India send 246 athletes across 43 sports to the Asian Games in Japan
Squash makes its Asian Games debut and cricket returns. Neeraj Chopra is the largest absence, ruled out by an ankle injury that is likely to need surgery.
India will send 246 athletes across 43 sports to the Asian Games, which open on 19 September in Japan. The contingent comes together weeks after the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, with a number of athletes moving directly from one to the other.
The single largest absence is Neeraj Chopra. The track and field athlete has sustained an ankle injury that is likely to require surgery, ruling out the competitor who would otherwise have been among India's most certain medallists.
Cricket, back for a second time
Cricket returns after making its Asian Games debut in the 2023 edition, and India go in as holders in both draws.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Arshdeep Singh and Shreyas Iyer are among those set to be in action. The Indian men's side, the reigning T20 World Champions, are again expected to be favourites for gold after winning it in 2023.
The women's team also won gold three years ago. They will be without Jemimah Rodrigues.
Sooryavanshi's selection is the one that has drawn most attention. He is 15, and has been picked for a senior multi-sport competition against full international opposition.
Squash arrives
Squash makes its Asian Games debut this year, and India have entered a full complement: Anahat Singh, Joshna Chinappa, Abhay Singh, Veer Chotrani, Velavan Senthilkumar, Suraj Chand, Tanvi Khanna and Shameena Riaz.
NewsX lists all eight in the squash entry; it does not break the event down further.
The recognisable names
Beyond cricket and squash, the contingent carries most of the athletes Indian audiences know by name. Manu Bhaker, PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, Lovlina Borgohain, Aman Sehrawat and Mirabai Chanu are all in action.
Between them they cover shooting, badminton, boxing, wrestling and weightlifting.
Kabaddi, in both draws
India's kabaddi squads are led by Sunil Kumar in the men's competition and Pushpa Rana in the women's.
The men's 12 are Sunil Kumar, Ankit Jaglan, Devank Dalal, Rahul Sethpal, Sumit, Jaideep Dahiya, Ayan Lochab, Arjun Deshwal, Aslam Inamdar, Gaurav Khatri, Pawan Sehrawat and Ashu Malik.
The women's 12 are Pushpa Rana, Jyoti Thakur, Nikita Hathwala, Pooja, Raj Rani, Ritu Sheoran, Bhavna Devi, Sanju Devi, Manisha Kumari, Ritu Negi, Pinki Roy and Sonali Vishnu Shingate.
NewsX lists both squads in full.
A contingent shaped by two Games
The proximity of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow to the Asian Games is the structural feature of this cycle. Athletes who peaked for Scotland have weeks rather than months to recover and prepare again, and a contingent of 246 across 43 sports means that scheduling problem lands differently on every federation.
For some disciplines the overlap is an advantage: competition sharpness carries over. For others, particularly those where a single final decides the medal, it means arriving at the more important of the two events already several weeks into a taper.
What the numbers describe
Forty-three sports is a wide entry. Chopra's ankle injury, described as likely to need surgery, removes him from the athletics entry; NewsX calls him arguably the biggest miss in the contingent.
The Games run from 19 September. The full list of 246 was published by NewsX.
