India has a number to chase in Aichi-Nagoya: 100. Three years ago in Hangzhou, India crossed that mark for the first time, returning with 107 medals, including 28 gold, 39 silver and 41 bronze, to finish fourth in the continental standings. It was a landmark performance, and one that changed the nature of the conversation around Indian sport. The question in Aichi-Nagoya is whether India can do it again.
But there is another number that may matter more to those shaping India’s sporting future.
310.
Of the athletes in India’s 501-member contingent, 310 are making their Asian Games debuts. There are 65 athletes from the Khelo India pathway, while 155 are supported under TOPS and 132 are part of the National Coaching Camp system.
The Khelo India number is particularly significant. Khelo India is the lowest tier of India’s talent-identification pathway, below the more advanced layers represented by TOPS and national camps. For 65 athletes from that pathway to reach the Asian Games shows that their potential has already been identified, even if they are still at an early stage of the elite system.
Asian Games Day 1: Schedule | Medal Table
That thinking stretches beyond Aichi-Nagoya. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for sporting talent to be identified as early as five to 15 years old, with the 2036 Olympics in mind. The idea is to build a system that identifies not just who wants to play a sport, but which sport a child may be physically suited to.
It is, in other words, not simply a team assembled to defend what India achieved in Hangzhou. It is also a testing ground for the next generation, giving athletes who are still at the lower end of the development pathway exposure to the highest level of Asian competition.
“Young blood is coming in. They are inexperienced, but it’s a good sign for the future,” a Ministry source said. “I am not speculating anything about medals, but I am sure our strength will be built over the next four and eight years.”
Aichi-Nagoya begins with two demands pulling in different directions. India wants another 100-plus medal haul. At the same time, the sporting establishment is conscious that the athletes who will matter most at Los Angeles 2028, and particularly the generation beyond that, have to be given a pathway now.
That explains why the age profile and experience of this contingent are as interesting as the medal targets. The youngest athlete is 15-year-old cricketer Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. The oldest is 55-year-old equestrian Shruti Vora. There is a 40-year age gap between them.
Between them sits a contingent deliberately filled with new faces.
“In a lot of disciplines, we have sent debutants,” a Ministry source said.
The selection policy introduced for the Asian Games cycle was deliberately demanding. For measurable individual events, an athlete had to match or better the sixth-place performance from the previous Asian Games at a recognised competition in the 12 months preceding the Games. For non-measurable events, athletes generally needed a top-six finish at the recent Senior Asian Championships or a world ranking that placed them among the top six athletes from Asian nations. Team sports were assessed against separate benchmarks.
The message from the Sports Ministry was that participation for participation’s sake was not enough.
“A lot of pressure was there (on us). Some parents came and said that my child has not been selected. We told them if your child merits selection (fulfils the selection criteria), there is no way that he or she will not be selected,” Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said while explaining the approach.
The consequence is a contingent that is large enough to chase medals but selective enough to reveal where India believes it has genuine competitive potential.
FROM 70 TO 107, AND NOW REPEAT?
India’s recent Asian Games trajectory explains the pressure around Aichi.
At Jakarta-Palembang in 2018, India finished with 69 medals, including 15 gold. At Hangzhou, the haul rose to 107 medals, with 28 gold.
That meant an increase of 38 medals between the two Games, a rise of roughly 55 per cent in the overall tally. Gold medals rose from 16 to 28, an increase of 12 and a jump of over 75 percent. India moved from regularly finishing outside the top five to fourth in Hangzhou, and from being a 60-70 medal nation to crossing 100, thereby becoming the first country outside China, Japan and South Korea to cross the 100-medal mark at an Asian Games.
Now comes the harder part: repeating it.
The Aichi programme contains 469 medal events across 43 sports and 71 disciplines. Six sports are making their medal debut at the Games: MMA, teqball, padel, virtual taekwondo, BMX freestyle and surfing.
India will compete in 36 sporting disciplines.
The opportunity is therefore not simply to reproduce Hangzhou. There are new medal pools, new opponents and, in some sports, qualification implications for the Los Angeles Olympics.
