India Gears Up for the 2026 Asian Beach Games in Sanya, China
Indian Team Set for Asian Beach Games 2026
The Indian delegation, comprising 31 athletes, is ready to participate in the upcoming Asian Beach Games 2026, scheduled to take place in Sanya, China, from April 22 to 30. This sixth edition of the Games will showcase 15 different sports, with a total of 62 gold medals available for competition.
India will be represented in four sports: 3×3 basketball, beach kabaddi, sailing, and beach wrestling. Notable players like Pranav Prince and Harsh Dagar will lead the 3×3 basketball team, as reported by Olympics.com.
Organized by the Olympic Council of Asia, the Asian Beach Games celebrate various beach and coastal sports that are often not included in the Asian Games. The inaugural event took place in Bali in 2008.
The last edition was held in Da Nang in 2016, with the next event originally planned for 2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it faced significant delays, marking its return after a decade.
The 2026 Games will be hosted entirely in Sanya, featuring an opening ceremony on April 22 and a closing ceremony on April 30. Beach handball competitions will commence a day earlier, on April 21.
During the 2016 Asian Beach Games, India achieved a total of 24 medals, including two golds, four silvers, and 18 bronzes. The women's kabaddi team won gold, while the men's team secured silver. Additionally, Shweta More earned gold in Vovinam in the women's 52kg category.
The sports featured in the 2026 Asian Beach Games include beach handball, water polo, beach soccer, open water swimming, jiu jitsu, beach volleyball, beach kabaddi, sailing, aquathlon, teqball, beach athletics, dragon boat racing, 3×3 basketball, beach wrestling, and sport climbing.
Details of the Indian contingent include:
Men's 3×3 Basketball: Harsh Dagar, Pranav Prince, Kushal Singh, Arvind Kumar Muthu.
Women's Beach Kabaddi Team: Ritu, Simran Kamboj, Manisha Kumari, Nikita Chauhan, Manpreet Kaur, Nikita.
Men's Beach Kabaddi Team: Brijendra Singh Choudhary, Jitendra Yadav, Yatharth Deshwal, Neeraj, Jai Bhagwan, Bhanu Pratap Tomar.
Sailing: Aastha Pandey (ILCA 4 girls), Shringhari Roy (Optimist girls), Ovie Nair Shaffi (foil windsurfing girls), Vinay Vishwanath Kulabkar (foil windsurfing boys), Chitresh Tatha (formula kite men), Krishna Venkatachalam Ramakrishnan (Optimist boys), Vasu Chandrawanshi (ILCA 4 boys).
Beach Wrestling: Pushpa Yadav (women's 60kg), Priyanshi Prajapat (women's 50kg), Jaspeet Kaur (women's 70kg), Priya (women's +70kg), Aryan (men's 90kg), Sachin Mor (men's 80kg), Jaspooran Singh (men's +90kg), Siddharth (men's 70kg).