Last Updated:
The athletics group features 35 men and 38 women and is headlined by two-time Olympic medal-winning javelin throw superstar Neeraj Chopra and long jumper Murali Sreeshankar.
492 athletes to represent India at Asian Games 2026. (Picture Credit: AP)
The Sports Ministry on Saturday approved a 492-strong Indian 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 female athletes.
The Ministry has, however, not yet issued the list of support staff that would accompany the contingent for the September 19 to October 4 mega-event in Aichi-Nagoya.
“The list of support staff would be out in another week or even earlier. It is being recalibrated to ensure that there is a balanced presence of sports science experts such as physios and medical staff for all participating teams,” a well-placed source told PTI.
“The athletes list is more or less what the IOA (Indian Olympic Association) recommended. A few names have been dropped because of doping violations as is already documented but a few more could be added for which we are awaiting clearance from the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA),” the source added.
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 shooting squad is led by double Olympic-medallist pistol ace Manu Bhaker, and other in-form youngsters like Suruchi Singh (pistol), Elavenil Valarivan (rifle) and Esha Singh (pistol). It’s a 30-strong side that has 15 men and as many women.
The redoubtable Mirabai Chanu (49kg) and Gyaneshwari Devi (53kg), who rose to prominence with a silver in the recent Commonwealth Games, are the star names in the weightlifting team, which had to be downsized to five due to doping violations of some selected names.
CWG silver-winning Rishikanta Singh (60kg) is the lone male member of this squad.
The 20-member badminton team also comprises established names such as P V Sindhu, Ayush Shetty and Lakshya 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. Treesa and Gayatri won a bronze medal at the world championships this week.
The boxing group has 11 names, including the recent Commonwealth Games silver-winning trio of Lovlina Borgohain (75kg), Narender Berwal (+90kg) and Jadumani Singh (55kg).
15 names have been cleared for Esports competition, all of them being men, while 22 rowers will also travel for the Games to be held in Aichi-Nagoya.
For the rugby competition, India will only field the women’s team that comprises 13 members. In the volleyball event, only a 12-member men’s team will be representing the country.
21 athletes have been approved for Sepak Takraw, a South East Asian sport which combines elements of volleyball, football and gymnastics. The cricket teams, men and women, make up for 30 names in the approved list.
Full strength Kabaddi teams (12 men and 12 women) will be out to defend the two gold medals won in the previous edition of the Games.
Sumit Nagal is the only singles player in the tennis squad of seven.
16 wrestlers will be fighting it out for the country at the Games, including world championships bronze-medallist Antim Panghal (53kg) and Olympic bronze-winning Aman Sehrawat (57kg).
(With inputs from PTI)
Key Questions Answered
Ask News18Neeraj Chopra and Murali Sreeshankar in athletics, and Manu Bhaker, Suruchi Singh, Elavenil Valarivan, and Esha Singh in shooting are among the athletes expected to win medals for India at the Asian Games 2026.
Ask News18About the Author
Harshit Bisht is a sports journalist at CNN-News18, where he has been covering cricket, football, and major sporting events from around the world since July 1, 2024. Driven by a passion for storytelli…Read More
August 22, 2026, 10:35 PM IST
Read More
Source link
[ad_3]
