Asian Games

Asiad-bound shooters gear up with final preparatory camps in Delhi, Bhopal

The Asian Games-bound Indian shooters will undergo preparatory camps at facilities in Delhi and Bhopal this month as they look to fine-tune their skills for peak performance at the quadrennial showpiece beginning September 19 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. The camps have been divided between the MP State Shooting Academy in Bhopal and the Karni Singh Range in the national capital. As per the schedule, the selected Asian Games pistol and rifle shooters will train in Bhopal from September 5 to 14. The skeet camp commenced at the Karni Singh Range on Friday, while the camp for trap shooters will be held from September 10 to 18 at the same venue. National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) High Performance Director Pierre Beauchamp said the focus of the camps would be on mental conditioning and technical refinement. "At this stage, our focus shifts from volume to precision, mental conditioning, and technical refinement. "The structure of these final camps allows our sports science and coachi

Asian Games: SAI's 'container simulator' readies athletes for unusual stay

The beds are a little over six feet long, the walls are close, and there is little room for anything beyond the essentials. For some of India's athletes, however, spending a night inside a shipping container at the Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports (NSNIS) here is less about discomfort and more about preparation for an unusual living arrangement awaiting them in Japan at the Asian Games. With the Aichi-Nagoya Games beginning September 19 and no conventional athletes' village this time, Sports Authority of India (SAI) has set up makeshift container rooms at its centres in Patiala and Bengaluru to give its athletes a taste of what they can expect in Japan. The idea is to make the unfamiliar familiar. Athletes are taking turns to spend a night inside the container, waking up the next morning and following their usual routine before heading to training. By the time they reach Japan, the hope is that their accommodation will no longer be a distraction. "Two years ago, when it

Asiad 2026: Can India better its Hangzhou medal tally in Aichi-Nagoya?

India's 2026 Asian Games campaign will be tested by the absence of key Hangzhou medallists, but rising stars and recent form offer a chance to surpass the all-time medal haul

Cricket at Asian Games 2026: Check India's full contingent for Aichi-Nagoya

India will field full-strength men's and women's squads as they look to defend their cricket gold medals from the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games

Asian Games 2026: Why cricket's accommodation plan is under scrutiny

The Japan Cricket Association has defended the preparations, saying the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games Organising Committee and Asian Cricket Council have worked together on the arrangements

India's Asiad 2026 campaign suffers another doping blow; cases rise to 12

Wushu player Bhanupratap has tested positive for Enobosarm (Ostarine), a selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM) associated with muscle and bone development

Asian Games 2026: Indian athletes begin 'Smart Track' training in Bengaluru

With the Asian Games just around the corner, steeplechaser Avinash Sable, long-distance runner Parul Chaudhary and six other Indian track and field athletes are fine-tuning their preparations on a specialised 'smart track' at the SAI NCOE in Bengaluru. The eight are part of a national camp, scheduled to continue until September 8, which has been sanctioned by the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). It also features 800m runner Krishan Kumar, decathlete Thowfeeq N, high jumpers Aadarsh Ram and Supriya B and race walkers Manju Rani and Priyanka. The Asian Games, scheduled in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan from September 19 to October 4. A smart track allows coaches to capture real-time performance data during training. "This is one of its kind in India," said Suresh Kumar, Coach (Athletics) at SAI NCOE Bengaluru. "So what happens is when the athlete runs, we get the real-time speed data. We get the split timings, wherever the gates are placed, then the total timing we get, as well as the str

Iran women's kabaddi team turns to India as war disrupts Asiad preparations

The Sonepat camp offered Iran something it needs most with the Asian Games approaching: regular competition against different opponents

Cricket at Asian Games 2026: All that's happening in Aichi-Nagoya

Even before a ball has been bowled, the tournament has been caught up in a debate over hotel rooms, dressing rooms, toilets and the playing surface

Wrestling to athletics: Doping cases cloud India's Asian Games preparations

Athlete Abhishek Pal has been the latest addition to India's growing list of doping cases ahead of the Asian Games 2026

A career interrupted: Neeraj Chopra's battle with injuries continues

The injury means Neeraj Chopra will be unable to defend his two-time Asian Games gold medal in the javelin throw event at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya

Here's why Bopanna slammed India's Asian Games 2026 tennis team selection

Five players, i.e., Manas Dhamne, Vaishnavi Adkar, Sahaja Yamalapalli, Prarthana Thombare and Vaidehee Chaudhari, were affected after the selection process was revised

