India to open Asian Games teqball campaign in Aichi-Nagoya

India’s campaign at the 20th Asian Games will begin on Thursday in Aichi-Nagoya, with Mohamed Anas Imran Beg, Declan Marshall Gonsalves and Quimcy Dsouza set to lead the country’s challenge in teqball. The trio will contest three events: men’s doubles, women’s singles and mixed doubles.

Teqball is one of five disciplines making its Asian Games debut in Aichi-Nagoya and India has named a three-member squad for the competition. Technical director Nihar Shah is overseeing the Indian contingent in Nagoya, and all three athletes are Mumbai-based while balancing their sporting commitments with full-time jobs. The squad will aim to compete in the group stages across the events allocated to them.

Mohamed Anas Imran Beg and Declan Marshall Gonsalves will pair in the men’s doubles in a 24-pair field. Drawn in Group B, they will begin against Vietnam’s Truong Giang BA and Anh Khoa before taking on South Korea’s Junsuk Lee and Taebeen Lee. The Mumbai duo secured bronze at the 2024 World Teqball Championships. They will look to carry that momentum into the Asian Games and progress deep into the competition.

Quimcy Dsouza, a seven-time national champion, will compete in the women’s singles and join Anas in the mixed doubles. She has been drawn in Group A and is scheduled to face Japan’s Yuina Sakamoto before meeting Cambodia’s Koemyean Dy on September 18. Anas will then partner Quimcy in the mixed doubles event.

Teqball originated in Hungary when three football enthusiasts developed a table-based format; the first table was produced in 2014 and the sport’s international governing body, FITEQ, was established three years later. The game was introduced to the wider world in 2016, with Brazilian football great Ronaldinho among the prominent figures associated with its launch. The sport is now part of the Asian Games programme.

The sport is played on a specially constructed table with a distinctive curved surface and uses a football rather than a lightweight table-tennis ball. Players must send the ball over the net using feet, thighs, knees, chest or head; hands and arms are strictly prohibited. Matches can be singles or doubles; a match is best of three sets with each set won by the first player or team to reach 12 points, while an 11-11 score requires a two-point advantage. Service responsibility changes after every four points, and touch restrictions apply: in singles a player may make up to three touches and in doubles both teammates together are allowed a maximum of three touches, with the same body part not permitted for two consecutive touches.

The curved table changes the ball’s trajectory and rebound, demanding anticipation and control from players during rallies. Doubles requires teammates to alternate touches, adding a tactical requirement for communication and positioning. Rallies end when a player fails to make a legal return, allows the ball to bounce more than once, sends it outside the playing area or commits another fault. All five teqball events—men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles—are scheduled to be contested at the 2026 Asian Games.

India’s teqball players will begin their group-stage matches this week, with Anas and Declan starting their Group B campaign against Truong Giang BA and Anh Khoa and Quimcy set to face Yuina Sakamoto before meeting Koemyean Dy on September 18.