India names 17-athlete team for Dakar Youth Olympic Games 2026

India will send a 17-member team to the fourth Summer Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal, which run from October 31 to November 13, 2026. The delegation will include emerging competitors across multiple sports.

Dakar 2026 is the fourth Summer Youth Olympic Games and will be the first Olympic sporting event staged on African soil. The Games were originally scheduled for 2022 but were postponed to 2026 because of the pandemic. There are 153 medal events across 25 sports, including athletics, futsal, street skateboarding and beach wrestling.

India has taken part in every Summer Youth Olympics to date — Singapore 2010, Nanjing 2014 and Buenos Aires 2018 — and has won 23 medals across the three editions: 3 gold, 16 silver and 4 bronze. Buenos Aires 2018 remains India’s best Youth Olympic performance, when the country finished 17th with 13 medals, including three gold, nine silver and one bronze.

The Indian delegation comprises 11 women and six men. Shourya Ambure is the only track and field athlete in the contingent, since a race walker could not get a passport in time.

Two athletes are singled out as medal prospects. Dhinidhi Desinghu, who was India’s youngest athlete at the 2023 Asian Games at 13 years old, will compete in three events in Dakar. The 17-year-old Shourya Ambure won silver in the 100m hurdles with a personal best of 13.73 at last year’s Asian Youth Games and added a second silver in the medley relay.

India will look to make the most of its 17-athlete contingent at the Youth Olympics 2026, with some of the brightest emerging talents aiming to deliver strong results. The focus will be on converting their opportunities into medals and building India’s presence as one of the world’s leading sporting nations.

The Youth Olympic Games will be held in Dakar from October 31 to November 13, 2026, and a 17-member Indian contingent will be in action there; for more updates, follow Khel Now on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Whatsapp & Telegram.