Asian Games 2026: Ministry approves 492 athletes, 73 from athletics alone

The Sports Ministry on Saturday approved a 492-strong contingent of athletes for the Asian Games beginning next month in Japan, with athletics forming the biggest chunk of 73 names in the list. The contingent comprises 265 male and 227 women athletes. The Ministry has, however, not yet issued the list of support staff that would accompany the contingent. The athletics group features 35 men and 38 women and is headlined by two-time Olympic medal-winning javelin throw superstar Neeraj Chopra, long jumper Murali Sreeshankar, long distance runner Gulveer Singh, decathlete Tejaswin Shankar and 100m hurdler Jyothi Yarraji, among others. The 20-strong badminton team also comprises established names such as P V Sindhu, Ayush Shetty and Laskshya Sen. The women's doubles pair of Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly, along with Satwik Sairaj Renkireddy and Chirag Shetty are there in the squad too. The boxing group has 11 names, including the recent Commonwealth Games silver-winners Lovlin ...

Indian athletics team to hold camp in Japan ahead of Asian Games 2026

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 Japan in September-October. In June this year, the Sports Authority of India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Tsukuba to facilitate participation of Indian athletes, coaches, and sports scientists in specialised training and exchange programmes in Japan. Tsukuba is around 80kms from Tokyo and 420km from Nagoya where the track and field events will be held from September 23 to 29. The national team will leave for Japan after competing in the invitational Indian Athletics Final Series in New Delhi on September 10. "The team will leave for Japan either on September 12 or 13 and will train at the University of Tsukuba to acclimatise to the conditions," a top Athletics Federation of India (AFI) official told PTI. Meanwhile, the Asian Games-bound Indian athletes, who were training at Jablonec in Czech ...

Kamaljeet's second sporting life: From injury setback to Asian Games glory

Kamaljeet is preparing for the biggest opportunity of his young career, representing India at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.

Asian Games 2026 Men's Hockey full schedule, format, live streaming

India, the highest-ranked team in the 12-team competition, have been kept apart from arch-rivals Pakistan, who have been placed in Pool B alongside Malaysia, China, Oman, Uzbekistan and Thailand.

In international medal hunt, Indian athletics scores on easier picks

Country does well in Commonwealth and Asian games but must aim higher

Asian Games 2026, men's cricket: India full schedule and live match timings

The men's cricket competition will once again be played in the T20 format and staged at the Korogi Athletic Park in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

Mirabai Chanu sets sights on Asian Games medal amid rising expectations

Olympic silver medallist and three-time consecutive CWG gold medallist Mirabai Chanu acknowledged the pressure of high expectations, saying her next target is an elusive Asian Games medal. Chanu began her ascent at the 2014 Glasgow CWG with a silver medal before winning three consecutive golds in her weight category in Gold Coast in 2018, Birmingham in 2022 and Glasgow again in 2026. She also won the World Championships gold in 2017 and silver medals in 2022 and 2025, besides medals at the Asian and Commonwealth Championships. "Winning a medal makes you very happy, but it is also very difficult. You have more responsibilities and have to give your best in upcoming competitions. There is a lot of pressure. An Asian Games medal will be very important for me. "I will try my best because I have to win where I have never won a medal before. So, the Asian Games is very important for me. Yes, I am aiming for an Asian Games medal next, for which there is pressure," Chanu told PTI in an ...

No sweets till LA, vows Savita as India women chase World Cup, Asiad medals

No sweets, no chocolates, or fast food until the Los Angeles Olympics -- this is the self-imposed diet pledge taken by the Indian women's hockey team as they sharpen their focus on securing podium finishes at the FIH World Cup and the Asian Games, says the legendary goalkeeper Savita Punia. The Indian team, which scripted history with a fourth-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics, continues to follow their strict fitness regime introduced by the strength and conditioning coach Wayne Lombard, who is back with the team as scientific advisor and head of athletic performance during the Olympic cycle. "Wayne is as good a trainer as he is strict. He has set very high standards for fitness and always says that if you want to achieve something, you must be willing to sacrifice," Savita told PTI in an interview. She recalled the first decision was to eliminate sugar and junk food from the team's diet before the Tokyo Olympics, and the change in the team's fitness levels is evident. "The first