Archery, hockey, squash and tennis all have LA 2028 qualification pathways linked to the Asian Games.
That makes Aichi more than a continental medal count. For some athletes, it is an Olympic audition. For others, it is their first exposure to a multi-sport Games. For the federation system, it is a test of whether the next generation can be brought into the same competitive environment that once belonged almost exclusively to established names.
THE INVESTMENT BEHIND THE NUMBERS
There is considerable state support behind that transition.
The Ministry says Rs 702.86 crore has been spent under the Assistance to National Sports Federations framework for Asian Games preparation.
The largest component, Rs 251.4 crore, went towards international competition exposure. Another Rs 118.3 crore was allocated for domestic training and National Coaching Camps. Equipment support accounted for Rs 89.2 crore, foreign experts Rs 86.3 crore and overseas training Rs 39.8 crore. Other expenses accounted for Rs 117.9 crore.
The foreign-expert component includes 50 experts, while the other-expenses head includes remuneration for Indian experts, hosting national championships and international competitions in India, and coach development.
TOPS spending has also risen and fluctuated across the cycle: Rs 21.71 crore in 2022-23, Rs 24.21 crore in 2023-24, Rs 17.11 crore in 2024-25 and Rs 34.81 crore in 2025-26.
The Ministry says one-third of the authorised support staff is sports-science personnel.
Athletics is India’s biggest contingent in the Ministry briefing, with 78 athletes. Hockey has 40, cricket 30, shooting 30, kabaddi 24, rowing 22, sepak takraw 21, badminton 20, fencing 20 and canoeing/kayaking 19.
There is depth, too, in sports that have traditionally supplied India’s Asian Games medals.
WHERE INDIA ARRIVES WITH MOMENTUM
The 2026 season has given India plenty to take into Aichi, even if recent results cannot guarantee what happens once competition begins. Shooting, boxing and athletics have provided some of the strongest evidence of a team arriving with depth across multiple Olympic sports.
Shooting has been particularly encouraging. Esha Singh set a world record in the women’s 25m sports pistol final at the ISSF World Cup in Munich, while Palak Gulia and Mukesh Nelavalli won the 10m air pistol mixed-team gold in Granada with a junior world record of 487.7. Neeru Dhanda also became the first Indian woman to win an ISSF World Cup trap gold.
Athletics had a strong Commonwealth Games too. Gulveer Singh became the first Indian athlete to win two athletics medals at a single Commonwealth Games and India’s first men’s 5,000m medallist there. Tajinderpal Singh Toor remains a two-time Asian Games champion, while Avinash Sable and Parul Chaudhary return as defending champions. The absence of Neeraj Chopra takes away India’s biggest individual athletics gold prospect, but the discipline still has several routes to the podium.
Boxing perhaps delivered the clearest confidence boost. India won seven gold and three silver medals at the Commonwealth Games, its best-ever boxing performance at the event, and finished top of the boxing medal table.
But the Asian Games will demand a significant step up. India won only four boxing medals in Hangzhou, with one silver and three bronze, and the depth of the Asian field is considerably greater. The Glasgow success does not guarantee a bigger haul in Aichi, but it gives a young group of boxers something important to carry into the ring: belief. Preeti Pawar, Priya Ghanghas, Sakshi Chaudhary and others now arrive with major titles behind them, rather than simply potential.
Badminton has produced encouraging signs as well. Ayush Shetty became the first Indian men’s singles player since Dinesh Khanna in 1965 to reach the Asian Championships final, while Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly won a historic World Championships medal in New Delhi. The men’s team then claimed bronze at the Thomas Cup, India’s second podium finish in the tournament.
There have been markers elsewhere too. Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah climbed to world No. 2 in men’s doubles, the highest ranking achieved by an Indian pair. Mirabai Chanu won a third successive Commonwealth Games gold, while Asmita Dey became India’s first Commonwealth Games judo champion.
The result is a contingent that does not have to rely solely on its established stars. India has defending champions, Olympic medallists and athletes who have produced breakthrough performances in 2026, all competing alongside a large group experiencing the Asian Games for the first time. That mix is central to India’s attempt to repeat its 100-plus medal haul from Hangzhou.
