The Asian Games will officially open in Aichi-Nagoya on September 19, but for India, the wait will end two days earlier. With teqball marking the start of India’s campaign on September 17, followed by women’s cricket and soft tennis on September 18, the Indian contingent will be in competition before the ceremonial opening lights up Japan.
The 20th Asian Games will run from September 19 to October 4 across Aichi-Nagoya, marking the third occasion on which Japan has hosted the continental multi-sport event after Tokyo in 1958 and Hiroshima in 1994. The Games will bring together athletes from 45 Asian National Olympic Committees and feature 43 sports, 71 disciplines and 469 medal events. More than 11,000 athletes are expected to compete.
For India, Aichi-Nagoya represents the next chapter after a record-breaking Asian Games campaign in Hangzhou. India collected 107 medals in Hangzhou, including 28 gold, 38 silver and 41 bronze, finishing fourth in the overall standings. The country will now attempt to build on that performance with a broad-based contingent featuring established Olympic and Asian Games medallists alongside emerging names.
The Indian squad has undergone changes as preparations have progressed. The Olympic Council of Asia initially reported a 492-athlete contingent in August, while the Indian Olympic Association later reported 503 athletes at the September 8 send-off ceremony. The latest figure comprises 269 men and 234 women. Athletics remains the largest discipline, while India will also field teams in cricket, hockey, kabaddi, badminton, shooting, boxing, wrestling, weightlifting and several other sports.
Among the names attracting attention are Olympic medallists Manu Bhaker, Mirabai Chanu and Aman Sehrawat. Neeraj Chopra will also headline the athletics contingent and will look to continue his Asian Games record in men’s javelin. Chopra won gold at Jakarta 2018 and Hangzhou 2022, putting him in contention for a third consecutive Asian Games title. Athletics was India’s most successful sport by medal count at Hangzhou, producing 29 medals.
Cricket will again carry considerable attention. India’s women enter as defending Asian Games champions and will face Japan in the quarter-finals on September 18. The men’s team, also defending champions, has been seeded directly into the quarter-finals, with their competition beginning later in the tournament. Both competitions will be played in the T20 format.
Hockey will provide another major storyline. India’s men are drawn in Pool A alongside Japan, Korea, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, while the women are in Pool B with Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Uzbekistan. The women’s competition begins on September 18, while the men’s tournament starts on September 20. The Games will also introduce new sporting dimensions. Teqball and padel were added to the programme in 2026, taking the overall sports count to 43. Teqball, which combines football skills with a curved table, will make its Asian Games debut alongside padel.
Indian viewers will have to adjust to the Japan-India time difference, with several competitions scheduled during early morning hours in India. Major events across athletics, shooting, badminton, wrestling, hockey, cricket and other disciplines will unfold throughout the day.
The Games will be available to Indian audiences through SonyLIV, which has listed the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games among its upcoming sporting events. The significance of Aichi-Nagoya for India lies beyond the medal tally. Hangzhou demonstrated that India’s Asian Games campaign is no longer dependent on a handful of traditional medal-winning disciplines. The challenge in Japan will be to sustain that breadth while converting Olympic experience, Commonwealth momentum and emerging talent into performances across the competition calendar.
With athletes competing from September 17 and the opening ceremony only on September 19, India’s Asian Games story will begin before the Games officially begin. That compressed start also means there will be little room for slow starts. The early performances in teqball, cricket and soft tennis will set the tone for a campaign that will eventually move through shooting, badminton, hockey, athletics, wrestling, boxing, weightlifting and the team sports before the closing ceremony in October.
Aichi-Nagoya will therefore test not only India’s medal-winning athletes but the depth of its sporting programme. The numbers from Hangzhou have established a benchmark. Japan now provides the next opportunity to see whether India can reproduce that breadth across another Asian Games cycle.
