ASIAN GAMES 2026 | Time for India’s athletes to make it count

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.