27 GOLD MEDAL CONTENDERS AT ASIAN GAMES
Shooting
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Manu Bhaker (10m/25m pistol): The two-time Olympic medallist brings the pedigree and experience to challenge for gold in both pistol events.
- Esha Singh (10m/25m pistol): World No. 1 in 25m pistol and No. 2 in 10m, Esha arrives in outstanding 2026 form.
- Suruchi Singh (10m pistol): A four-time World Cup gold medallist who has risen to World No. 3 and become one of India’s leading 10m pistol shooters.
- Rahi Sarnobat (25m pistol): The 2018 Asian Games champion is back at the Asiad after missing Hangzhou and gives India enormous experience in the event.
- Neeru Dhanda (Women’s trap): Asian champion and 2026 World Cup gold medallist, having become the first Indian woman to win an individual ISSF Shotgun World Cup trap title.
- Kynan Chenai, Ahvar Rizvi and Shapath Bharadwaj (Men’s trap team): The defending Asian Games champions return as a team, with Kynan also carrying individual bronze-medal pedigree from Hangzhou.
Athletics
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Tajinderpal Singh Toor (Shot put): The two-time defending champion has Asia’s best throw of 2026 and is chasing a historic third successive Asian Games gold.
- Murali Sreeshankar (Long jump): His 8.38m is the best mark in Asia this year, putting the returning Commonwealth Games silver medallist firmly in the gold conversation.
- Ancy Sojan (Long jump): The national record-holder has jumped 6.88m this season, also an Asian-leading mark.
- Sarvesh Kushare (High jump): His 2.31m is Asia’s best mark this year, and he comes into the Games after winning Commonwealth Games silver.
- Gulveer Singh (5,000m/10,000m): A Commonwealth Games double medallist who also won bronze at Hangzhou, Gulveer has developed into one of India’s leading long-distance runners.
- Avinash Sable (3,000m steeplechase): The defending Asian Games champion and Asian record-holder has a chance to retain his title, although his return from injury adds an element of uncertainty.
- Parul Chaudhary (5,000m): The defending Asian Games champion remains a gold contender despite a quieter season.
Archery
- Dhiraj Bommadevara (Recurve): The 2025 Asian champion has taken a major step forward in 2026, becoming the first Indian male recurve archer to win the World Cup Final.
- Jyothi Surekha Vennam (Compound): A triple gold medallist at Hangzhou and part of India’s sweep of all five compound golds at the previous Games.
Badminton
- Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty (Men’s doubles): The defending Asian Games champions remain India’s strongest badminton gold proposition.
Wrestling
- Sujeet Kalkal (65kg): The 2026 Asian champion has emerged as one of India’s fastest-rising wrestlers. The absence of Iran’s Rahman Amouzad further strengthens his route to the title.
- Aman Sehrawat (57kg): The Paris Olympic bronze medallist and former Asian champion gives India another established wrestling gold prospect.
Boxing
- Preeti Pawar (54kg): The Hangzhou bronze medallist has since won Asian and Commonwealth Games gold and arrives with considerably stronger credentials.
- Priya Ghanghas (60kg): The 2026 Asian champion and Commonwealth Games gold medallist is making her Asian Games debut.
Weightlifting
- Mirabai Chanu (49kg): The Olympic silver medallist and three-time Commonwealth champion is chasing her first Asian Games medal.
Hockey
- Men’s hockey team: The defending Asian Games champions will be targeting another gold, with the title also carrying direct qualification for LA 2028.
Cricket
- Men’s cricket team: Defending Asian Games champions and reigning T20 world champions.
- Women’s cricket team: Defending Asian Games champions and Asia Cup champions.
Kabaddi
- Men’s kabaddi team: Defending Asian Games champions and 2025 World Cup winners.
- Women’s kabaddi team: Defending Asian Games champions and 2025 World Cup winners.
Squash
- Men’s squash team: Defending Asian Games champions and top seeds, with Abhay Singh, Veer Chotrani, Velavan Senthilkumar and Suraj Chand.
– Ends
