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.

The Indian hockey teams’ experiment with a change in jersey colour has been partially rolled back and the players will now don the traditional blue at the upcoming Asian Games.

The saffron kit, which led to allegations of politicisation and internal tussle within Hockey India, will be the second option.

“The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) had asked us our preferred choice and HI has given blue as the first choice. Saffron will be the second colour,” HI president Dilip Tirkey said.

Meanwhile, almost two months after the sports ministry asked the Indian Olympic Association to conduct an independent inquiry into former captain Asunta Lakra’s allegations of harassment and intimidation against Hockey India secretary Bholanath Singh, a four-member committee has been constituted for the same.

The committee

The committee, headed by Justice (retd.) Deepa Sharma, also includes former India striker and 2002 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Mamta Kharab and former sprinter Vandana Rao.

Supreme Court advocate Sitwat Nabi is the fourth member of the committee which is expected to begin work later this week.

Ace long jumpers Murali Sreeshankar and Ancy Sojan think the World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meet, to be held at the Kalinga Stadium here on Saturday, will serve as a preparatory platform for the upcoming Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

At a build-up press conference for the $75,000 Silver meet here on Thursday, Sreeshankar, who recently landed his second silver medal at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, said the competition, featuring athletes from across the globe, would test the Indians ahead of the continental extravaganza.

“This is a good preparatory event leading up to the Asian Games. The Asian Games is just 29 days away. This is a good pit stop to assess where our training and physical fitness stand. The field is also very strong,” said Sreeshankar.

Ancy, who broke Anju Bobby George’s 22-year-old record at the same venue during the National inter-state meet in June, had similar thoughts. “Going through this competition, we can know what we need to do (to improve ourselves) and cover it all. This is part of the preparations,” said Ancy.

Athletics Federation of India (AFI) Planning Commission chairman Lalit Bhanot said, “Our aim is to give exposure to maximum Indian athletes. The National camp for the Asian Games is also going on here.”

Odisha Sports Minister Suryabanshi Suraj said, “The experience of organising this event will help us as we will host the World Indoor and Asian Indoor athletics championships in 2028.” He informed that entry for the Silver meet will be free for the spectators.

The Indian athletics team will undergo a short acclimatisation camp at the University of Tsukuba, near Tokyo, ahead of the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya in September-October.

In June, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) signed an MoU with the University of Tsukuba to facilitate participation of Indian athletes, coaches, and sports scientists in specialised training and exchange programmes in Japan.

The national team will leave for Japan after competing in the invitational Indian Athletics Final Series in New Delhi on September 10.

Meanwhile, the Asian Games-bound Indian athletes, who were training at Jablonec in the Czech Republic, will return home in a day or two to have another short training stint at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, where the Indian Open World Athletics Silver Level Continental Tour event will be held on August 22.

A host of top Indian athletes are set to take part in Bhubaneswar, including the likes of Murali Sreeshankar, Ancy Sojan, Jyothi Yarraji, Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur and Kishore Jena.

Neeraj Chopra is not expected to feature in Bhubaneswar, as he will compete at the Lausanne Diamond League on August 21.

In the truncated Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, India performed well, exceeding expectations and retaining fourth place behind developed nations such as Australia, England, and Canada, despite a sharp drop in medals from 61 to 39, including 13 gold, 17 silver, and nine bronze. The gold rush on the penultimate day, powered by the spectacular performance of the boxers who won seven gold and three silver medals, improved India’s position. While some weight classes had weaker draws, several categories posed strong challenges. Propelled by determination and hard work, five women boxers — Sakshi Chaudhary, Preeti Pawar, Jaismine Lamboria, Priya Ghanghas, and Arundhati Choudhary — and two men, Sachin Siwach and Ankush Panghal, ensured India’s best-ever showing of 10 medals, three more than that in the last edition. The women boxers’ fearless approach established them as a force to reckon with. India won 16 medals in athletics and para-athletics, with notable contributions from para-athletes Dilip Gavit, Soman Rana, and Sharmila Dhankar. In world-class fields, the country’s athletes won 10 medals compared to eight in Birmingham 2022. Neeraj Chopra recovered from injury to take a creditable silver and lead the country to twin-medal glory in javelin along with Yashvir Singh and underlined India’s rising status as a javelin powerhouse. Other moments to cherish included triple jumpers Praveen Chithravel and Selva Prabhu’s twin podium finishes, Gulveer Singh becoming the first Indian to medal in 5000m and 10000m, Murali Sreeshankar winning his second straight long jump silver, Tejaswin Shankar claiming the country’s first-ever decathlon medal, and Sarvesh Kushare pocketing a high jump silver.

Asmita Dey and Harsh Singh sprang a surprise by winning the country’s first gold medals in judo, while Mirabai Chanu lived up to her billing to clinch her third successive gold medal. She led Indian lifters to a significant haul of eight medals. The country’s strong show, against an expectation of around 30 medals, helped the contingent leave Glasgow on a high as Ahmedabad prepares to host a bigger Games offering more medals in 2030. Indian athletes’ praiseworthy performance in Glasgow has raised hopes for the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games next month, where a bigger haul is expected from a wider range of disciplines. While India is capable of securing impressive medal collections at the Commonwealth and Asian Games, it needs to raise its level manifold to be counted among the best globally. Aspiring to host the 2036 Olympics, it must identify priority sports and invest in them to ensure a higher finish, even while waging a perennial war against doping.