It's that time of the sporting calendar again, when Indian fans look forward to high-quality action, new heroes, and the national anthem being played... Also known as a major multi-sport competition. With the 2026 Asian Games starting in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, the next two weeks have in store plenty of matches and medals to watch.
India have risen to the Asian elite circles in the last few years and the performance at the biggest multi-sport event outside the Olympics is proof. At the last edition in Hangzhou, China, India remarkably crossed the barrier of 100 medals - winning 106, of which 28 were gold.
The numbers from 2023 could change this time around, with several sports on the roster being shuffled but India will surely hope to build on gold medal metric.
Given India's prowess, there is a big haul expected especially from athletics, shooting and compound archery as well as team sports like cricket and kabaddi. Here's a look at Indian athletes who have the best chance to become Asian champions.
P.S. At any other event, the name topping the list will be one Neeraj Chopra, two-time defending champion. But an injury means the javelin thrower is going to be India's biggest miss this Asiad.
P.P.S. This list doesn't include shooting team medals (based on the total qualification score of individual shooters from each country), but India is sure to win a bunch of them.
Men's Hockey Team
The Indian men's hockey team are the overwhelming favourites for the gold medal, once again. Harmanpreet Singh and Co had won the gold comfortable in Hangzhou and will look to repeat it in Aichi-Nagoya. A month after their World Cup heartbreak, India will look to get back on top of the one podium they truly belong at.
India are currently the undisputed best team in Asia and were the only Asian team to progress to the next round at the World Cup while Pakistan, Malaysia and Japan finished at the bottom of their respective groups. There are issues still to be ironed out as the defensive frailty at the World Cup showed, and the Asiad will be a good platform to work on it.
An Asiad gold also means direct Olympic qualification, which will be a crucial bonus for Craig Fulton's team.
Manu Bhaker/Esha Singh/Suruchi Phogat/Rahi Sarnobat (anyone in women's pistol, really)
When we say anyone in women's pistol can win a gold, it is not a hyperbole. Every shooter has the capability and the experience to become Asian champion.
Manu is a two-time Olympic medallist and her journey to the Paris podium highlights her incredible hunger. Suruchi is a serial gold winner since her senior debut last year and become India's No 1 in 10m pistol. Esha is a prolific medal winner with 3 (2 gold medals in 25m pistol and a silver in 10m) won just this year at ISSF World Cups. Rahi is the 2018 Asian Games champion who has found her way back into the Indian team after a serious illness derailed her career.
Esha and Manu compete in both disciplines (10m and 25m) while Suruchi has aced the 10m and Rahi is a veteran in 25m. Honestly, women's pistol should be a double podium in both disciplines. This medal hope extends to the mixed team event as well, where Suruchi will partner with Kedarling Uchaganve.
Tajinderpal Singh Toor
The two-time defending champion in men's shot put will be a strong contender for a third straight gold medal.
Sure, he is 31 years old now and had a poor run of form and was battling injury at the Commonwealth Games in July. But with two straight gold medals and holding Asia's current best record, he should be a sure 'shot' at this.
Toor's season best has been 21.03m set in April in India - which is the best by an Asian in 2026 so far. The next closes Asian is Iran's Mohammad Reza Tayeb at 20.75. Toor's personal best is also the national record at 21.77m and he wants to breach the 22m next, and there will be no better stage than the Asian Games.
Dhiraj Bommadevara + Jyothi Surekha Vennam and the compound archers
The ever-improving Dhiraj has elevated himself immensely after the heartbreak of finishing fourth at the Olympics. Just this week, the 25-year-old became first Indian male recurve archer to win the Archery World Cup Final. He has three World Cup gold medals this year - in men's individual and mixed. He is the Asian champion having won the 2025 Asian Archery Championships.
Sure, naming a recurve archer to win a gold medal at the Asian Games, where South Korea come in as overwhelming favourites (and for the men, a huge opportunity to avoid mandatory military conscription) sounds fanciful. But Dhiraj has some X-Factor; he has defeated archery greats like Brady Ellison and Kim Woojin and has the experience of going up against archery giants.
More realistically, almost every compound archer should also be in this list, given how India swept all five compound golds in the last edition. Hangzhou's triple gold winner Jyothi Surekha Vennam will be leading the charge again, in what is her fourth Asiad. She's not had the best of years on the circuit, and will want to make the most of her title defence.
