Sports Ministry clears 492 Indian athletes for Asian Games 2026

The Sports Ministry on Saturday approved a 492-member Indian contingent for the Asian Games, which will begin next month in Japan. The contingent includes 265 male and 227 female athletes, with athletics accounting for the largest share of 73 participants. The athletics squad comprises two-time Olympic medallist and star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra, long jumper Murali Sreeshankar, long-distance runner Gulveer Singh, decathlete Tejaswin Shankar and 100-metre hurdler Jyothi Yarraji, among others.  
India’s 20-member badminton team features established names such as P V Sindhu, Lakshya Sen and Ayush Shetty. The squad also includes women’s doubles pair Gayatri Gopichand and Treesa Jolly, as well as men’s doubles duo Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty. The boxing squad has 11 members, including recent Commonwealth Games silver medallists Lovlina Borgohain in the 75-kilogram category, Narender Berwal in the over-90-kilogram category, and Jadumani Singh in the 55-kilogram category.