India opens Asian Games 2026 campaign in Aichi-Nagoya with teqball
India's participation at the 2026 Asian Games began on September 17, 2026, in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, when the country's first scheduled action at the continental event came in teqball. The men's doubles pair Declan Marshall Gonsalves and Mohamed Anas Imran Beg were listed to become the first Indian athletes to take the field at the Games' historic teqball debut.
The javelin competition presents a notable South Asian storyline after Sri Lanka's Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage won the event at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, a result that has raised attention ahead of Aichi-Nagoya. Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem, identified in coverage as the defending Olympic champion, finished fifth in Budapest and is expected to compete at the Asian Games. India's Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra will not feature on the entry list after missing the Games with an ankle injury. The continental meet, held once every four years, offers athletes an opportunity to compete for national honours as part of a multi-sport delegation.
Pathirage's victory in Budapest has added another contender to a discipline long contested by high-profile Asian throwers, and his recent form is being watched in the absence of Chopra. Coverage notes Nadeem's pedigree in the event despite his fifth-place finish in Budapest, setting up an intriguing regional contest for the javelin title in Aichi-Nagoya.
Philippine tennis player Alex Eala is scheduled to compete at the Asian Games after electing to skip the WTA 1000 China Open, a mandatory tournament on the women's tour, a decision the coverage says could carry ranking and financial consequences. Eala, ranked world No. 18 in the provided account, already holds two bronze medals from Hangzhou and has spoken of the enjoyment she finds in representing the Philippines and competing alongside her national team, citing lasting memories from the Southeast Asian Games.
Badminton will again feature many of Asia's top players, with South Korea's An Se-young arriving as the world No. 1 and the women's singles Olympic champion from Paris, according to the report. An won women's singles gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games three years ago and also helped South Korea to the team gold; she has followed that with a third successive China Masters title and a world title earlier this year, details that underline her recent competitive record.
China's dominance at the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou is highlighted by the 201 gold medals it won there, compared with 52 for Japan and 42 for South Korea, and that pattern is expected to influence the early days of competition in Aichi-Nagoya, particularly in swimming. The report lists several Chinese Olympic champions likely to be in the pool, naming Pan Zhanle, Wang Shun, Qin Haiyang and Xu Jiayu, and notes Pan holds the world record in the men's 100m freestyle while Qin has the global mark in the 200m breaststroke. Attention is also drawn to Yu Zidi, who at 12 finished fourth in three events at the 2025 World Championships in Singapore and is now 13.
The Asian Games have expanded since the first edition in New Delhi in 1951; Aichi-Nagoya 2026 is the 20th staging of the continental multi-sport event. The previous edition in Hangzhou was held in 2023 after a one-year postponement because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and roughly 12,000 athletes took part in those Games. Organisers say the 2026 event will bring together 45 countries and regions and is set to welcome more than 11,000 athletes when it opens in Japan on Saturday, with a late surge in arrivals creating pressure on accommodation and logistics.
India's teqball entry will compete two days before the official opening ceremony, with Declan Marshall Gonsalves and Mohamed Anas Imran Beg scheduled as the nation's first athletes on court; the broader Aichi-Nagoya programme begins with the Games opening on Saturday.