

Women's: Salima Tete (captain), Savita Punia, Bichu Devi Kharibam, Ishika Chaudhary, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, Lalthantluangi, Jyoti, Shilpi Dabas, Nikki Pradhan, Sakshi Rana, Sunelita Toppo, Neha, Deepika Soreng, Lalremsiami Hmarzote, Rutuja Pisal, Navneet Kaur, Deepika, Ishika, Baljeet Kaur, Beauty Dungdung

Judo Team

Asmita Dey, Yamini Mourya, Inunganbi Takhellambam

Kabaddi Teams

Men's: Sunil Kumar (captain), Ankit Jaglan, Devank Dalal, Rahul Sethpal, Sumit, Jaideep Dahiya, Ayan Lochab, Arjun Deshwal, Aslam Inamdar, Gaurav Khatri, Pawan Sehrawat, Ashu Malik

Women's: Pushpa Rana (captain), Jyoti Thakur, Nikita Hathwala, Pooja, Raj Rani, Ritu Sheoran, Bhavna Devi, Sanju Devi, Manisha Kumari, Ritu Negi, Pinki Roy, Sonali Vishnu Shingate

Karate Team

Chetan Bhatt, Alisha Choudhary

Kurash Team

Vipin Kumar, Vishal, Yash Kumar, Bharti, Sangita Balhara, Pincky Chauhan

Mixed Martial Arts Team

Suchika Tariyal

Rowing Team

Arvind Singh, Navdeep Singh, Kulwinder Singh, Ujjwal Kumar Singh, Satnam Singh Ghurde, Jakar Khan, Salman Khan, Balraj Panwar, Vipul Satish, Saurav Kumar, Nitin Kumar, Yogesh Kumar, Jaswinder Singh, Babu Lal Yadav, Rohit, Ajay Tyagi, Jasmail Singh, Poonam, Aleena Anto, Tendenthoi Devi Haobijam, Gurbani Kaur, Anshika Bharti

Rugby Sevens Team

Amandeep Kaur, Guriya Kumari, Ujjwala Ghuge, Parbati Hansdah, Arti Kumari, Dumuni Marndi, Vaishnavi Dattatray Patil, Kalyani Krishnat Patil, Sandhya Rai, Nirmalya Rout, Bhumika Shukla, Sandhyarani Tudu, Shikha Yadav

Sailing Team

Vishnu Saravanan, Manu Francis, Prince Kurisinkal Noble, Ravindra Kumar Sharma, Katya Ida Coelho, Nethra Kumanan, Harshita Tomar, Shital Verma, Mahi Verma, Shraddha Verma

Sepak Takraw Team

Men's: Arun, Jasvir, Ashish Chundawat, Shyam Singh, Lokhon Singh Elangbam, Bobby Kumar, Ashok Singh Mayengbam, Ram Kumar Sharma, O Amarjit Singha, Malemnganba Singh Sorokhaibam, Henary Singh Wahengbam, Akash Yumnam

Women's: Leirentonbi Devi Elangbam, Prity Langoljam, Menenu Tsukru, Maipak Devi Ayekpam, Priya Devi Elangbam, Shilpa Elangbam, Chaoba Devi Oinam, Seyiekhrieno Tepa, Malemnganbi Yumnam

Shooting Team

Kamaljeet, Aakash Bharadwaj, Kedarling Uchaganve, Anish Bhanwala, Himanshu Dhillon, Parth Mane, Rudrankksh Patil, Niraj Kumar, Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Shapath Bharadwaj, Kynan Chenai, Ahvar Rizvi, Bhavtegh Singh Gill, Mairaj Ahmad Khan, Anant Jeet Singh Naruka, Suruchi Singh, Manu Bhaker, Esha Singh, Rahi Sarnobat, Vidarsa Kochalumkal Vinod, Sonam Uttam Maskar, Elavenil Valarivan, Ashi Chouksey, Tilottama Sen, Neeru Dhanda, Aashima Ahlawat, Manisha Keer, Maheshwari Chauhan, Parinaaz Dhaliwal, Raiza Dhillon

Sport Climbing Team

Deepu Mallesh, Joga Purty

Squash Team

Suraj Kumar Chand, Veer Chotrani, Velavan Senthilkumar, Abhay Singh, Anahat Singh, Joshana Chinappa, Tanvi Khanna

Surfing Team

Kishore Kumar, Sivaraj Babu, Kamali Moorthy, Sugar Shanthi Banarse

Swimming Team

Benediction Rohit Beniston Manickaraj, Rishabh Das, Vedaant Madhavan, Akash Mani, Srihari Nataraj, Aryan Nehra, Utkarsh Santosh Patil, Sajan Prakash, Heer Gitesh Shah, Dhakshan Shashikumar, Aneesh Sunil Kumar Gowda, Danush Suresh

Table Tennis Team

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Payas Jain, Manush Shah, Manav Thakkar, Harmeet Desai, Sreeja Akula, Diya Chitale, Syndrela Das, Yashaswini Ghorpade, Sutirtha Mukherjee

Taekwondo Team

Rupa Bayor, Kashish Malik, Jyoti Yadav

Tennis Team

Sumit Nagal, Yuki Bhambri, Dhakshineswar Suresh, Anirudh Chandrasekar, N. Sriram Balaji, Ankita Raina, Rutuja Bhosale

Soft Tennis Team

Yogesh Choudhary, Om Yadav, Jay Meena, Aniket Chirag Patel, Aryan Thakur, Aadhya Tiwari

Teqball Team

Mohamed Anas Imran Beg, Declan Marshall Gonsalves, Quimcy Dsouza

Volleyball Team

Men's: Chirag, Amit, Muthusamy Appavu, Jerome Vinith Charles, Muhammad Nihal Chatham Kulangara, John Joseph Eanthungal Joseph, Joel Benjamin Jebaraj, Anand Kottarathil, Om Vasant Lad, Ashwal Rai, Shikhar Singh, Erin Varghese

Weightlifting Team

Rishikanta Singh Chanambam, Mirabai Chanu, Gyaneshwari Yadav, Seram Nirupama Devi, Harjinder Kaur

Wrestling Team

Dipanshi, Antim Panghal, Manisha Bhanwala, Mansi Ahlawat, Nisha Dahiya, Priya Malik, Aman Sehrawat, Sujeet Kalkal, Sagar Jaglan, Deepak Punia, Rajat Ruhal, Sumit Dalal, Deepak, Aman, Sunil Kumar, Nitesh Kumar

Wushu Team

Aryan, Vikrant Baliyan, Suraj Singh Mayanglambam, Nyeman Wangsu, Aparna, Divyanshi, Langlentombi Devi Hanjabam

Conclusion

With a strong lineup of Olympic medalists and defending champions, India is poised to make a significant impact at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026, aiming to enhance its medal tally and continue its legacy of excellence in sports.