Asian Games 2026: Full schedule, venue, events and more

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Asian Games - Aichi-Nagoya 2026: Basketball Women’s Group B, Philippines vs Kazakhstan at Aichi International Arena, Nagoya, Japan, on September 17, 2026. | Photo Credit: Reuters

The Asian Games 2026 will be held from September 19 to October 4, 2026, though competition in several disciplines will begin before the opening ceremony on Saturday. India’s campaign at the Asian Games 2026 begins with teqball on Thursday, September 17, 2026, two days before the opening ceremony in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.

The entire schedule of the 2026 Asian Games is slated between September 19 to October 4, 2026 in the city of Nagoya in the Aichi Prefecture of Japan.

The Asian Games 2026 will bring together athletes from 45 countries and regions across 43 sports. It will be the 20th edition of the Games and the third time Japan has hosted the event, following Tokyo in 1958 and Hiroshima in 1994. The Games will be held across 54 competition venues in Japan, with the Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium serving as the main venue, according to Olympics.com.

The multi-sport event will feature 43 standard sports along with newer disciplines such as freestyle BMX, mixed martial arts, paddle surfing, teqball and virtual taekwondo. Seven disciplines, namely archery, hockey, sailing, squash, surfing, tennis and triathlon, offer direct qualification quotas for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

The sports included in the tournament climbing, squash, surfing, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, soft tennis, teqball, triathlon, volleyball, beach volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, wushu, esports, fencing, football, golf, artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline gymnastics, handball, hockey, judo, kabaddi, karate, modern pentathlon, padel, rowing, rugby sevens, sailing, sepak takraw, shooting, skateboarding, swimming, diving, artistic swimming, water polo, archery, athletics, badminton, baseball, softball, basketball, 3x3 basketball, boxing, breaking, canoe sprint, canoe slalom, jiu-jitsu, kurash, mixed martial arts, cricket, cycling track, cycling road, cycling mountain bike, cycling BMX racing, cycling BMX freestyle and equestrian.

India heads into the tournament looking to build on its record-breaking performance at Hangzhou 2023, where it won 107 medals, including 28 gold. India will look to defend its men’s and women’s cricket titles as well as the men’s and women’s kabaddi crowns. The men’s hockey team also enters the competition as the reigning champion.

In cricket, Shreyas Iyer will lead India’s title defence in the men’s T20 competition, with teenage batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi also included in the squad. The Indian women’s cricket team will be led by T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur.

Hockey carries added significance in Aichi-Nagoya, with the men’s and women’s tournaments serving as continental qualification events for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

India can also secure Olympic quotas in archery, sailing, squash, surfing and tennis.