Champions return, 314 debutants arrive: Inside India’s 500-plus Asian Games campaign

India eye record medals at Asian Games 2026NEW DELHI: Hoping to build on the historic campaign three years back at Hangzhou, India begins its campaign at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya with a 500-plus athlete contingent, aiming to better the 106-medal tally racked up at the last Games.While the build-up to the Games has been marred by mismanagement, an accommodation crisis and the threat of a typhoon looming large over the Japanese prefecture, for the athletes, once the Games begin, it will be, as the adage goes, ‘game mode on’.The 500-plus athlete Indian contingent comprises a sizeable group of returning champions and experienced campaigners. 314 of those athletes are preparing for their first appearance at the continental event.Interestingly, women athletes make up 46.7% of the contingent. At 15, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is the youngest member. Equestrian rider Shruti Vora, 55, is the oldest.Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will be the youngest to play for India at Asian Games (TOI Graphics) India will compete in 256 events across 36 of the 43 sports at Aichi-Nagoya, with the Games beginning on September 19 and running until October 4.Avinash Sable, returning from a year-long injury, will try to defend his men's 3000m steeplechase title, while Tajinderpal Singh Toor returns in the men's shot put. Parul Chaudhary will be another athlete trying to defend her women's 5000m crown, while India's men's 4x400m relay team will also go into the Games as defending champions.In badminton, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will aim to defend their men's doubles title. Their gold in Hangzhou was India's first Asian Games title in the event.Indian compound archers swept all five gold medals in the discipline at Hangzhou, and returning champion Jyothi Surekha Vennam will be the fulcrum around whom India's archery campaign will revolve.Then there are athletes whose Asian Games story is still waiting for a first chapter.India's record-breaking numbers in the last Asian Games (TOI Graphics)Mirabai Chanu’s missing Asian Games medalMirabai Chanu has won a world title, Olympic silver and Commonwealth Games gold. The Asian Games medal remains missing from her collection.The 32-year-old will lead India's four-member weightlifting team in Aichi-Nagoya, with Gyaneshwari Yadav, Seram Nirupama Devi and Harjinder Kaur completing the squad.Chanu missed the 2018 Asian Games because of injury and did not compete at Hangzhou. Now, after a career that has already included a world championship title, an Olympic medal and multiple Commonwealth Games titles, the Asian Games is the major multi-sport medal still absent from her cabinet.Anahat arrives as a world junior championAnahat Singh is another young Indian athlete arriving in Japan with a title already behind her.The 18-year-old is a World Junior Squash Champion and has made the transition from junior squash to the senior international circuit at a young age.She is part of India's eight-member squash team in Aichi-Nagoya. Joshana Chinappa, Tanvi Khanna and Shameena Riaz are the other members of the women's squad, while Abhay Singh, Velavan Senthilkumar, Veer Chotrani and Suraj Kumar Chand make up the men's team.Squash was among India's gold-medal sports at Hangzhou.Manu Bhaker, Aishwary Pratap and a large shooting groupShooting will once again be one of the major sports to follow, with 27 events on India's programme.The contingent had bagged 22 medals at Hangzhou, including seven golds.Manu Bhaker returns in the women's squad alongside the in-form Esha Singh, Rahi Sarnobat, Elavenil Valarivan, Ashi Chouksey, Suruchi Singh and Tilottama Sen.India's Asian Games contingent (TOI Graphics)The men's group includes Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, Rudrankksh Patil and Anish Bhanwala.There will also be a sizable shotgun shooters' bunch, with the veteran Mairaj Ahmed Khan leading the pack alongside Kynan Chenai, Shapath Bharadwaj and Ahvar Rizvi. Neeru Dhanda, Manisha Keer, Maheshwari Chauhan and Parinaaz Dhaliwal are also part of the shotgun group.Neeraj Chopra, meanwhile, will not be in Japan. The javelin thrower, who defended his Asian Games title in Hangzhou, is missing the 2026 Games after an ankle ligament injury during training.Athletics remains the biggest groupAthletics has the largest athlete representation, with 78 competitors, and also has the biggest programme with 43 events. They had bagged a total of 29 medals, including six golds, at Hangzhou, and the expectation will be to go many a medal better this time around.Alongside Sable, Toor and Parul are names such as Gulveer Singh, Animesh Kujur, Harita Bhadra, Jyothi Yarraji, Murali Sreeshankar, Praveen Chithravel and Tejaswin Shankar.India's Asian Games event split (TOI Graphics)Hockey: defending champions and a women’s team on the riseThe men's hockey team goes into Aichi-Nagoya as the defending Asian Games champion, but its recent World Cup campaign has left a different question hanging over the side.India won gold in Hangzhou in 2023, beating Japan 5-1 in the final, and the title also secured direct qualification for the Paris Olympics. The team now has another Olympic berth at stake in Japan, with the Asian Games gold medallist earning direct qualification for Los Angeles 2028.The women's team comes to Japan with a more encouraging recent result.India finished fifth at the 2026 Women's Hockey World Cup, their best finish at the tournament in 52 years. The campaign included a 2-2 draw against China, the 2024 Olympic silver medallists, a result that carried particular weight after India's 4-0 defeat to the same opposition in the Hangzhou Asian Games semifinal.The women's team has not won the Asian Games since 1982, and gold in Aichi-Nagoya would also bring direct qualification for the 2028 Olympics. Salima Tete will captain the side, with Savita Punia, Lalremsiami, Navneet Kaur, Deepika and Nikki Pradhan among the experienced players in the squad.Cricket brings another set of familiar namesIndia's men's T20 team is led by Shreyas Iyer and includes Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh.Sooryavanshi is also part of the squad.Harmanpreet Kaur leads the women's side, with Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh and Renuka Thakur among the selected players.India won both the men's and women's T20 gold medals at Hangzhou.There will also be Indian participation in four esports events - eFootball, Puyo Puyo Champions, League of Legends and Pokemon Unite.Haryana leads the state-wise numbersHaryana has the largest representation with 96 athletes.India's athletes at 2026 Asiad by states (TOI Graphics)Maharashtra follows with 49, Tamil Nadu 37, Punjab 35, Manipur 34, Uttar Pradesh 32 and Delhi 30.Karnataka, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh have 24 athletes each.The representation stretches across the country, with athletes also coming from Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry, Tripura, Sikkim, Ladakh and Lakshadweep.The support structure behind the contingent is spread across several programmes. National Coaching Camps account for 134 athletes, followed by TOPS Development with 78 and TOPS Core with 77. Khelo India has 65 athletes, TAGG 48 and National Centres of Excellence 25.The support behind the athletes (TOI Graphics)Aichi-Nagoya therefore brings together a group that already knows the Asian Games podium and another that has never experienced it.Mirabai Chanu still has one major medal to add. Anahat Singh arrives as a world junior champion. Manu Bhaker and Aishwary Pratap lead another large shooting group, while Sable, Toor, Parul, Jyothi and Satwik-Chirag return as defending champions.And around them are 314 first-timers, spread across 256 events in 36 sports.