India will send a 492-member athlete contingent to the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games, scheduled to be held from September 19 to October 4.
The Indian Sports Ministry approved the 492-strong contingent on Saturday, August 22. The squad comprises 265 male and 227 female athletes, with athletics forming the largest delegation with 73 athletes.
The athletics contingent includes 35 men and 38 women and is headlined by Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion and Paris 2024 silver medallist Neeraj Chopra. The star javelin thrower will be aiming for a historic hat-trick of Asian Games gold medals in Japan.
Athletics was India’s most successful sport at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games in terms of total medals, winning 29 medals—six gold, 14 silver and nine bronze.
Overall, India won a record 107 medals at Hangzhou 2022—28 gold, 39 silver and 41 bronze—to finish fourth in the medal standings.
Alongside Neeraj Chopra, Avinash Sable (steeplechase), Tajinderpal Singh Toor (shot put), Parul Chaudhary (women’s 5000m) and Annu Rani (women’s javelin) will return to defend the individual titles they won in Hangzhou. Toor will also be chasing his third consecutive Asian Games gold medal.
Badminton will have a 20-member contingent featuring established names such as PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen, along with rising star Ayush Shetty.
Boxing will field 11 athletes, including recent Commonwealth Games silver medallists Lovlina Borgohain (women’s 75kg), Narender Berwal (men’s +90kg) and Jadumani Singh (men’s 55kg).
Esports will have a 15-member contingent, while 22 rowers will travel to Japan. Wrestling will feature 16 athletes, including World Championships bronze medallist Antim Panghal (women’s 53kg) and Olympic bronze medallist Aman Sehrawat (men’s 57kg).
India’s men’s and women’s cricket teams, along with the men’s and women’s kabaddi teams, will also travel to Aichi-Nagoya to defend their Asian Games gold medals.
