Pawan Sehrawat named India's flag-bearer for Asian Games opening after Tajinderpal Singh Toor withdraws
Pawan Sehrawat has replaced Tajinderpal Singh Toor as India's flag-bearer for the Asian Games opening ceremony in Nagoya on Saturday (September 19, 2026) after Toor was unable to attend due to the absence of his ceremonial kit. The 30-year-old kabaddi player, a member of the gold-winning Indian men's kabaddi team at the previous Asiad, will now carry the national flag, chef-de-mission Sahdev Yadav told PTI.
Toor had been scheduled to join shooting ace Manu Bhaker as one of the two athletes leading the Indian contingent, but he informed officials he could not reach the ceremony in time because his ceremonial kit was not with his luggage. "I am told that my ceremonial kit will arrive at 3 p.m. at the (Nagoya) airport. Reaching the opening ceremony venue after collecting my (ceremonial) kit from the airport on time will be very difficult. So, I have told IOA (Indian Olympic Association) that I am not coming for opening ceremony," Toor told PTI. Yadav confirmed to PTI that Sehrawat would take Toor's place.
Members of the athletics team have been training at the University of Tsukuba near Tokyo since September 13 as part of an acclimatisation camp and were scheduled to reach Nagoya on September 21, two days before the start of athletics events. Team officials had not expected the athletics group to participate in the opening or closing ceremonies, a factor cited to explain the absence of ceremonial kits in their luggage. Toor said that "Nobody in athletics team has ceremonial kits with them."
A team official told PTI that the athletics delegation will leave Nagoya on September 30, one day after the end of the athletics competition and four days before the closing ceremony on October 4. Multiple members of the 75-strong athletics contingent confirmed to PTI that they had received their official competition kits. Those logistical arrangements were given as context for why several athletes would not be present at the opening gala.
Deputy chef-de-mission Anjali Bhagwat had earlier stated that 158 members of the Indian contingent would take part in the opening ceremony. Manu Bhaker's selection as the female flag-bearer was widely anticipated; she won two bronze medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, becoming the first athlete from Independent India to win two medals in a single edition of the Olympic Games by clinching bronze in individual and mixed team 10m air pistol events.
At the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou in 2023, athletics contributed 29 medals (6 gold, 14 silver, 9 bronze) and shooting accounted for 22 medals (7 gold, 9 silver, 6 bronze) to India's overall haul of 106 medals, including 28 gold. Sehrawat will lead the Indian contingent into the opening ceremony in Nagoya on September 19, while the athletics squad is scheduled to arrive in Nagoya on September 21 and depart on September 30.
