Asian Games 2026 officially open; Manu Bhaker, Pawan Sehrawat lead Indian contingent
Nagoya : The 20th Asian Games were officially opened with a ceremony at the Paloma Mizuho Stadium here on Saturday, with double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker and kabaddi star Pawan Sehrawat leading the Indian contingent as flagbearers.
India is represented by a 501-athlete contingent competing across 36 sports at the continental multi-sport event, which runs from September 19 to October 4.
Bhaker, who won two bronze medals at the Paris 2024 Olympics, shared the flag-bearing honour with Sehrawat, a member of India’s gold-medal-winning men’s kabaddi team at the previous Asian Games.
Sehrawat was named the male flagbearer in place of shot-putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor due to technical issues.
The opening ceremony marked the formal start of the Games, bringing together athletes from 45 countries and regions who will compete across 43 sports and 469 medal events.
For Bhaker, the occasion carried a personal and emotional significance as she remembered her late coach Jaspal Rana, who passed away in June.
“I miss Jaspal, sir, a lot. He was special to me; it’s a very big emotional moment for me,” Bhaker told ANI after leading the Indian contingent at the ceremony.
Rana, a Dronacharya Award-winning coach and recipient of the Arjuna Award and Padma Shri, died in New Delhi on June 13 after battling health complications. He had been undergoing treatment at a hospital in South Delhi.
A former international shooter with an illustrious career spanning more than three decades, Rana won 15 medals, including nine gold, across four editions of the Commonwealth Games, making him India’s most successful athlete at the event.
He also made a significant contribution to Indian shooting as a coach and high-performance trainer. Rana had been serving as India’s high-performance coach for the 25m pistol event since February 2025 and played a key role in Bhaker’s development.
Bhaker made history at the Paris Olympics by becoming the first athlete from independent India to win two medals in a single edition of the Games. She will compete in the women’s 10m air pistol, women’s 25m pistol and 10m air pistol mixed team events in Aichi-Nagoya.
Sehrawat, meanwhile, will be aiming to help India defend its men’s kabaddi title. India has won gold in eight of the nine editions of the Asian Games in which men’s kabaddi has featured, with the exception being the 2018 Games, where the team settled for bronze.
At Hangzhou 2023, India defeated Iran 33-29 in the final to reclaim the gold medal.
India will look to build on its performance at Hangzhou, where it finished fourth in the medal standings with 106 medals, including 28 gold, 38 silver and 40 bronze.
The Indian contingent features five individual Olympic medallists, although defending javelin throw champion Neeraj Chopra has withdrawn from the Games due to an ankle injury.
PV Sindhu will spearhead India’s badminton campaign, while Mirabai Chanu will lead the weightlifting challenge. Lovlina Borgohain will compete in boxing, and Aman Sehrawat will represent India in wrestling.
India’s boxers arrive in Japan after a record-breaking Commonwealth Games campaign, where they secured 10 medals, including seven gold.
Athletics is expected to be a significant part of India’s campaign, with more than 70 track and field athletes set to compete. Gulveer Singh, Tejaswin Shankar and Olympian Sarvesh Kushare are among the athletes to watch.
Toor, who was originally named as a flagbearer, will aim to win a third consecutive Asian Games gold medal in the men’s shot put. He won the title at Jakarta 2018 and retained it at Hangzhou 2023 with a throw of 20.36 metres.
India will also seek to defend its men’s and women’s titles in cricket and kabaddi, along with the men’s hockey crown.
In men’s cricket, Shreyas Iyer will lead the title defence in the T20 competition, with teenage batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi included in the squad. The women’s team, also defending champions, will be led by T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur.
Hockey will carry added significance at the Games, with both the men’s and women’s tournaments serving as qualification events for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The winners of the two competitions will secure direct qualification for the Games.
India will also have opportunities to earn LA 2028 quota places in archery, sailing, squash, surfing and tennis.
In squash, young Anahat Singh will return after contributing to India’s women’s team bronze at Hangzhou 2023. She also won a mixed doubles bronze alongside Abhay Singh and will be among the players expected to feature prominently in India’s campaign.
Japan is hosting the Asian Games for the third time, having previously staged the continental event in Tokyo in 1958 and Hiroshima in 1994.
With the opening ceremony complete, India’s athletes will now turn their attention to competition across the next two weeks, seeking to add to the country’s record medal haul from Hangzhou and make their mark in Aichi-Nagoya.
