India will look to shooter Manu Bhaker to lead India’s medal charge after her exploits at the Paris Olympics 2024.
| Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO: RITU RAJ KONWAR
The number of athletes may have been reduced but India’s ambitions of flexing its sporting muscle at the continental level will be tested when the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games officially kickstart at the Paloma Mizuho Stadium here on Saturday (September 19, 2026).
The quadrennial event, which began in India and which the country hopes to host again in near future for the third time, will have 501 Indian athletes in 259 medal events across 36 disciplines competing for a total of 356 medals. With 106 medals in the previous edition, any hopes of getting anywhere close to it would mean a fifth of Indian athletes finishing on the podium.
The record haul in Hangzhou has raised expectations but the country would do well to add a tinge of reality to temper them. With an ambitious target of being in the top-10 in the medal tally by the 2036 Olympics, the performances at Aichi-Nagoya Games will provide both — a practical assessment of where Indian sports stands after the high of 2023 and a template for course correction to ensure the long-term targets remain feasible.
No one will be more in the spotlight than the track and field athletes and the shooters, who contributed almost half of the total medals in Hangzhou. Among the latter, Manu Bhaker — who along with shotputter Tajinderpal Singh Toor will be India’s flagbearers — on Saturday — will deservedly be the one to watch.
But there are others too, some bringing youth (Tillottam Sen and Ashi Chouksey in rifle and Esha Singh and Suruchi Phogat in pistol) and others experience (Rahi Sarnobat).
And then there are those that have both, the likes of Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar and Anish Bhanwal leading this group.
The situation is same in athletics. With Neeraj Chopra out with injury, the mantle of doing the heavy lifting among the 74-member strong contingent will fall on the proven customers — Tejaswin Shankar, Murali Sreeshankar and Toor on the field. On the track, the return of Avinash Sable would be a welcome sight, the steeplechaser along with Gulveer Singh the biggest bet for a medal, even gold.
On the badminton court, P.V. Sindhu would be hoping for one last hurrah in her pursuit of a maiden Asiad title while Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will be looking for more consistency after a topsy-turvy year so far in terms of results and injury concerns in their title defence.
Women boxers and compound archers are also expected to add to the medal count while Mirabai Chanu will be up against it in search of her first medal in the event, 12 years after her debut in Incheon and three years after a shock exit.
Among the teams, hockey will expectedly be the main attraction with tickets to LA28 at stake for both men and women. The recent outings at the World Cup is unlikely to have much impact, specially the men, who will only have to guard against complacency. For the women, China would be the biggest challenge but recent form gives hope.
Cricket will get the eyeballs, as it is bound to, but in terms of competition, there will be little by way of excitement unless either of the genders have a terrible day in their title defences.
The men, in particular, would be hoping to earn legitimacy for their title, given the final against Afghanistan in 2023 was declared on the basis of ranking after being washed out.
The men’s kabaddi team too will be itching to prove their win last time was not a fluke and put all the bad memories of a rancour-filled final against Iran to rest.
The preparations are done, the hard yards put in. It’s time to reap the results.
Published – September 18, 2026 08:54 pm IST
