The Asian Games 2026 will begin in Aichi-Nagoya in Japan, as the opening ceremony will take place on September 19. India will be represented by 499 athletes at the continental competition. The squad includes 267 male and 232 women athletes across 36 sports disciplines. India finished with a record medal haul of 106 (28 gold, 38 silver and 40 bronze) in the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2022, and will be aiming to go big and break this all-time record in Japan.
The Indian contingent will, like every edition, be eyeing some medals.
The women, led by Harmanpreet Kaur , have won three of the last four continental tournaments they entered. Defending champions from Hangzhou, both cricket teams representing India are clear favourites for double gold. The men’s team led by Shreyas Iyer is the world No. Lovlina Borgohain is one of the most reliable boxers for India, boasting an Olympic bronze, a World Championship gold, and a silver from the last Asian Games.
1 in the format, having won two back-to-back T20 World Cups in 2026. They enter the Asian Games on the back of a dominating trophy win at the Women’s Asia Cup 2026. Jyothi Surekha Vennam established herself as the premier compound archer of India er historic sweep of three gold medals in the Asian Games 2022. Ranked consistently among the top three archers in the world, she averages an incredible score of 148 out of a possible 150 points in elimination matches. She is undoubtedly the undisputed best athlete overall in compound archery at the Asian Games 2026, and a massive shot at gold medals for India in both single and team events. Fighting in the 75kg category, she would be looking to upgrade her medal to gold, especially since she faced disappointment at the Commonwealth Games 2026, where she only finished with a silver.
In the last Asian Games, they scored an incredible 68 goals while conceding only nine on the way to winning the gold medal. Fresh off consecutive Olympic bronze medals, the men’s hockey team remains the premier force in Asia. The women’s side enters the competition with renewed vigour under head coach Sjoerd Marijne, having emerged as the best Asian side in the recently concluded Women’s Hockey World Cup, finishing fifth. Manu Bhaker created history at the Paris Olympics by winning two bronze medals, and she brings that elite momentum to Nagoya. A proven winner, Bhaker has multiple World Cup and Asian Games golds already to her name. Competing in both the 10m air pistol and 25m pistol events, she gives India two genuine shots at gold.
