Asian Games 2026: Ministry approves 492 athletes, 73 from athletics alone

The Sports Ministry on Saturday approved a 492-strong 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 women athletes. The Ministry has, however, not yet issued the list of support staff that would accompany the contingent.

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 20-strong badminton team also comprises established names such as P V Sindhu, Ayush Shetty and Laskshya 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.

The boxing group has 11 names, including the recent Commonwealth Games silver-winners Lovlin Borgohain (75kg), Narender Berwal (+90kg) and Jadumani Singh (55kg).

Fifteen names have been cleared for Esports competition, while 22 rowers will also travel for the Games to be held in Aichi-Nagoya.

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