India names 503-athlete contingent for Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya; competition runs Sept 19-Oct 4
India will send a 503-strong athlete contingent to the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, which opened on Friday, September 19 and runs until October 4; the Sports Ministry has sanctioned entries across 36 disciplines.
The delegation totals 503 athletes — 269 men and 234 women — accompanied by a 265-member support group that includes 246 coaches and support staff and 19 Indian Olympic Association contingent officials; this is smaller than the 661 athletes (333 men and 328 women) India sent to the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games. The Sports Ministry said more than 300 athletes in the 503-member contingent will be making their Asian Games debut.
Athletics remains a major medal target after Indian athletes won 29 medals in Hangzhou, including several golds; Avinash Sable, Tajinderpal Singh Toor, Parul Chaudhary and Annu Rani successfully defended titles at the last edition. The athletics group faces one notable absence with Neeraj Chopra withdrawing from the tournament.
Shooting enters the Games on the back of seven gold medals from the 2022 Asian Games, with India fielding a sizeable shooting squad and elevated expectations across rifle, pistol and shotgun events. In archery, India’s compound team swept all compound golds in Hangzhou and will include star archer Jyothi Surekha Vennam, while the recurve line-up will aim to challenge regional rivals.
Both India’s men’s and women’s hockey teams will compete in Aichi-Nagoya; the men enter as the reigning Asian Games champions, and the women come off a fifth-place finish at the 2026 Women’s Hockey World Cup, their best-ever result in that tournament. Both sides are listed among India’s key medal contenders and will seek to defend the titles won at the 2022 Asian Games.
Cricket features both the Shreyas Iyer-led men’s team, described in the delegation summary as the defending T20 World Champions, and the women’s team, which the report notes has been consistent in recent years; India will aim for gold in both cricket events. Badminton’s 20-member squad includes PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, with the men’s doubles pair Satwik-Chirag aiming to defend their title. The delegation also comprises 16 wrestlers, including Antim Panghal and Aman Sehrawat, and 11 boxers such as Lovlina Borgohain, Narender Barwal and Jadumani; the men’s and women’s boxing teams will aim to defend the gold medals they won at the 2022 Asian Games. Kabaddi and squash are cited as additional medal prospects, and the contingent includes 22 rowers alongside athletes competing in gymnastics, fencing, cycling and other sports.
Weightlifting will feature Mirabai Chanu in the women’s 49kg category; the report states she missed the podium in her two previous Asian Games appearances and will be bidding for her first Asiad medal. The summary identifies athletics, shooting and archery as India’s strongest medal prospects while also naming hockey, cricket, badminton, wrestling, boxing, kabaddi, squash and weightlifting as significant opportunities for the contingent.
India’s most successful Asian Games campaign remains Hangzhou 2022, where the country earned a record 107 medals — 28 gold, 39 silver and 41 bronze — a benchmark the 503-member team will aim to approach during the Aichi-Nagoya programme that runs through October 4.