It will be interesting to see how the inclusion of compound mixed team archery in the Olympics changes the dynamic of this disciple.
Sujeet Kalkal
Sujeet has emerged as a rising star in 65kg freestyle, the weight category that once India enjoyed a lot of success in thanks to Bajrang Punia. Last year, he won the Under-23 World Championship gold. Earlier this year, he won the Under-23 Asian Championship gold. At the senior level too, he has a couple of gold medals this year.
The real challenge will be the Asian Games, the biggest competition after his career so far after he narrowly missed Olympic qualification in 2024 (partly due to flight disruptions). His draw wont be easy with reigning Olympic champion Kotaro Kiyooka being the favourite. But the absence of Iran's Rahman Amouzad, the silver winner in Paris, and the pressure of performing at home in Japan for Kotaro, along with his own youthful spunk and wrestling style gives Sujeet an edge.
Gulveer Singh
Gulveer Singh has improved into one of India's best long-distance runners and his terrific double podium at the recent Commonwealth Games - silver in the men's 10,000m and bronze in men's 5000m - in a field dominated by East Africans is proof.
He had won a bronze in the 10,000m at Hangzhou and is well placed to upgrade that. His season best time of 27:24.18 is the 12th best in the world, and only one Asian - Japan's Suzuki Mebuki - is ahead of him here. He will also face stiff competition from Bahrain's Birhanu Balew, the leader in men's 5000m. On his day though, Gulveer can well win a historic gold.
Honourable mentions: India's other top long-distance runners - defending steeplechase champion Avinash Sable and women's 5000m champion Parul Chaudhary, will look for a repeat. Sable is returning from a long injury while Parul has had a dip in form, but both can well peak at the season's biggest event.
Jumper: Sreeshankar Murali, Ancy Sojan, Sarvesh Kushare
Last time around, Sreeshankar Murali missed the men's long jump gold medal by 0.3 meters. Since then, he underwent a surgery, missed the Olympics, worked his way back to top form and has a season best of 8.38m, which is very close to his personal best of 8.41m. In fact, his jump from June is Asia's best in 2026 so far and 9th overall in the world, which makes him - numerically - the title favourite.
In women's long jump, Any Sojan will be one to watch out for. She won a silver medal at the last edition with her then personal best of 6.63m - always a good marker of any athlete's top level. Since then, she has raised her PB to 6.88m, breaking Anju Bobby George's long-standing national record in June this year. This also gave her the season-best jump in Asia (12th in the world.) With good form and experience - and spunk which Ancy has plenty of - a gold is a natural expectation.
Sarvesh had finished fourth in men's high jump at the last Asiad with his then season best of 2.26m. He comes into this edition with his personal and season best of 2.31m achieved in June - an apt reflection of how he has improved in the last few years. He has the Asia-leading time this year, and is 6th in the world overall and is coming off a close silver at the CWG. Yes, former Olympics champion Mutaz Barsham of Qatar is in the field and defending his gold, as is last time's silver medallist Ryoichi Akamatsu of Japan. But Sarvesh can raise the bar here, literally and figuratively.
Men's Squash Team
India are the defending champions and the top seeds in men's squash team event and will be expected to win it all once again. The team consists of Abhay Singh - who is also the second seed in men's singles, Veer Chotrani, Velavan Senthilkumar and Suraj Chand.
In the last edition in Hangzhou by beating Pakistan - Asian heavyweights in squash - in an epic final that went down to the wire. That was India's only second gold medal in the event in Asiad history. This time, they come in as favourites with Abhay and Veer having improved a lot in the last three years. Squash is now a newly minted Olympic sport, which raises the stakes further for all countries.
Honourable mention: A singles gold medal at Asian Games will assure direct Olympic qualification, which puts Abhay and Anahat Singh - the third seed and recent junior World Champion - in a good spot with added motivation to become the sports first Olympians
Cricket and Kabaddi Teams
If there was a sure shot team medal to be won in competition, it is in men and women's cricket and men's and women's kabaddi. (Despite the shock losses to Iran back in 2018).
In cricket, India are both men's and women's Asia Cup champions, while the men are world champions in the T20 format and will be the favourites despite not being a full-strength squad.
In kabaddi, India are the World Cup winners in both men's and women's (in the World Kabaddi organised event in 2025) and basically the frontrunners of the sport.
Missing any one of these four gold medals will be a huge shock at the Asian Games.