Page 10 - Latest Updates on Asian Games 2026

Asiad 2026: Indian women boxers eye first gold since Mary Kom's 2014 win

Winning an elusive women's boxing gold will be the main target for the India squad at the Asian Games, with head coach Santiago Nieva drawing confidence from the team's record breaking performance at the Commonwealth Games. Indian boxers returned from the Glasgow Commonwealth Games last month with a record haul of 10 medals, including five golds and a silver won by the women. However they will face stiff competition from powerhouses Kazakhstan, China and Uzbekistan at the Asian Games. "We want to have boxers in the final and we want to be on top of the podium, that's our goal. We also know that Asian Games is a very strong competition, Asian countries are also improving a lot," Nieva told PTI during an interaction facilitated by the Sports Authority of India (SAI). The great MC Mary Kom remains the only Indian woman boxer to win an Asian Games gold, having claimed the 51kg title in 2014. India did have a men's boxing gold at the 2018 edition, with Amit Panghal winning the 49kg tit

Asian Games 2026 get underway with grand opening ceremony in Nagoya

The opening programme combined traditional elements with technology as Japan formally welcomed athletes from across the continent

Asiad 2026: India men's cricket team faces kit delay before departure

India's campaign at the Games begins with the quarter-finals on September 28, giving the squad less than a week between the T20I and its opening Asian Games match

Asiad 2026: Quimcy Dsouza denied final spot, to play for Teqball bronze

India's Quimcy Dsouza could not put it past Indonesian Sumaya despite giving her all in a gruelling three-game Teqball women's singles semifinal but remained in contention for a bronze medal at the Asian Games here on Saturday. Dsouza let slip the early advantage to go down 12-7, 9-12, 7-12 in the match. The Mumbai player, who had previously competed in state-level football and 1,500m running, was introduced to Teqball after watching Brazilian football great Ronaldinho showcase his skills on Instagram. She took to the sport and has since carved out a place for herself on the Asian stage. The Bangalore-based techie looked firmly in control after taking the opening game 12-7, using the curved table to good effect and unleashing a series of sharp diagonal smashes with her feet. Teqball, with its curved table and football-inspired skills, bears some resemblance to sepak takraw. Both sports prohibit the use of hands and arms, requiring players to control and strike the ball with their

Asian Games 2026 September 19: Schedule, live event time (IST), streaming

India's Quimcy Joaquim Dsouza lost in women's singles teqball semifinal match and will now play for bronze medal on Sunday

Asiad 2026: Pawan Sehrawat replaces Toor as flag-bearer at opening ceremony

Seasoned kabaddi player Pawan Sehrawat replaced Tajinderpal Singh Toor as India's flag-bearer for the Asian Games opening ceremony here on Saturday as the celebrated shot-putter has not yet received his official kit, which will prevent him from attending the gala event. Toor was to join shooting ace Manu Bhaker in leading the national contingent during the ceremony. The 30-year-old Sehrawat, who was a part of the gold-winning Indian men's kabaddi team in the previous Asiad, will now take Toor's place in the ceremony, chef-de-mission Sahdev Yadav told PTI. "I am told that my kit will reach at 3pm at the (Nagoya) airport. Reaching the opening ceremony venue after collecting my kit from airport on time will be very difficult. So, I have told IOA (Indian Olympic Association) that I am not coming for opening ceremony," Toor told PTI. "My kit is lying in India. Nobody in the athletics team has got their kits so far," he revealed. The athletics team has been training at the University of

Asiad 2026: India's Quimcy Dsouza moves closer to historic Teqball medal

India's Quimcy Joaquim Dsouza is just a win away from securing a historic medal for the country in Teqball after marching into the women's singles semifinals at the Asian Games here on Friday. Making her Asian Games debut, Quimcy stunned top-seeded Yuina Sakamoto of Japan 2-1 (10-12 12-11 13-11) in her opening Group A match that lasted 43 minutes at the Nagoya City Higashi Sports Center. The young Indian carried the momentum into her second group match and defeated Cambodia's Koemyean DY 2-0 (12-9 12-7) in 24 minutes to top her group and qualify for the semifinals. Quimcy got a bye in the quarterfinals by virtue of topping her group. She will take on Indonesia's Sumaya in the semifinals on Saturday and a win will ensure the first-ever medal for India in Teqball, one of the six sports making its debut at the continental showpiece. If the 24-year-old Indian loses in the last four match, she will have another shot at a medal through the bronze medal play-off tie. Teqball is one of t

Asian Games 2026 HIGHLIGHTS: Shafali's all-round show powers IND to semis with easy win vs JPN

Asiad 2026 HIGHLIGHTS: India with the help of all-round show from Shafali Verma (40 not out with bat and 2 wickets with ball) beat Japan by 8 wickets in the fourth and final quarterfinal match

Asiad 2026: Cramped Costa Serena rooms, allocation mess trouble athletes

Rooms meant for two are being shared by three, complained some Indian athletes lodged at the much-criticised Costa Serena cruise ship for the Asian Games as even the host nation's competitors looked for alternate accommodation amid the organisational chaos that has rocked the build-up to the mega-event here. Barely two days before the opening ceremony, local media reports suggested that some Japanese athletes are looking for alternative arrangements after cases of male and female players being allocated shared rooms emerged. "There have been cases where coaches, team officials, and athletes have been assigned to the same room. There are also situations where room assignments were made purely based on the numbers, such as assigning five twin rooms for a group of five men and five women," Japan's deputy chef de mission Hisashi Mizutori said at a media interaction here. "While the numbers match on paper, practically it creates challenging situations such as men and women being assigned

Asian Games 2026 September 18: Schedule, live event time (IST), streaming

India's women's cricket team will begin its gold medal defence at Asian Games 2026 with the quarter-final match against hosts Japan at 10:30 am IST

Pranati Nayak takes measured approach in bid for maiden Asian Games medal

Indian gymnast Pranati Nayak has learnt to live with injuries and the long road back to competition after those setbacks, but the frustrating cycle has done little to dampen her spirits as she chases a maiden Asian Games medal in her fourth appearance at the mega-event. The 31-year-old, who is the only Indian gymnast selected for the quadrennial event, left for Aichi, Nagoya, Japan on Wednesday night for the Games beginning September 19. It has come about after a carefully managed recovery from plantar fasciitis (inflammation of foot) that bothered her this season. She missed out on the women's vault final at the Commonwealth Games because of this. "I am 100 per cent fit now. Injury is a part of a gymnast's life. A gymnast has a lot of injuries. We have to take care of them," Nayak, who trains at the Odisha AM/NS India Gymnastics High Performance Centre, told PTI. "I had made a mistake while running (in Glasgow) but injury was not the reason behind it. After coming back from ...

A song, 10 men, golden finish: Harbinder relives India's 1966 Asiad victory

Sixty years after India scripted hockey history at the 1966 Asian Games in Bangkok, Harbinder Singh still gets goosebumps when he hears the song that became the team's companion on its journey to gold. "Whenever we went to a match, Shankar Laxman (India goalkeeper at that time) would play 'Watan ki raah mein watan ke naujawan shaheed ho' in the team bus, and all the players would sing along. This would automatically motivate us," the 83-year-old three-time Olympic medallist told PTI in an exclusive interview. "Even today, when I hear this song, I get goosebumps," he added. It also became a galvanising force before their Asian Games final against arch foes Pakistan, a match that India won to bring home their first ever gold at the continental showpiece. The song and the final remain etched in the memory of the legendary centre-forward, who was also a part of India's 1964 Tokyo Olympics gold-winning team. "We had won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics just two years earlier, and s

Asian Games 2026 HIGHLIGHTS: Pakistan beat Thailand in last-over thriller; reach semi-finals

Asiad 2026 HIGHLIGHTS: India's men's doubles teqball team eliminated after losing both group-stage matches

Asiad 2026 women's cricket: Why China bowed out without taking to the field

China's quarter-final against Bangladesh was washed out, with rankings deciding who progressed, as India prepare to face hosts Japan in their opening match on September 18

Asian Games 2026 September 17 Schedule, live event time (IST), streaming

Bangladesh women's cricket team are through to the semifinals after thier quarterfinal match vs China was abandoned

Asiad 2026: Indian contingent grapples with accommodation woes in Nagoya

The rowing team was among the worst affected, with many athletes left without accommodation on the cruise ship designated to house them

Parveen Hooda seeks fresh start at Asian Games after Hangzhou medal miss

Boxer Parveen Hooda is heading back to the Asian Games chasing a medal she once won but can no longer call her own, hoping to replace the bronze taken away from her due to a ban with another podium finish. The Indian pugilist won that bronze in the 57kg category in the Hangzhou Games in 2023, along with an Olympic quota for India, only to lose both after being handed a suspension. Since then, Parveen's comeback has involved one adjustment after another -- a new weight class, a coupe of injuries, another move up and a quarterfinal exit at the Commonwealth Games. "Of course, yes," the 26-year-old told PTI when asked if she has unfinished business at the Asian Games. The bronze has been gone for nearly two years. The memory of winning it has not. Neither has the feeling of what followed. Parveen was suspended by WADA for 22 months in May 2024 after three whereabouts failures within a 12-month period. The suspension, later backdated by 14 months, cost her the Asian Games medal and the

Asiad 2026: BFI clears direct Worlds route for Asian Games medallists

The BFI's four-stage pathway will then move through the Asian Qualifier in China and two World Qualifying Tournaments in 2028

Asiad 2026: Captain Pushpa Rana backs India to defend women's kabaddi gold

India's women's team will begin its campaign against Bangladesh on September 21 before taking on Iran and Japan in Group A

Asian Games 2026: India full schedule, contingent, medal prospects and more

India's competitive action at the Asian Games will begin on September 17 with teqball, while the women's cricket team begins its campaign on September 18 against Japan