Anjana Sasi | Aichi-Nagoya, Japan
As the 2026 Asian Games open in Aichi-Nagoya, China seeks to defend its dominance, hosts Japan face home expectations, South Korea targets its traditional strengths and India looks to prove that its record Hangzhou performance marked lasting progress.
Aichi-Nagoya, Japan : Aichi-Nagoya has been preparing for this moment for years. Athletes from across the continent have begun arriving with the same destination in mind but very different expectations. For India, however, the Asian Games have already begun. While the opening ceremony is still a day away, Indian athletes have been competing since September 17, when the country’s campaign opened with teqball. On Friday, the Indian women’s cricket team is scheduled to face hosts Japan in the quarter-final. Only on Saturday, September 19, will the Games officially open in Aichi-Nagoya. It is an unusual beginning, but perhaps an appropriate one. The Asian Games are not really defined by the ceremony. The ceremony brings the continent together; competition begins to separate it.
Over the next 16 days, more than 11,000 athletes representing 45 countries and regions, along with the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) Refugee Team, will compete across 43 sports and 469 medal events. Behind those numbers are years of preparation, selection battles, injuries, sacrifices and, for many athletes, the opportunity of a lifetime. Some arrive in Japan already carrying medals and reputations. Others have come hoping to make their names here. That mixture is what makes the Asian Games such a fascinating sporting contest. The established powers are trying to protect their territory, while a growing group of challengers are steadily closing the distance. The names at the top of the Asian sporting order remain familiar. China, Japan and South Korea possess the depth and infrastructure to compete across almost the entire programme. India has moved into a different category of expectation after its record performance in Hangzhou. Behind them, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Iran and several Southeast Asian nations have become increasingly difficult opponents in their specialist disciplines. The hierarchy remains. But it is no longer as comfortable as it once was.
China Begins Where Everyone Else Wants to Reach
China remains the standard against which the rest of Asia measures itself. At Hangzhou, China won 201 gold medals and 383 medals overall. Those figures tell only part of the story. What makes China’s dominance so difficult to challenge is not simply the number of champions it produces, but the depth underneath them. In swimming, diving, gymnastics, table tennis, badminton, shooting, weightlifting and several other sports, China can afford to lose one star without losing its strength in the event. That is the advantage of a deep system. For its rivals, therefore, the task is not to challenge China everywhere. It is to find the sports and events where the gap can be narrowed and then make the most of those opportunities. That is where the Asian Games become particularly interesting. A country can be far behind in the overall medal table and still have a highly successful Games because of a breakthrough in one or two disciplines. Equally, a strong contingent can underperform if its medal prospects repeatedly fall at the final hurdle. The difference between success and disappointment is often much smaller than the final medal table suggests.
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Japan Has Home Advantage — and Nowhere to Hide
For Japan, Aichi-Nagoya is about more than hosting another major sporting event. It is an opportunity to perform in front of a home audience. Japan finished second at Hangzhou with 52 gold medals and will now compete with the familiarity of home conditions. The athletes know the country, the climate and, in many cases, the venues. The crowd can provide an extra push when a race enters its final stages or a match reaches its most difficult moment. But the home crowd can also create another kind of pressure. A Japanese athlete who might normally compete away from the glare of expectation will now know that every result is being watched closely at home. Winning in front of your own people can be unforgettable. Losing can be equally difficult to process. Japan’s strength lies in the breadth of its talent. Swimming, athletics, gymnastics, shooting, badminton, table tennis, judo and other combat sports all offer medal opportunities. Its campaign is unlikely to depend on a single discipline or superstar, which makes consistency crucial. At a multi-sport Games, medals are won one event at a time, and even a silver that feels disappointing in the moment can become vital to the team’s overall tally.
South Korea Will Look to Its Traditional Strengths
South Korea arrives with a similar challenge, though its medal base is built around a different mix of sports. Archery, shooting, fencing, badminton, table tennis and combat sports have traditionally been among its strongest areas. At Hangzhou, South Korea won 42 gold medals and has set a target of up to 45 in Aichi-Nagoya. On paper, three additional gold medals may not seem like a dramatic difference. Inside a competition, they could represent everything. A final lost by one point. An arrow that misses the centre. A boxer making the wrong tactical decision in the closing seconds. A shooter losing concentration in the last series. At this level, the difference between champion and runner-up is rarely enormous. It simply feels enormous to the athletes involved.
India Arrives With Expectations It Helped Create
India’s position in the Asian Games has changed considerably. For years, the country approached these competitions with a mixture of optimism and caution. There were dependable medal-winning sports and individual champions, but the overall campaign often depended heavily on a relatively small group. Hangzhou changed that. India won 107 medals — 28 gold, 38 silver and 41 bronze — crossing the 100-medal mark for the first time. That achievement did something important beyond changing the record book. It changed expectations. India now arrives in Aichi-Nagoya with 503 athletes across 36 disciplines. There is experience in the contingent, but also a sizeable group of younger athletes looking to establish themselves at the continental level. And that makes this campaign different. The question is no longer simply whether India can have a good Asian Games. The question is whether the breadth seen at Hangzhou can be sustained.
The Absence of a Champion Changes the Equation
India’s campaign will also have to deal with the absence of one of its most recognisable sporting figures. Neeraj Chopra will miss the Games because of injury, ruling him out of the javelin competition and ending his pursuit of a third consecutive Asian Games gold. His absence is significant. But it also provides an interesting test of Indian sport. When a major champion is missing, does the medal expectation around the discipline disappear with him, or does someone else step into that space? That question will be asked repeatedly across the Indian contingent. Athletics remains a major area of interest. Shooting carries substantial medal potential. Wrestling, boxing, archery, badminton and weightlifting will also attract attention, while hockey, cricket and kabaddi bring the additional complexities of team competition. But the eventual Indian medal tally could be shaped by athletes who are not the first names mentioned before the Games. That is usually how multi-sport competitions work. The stars attract the headlines. The depth builds the medal table.
The Hardest Part Is Often Not Winning, but Surviving
The Asian Games are particularly unforgiving in combat sports. In boxing, wrestling, judo and taekwondo, an athlete can spend years preparing for the Games and still find the tournament ending after one difficult bout. The draw matters. So does timing. So does energy management. Most importantly, so does the ability to adapt. An opponent who looks comfortable in the opening minutes may become vulnerable later. A favourite may discover that the opponent has studied every aspect of their game. A tactical plan that works in the first round may have to be abandoned in the next. The strongest athlete does not always win. Often, the athlete who reads the contest better does. Shooting and archery create a different form of pressure. There is nowhere to hide behind a teammate or an opponent. The athlete stands alone with the target and the knowledge that one mistake can change the entire competition. Athletics is even more brutally simple. The clock does not care about reputation. A champion can finish fourth. A newcomer can produce a lifetime best at exactly the right moment. And somewhere in Aichi-Nagoya, there will almost certainly be an athlete who arrives without much attention and leaves with an entirely different reputation.
The Challengers Are No Longer Waiting Patiently
One of the most significant developments in Asian sport has been the rise of countries outside the traditional East Asian powers. Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Iran have become formidable forces in boxing, wrestling, judo, weightlifting and other combat and strength disciplines. Uzbekistan won 22 gold medals at Hangzhou and finished fifth overall. Kazakhstan and Iran have also established strong medal bases in their specialist sports. They do not need to challenge China across 43 sports to change the competition. They simply need to be good enough in the sports that matter to them. And they are. An Indian boxer may encounter an Uzbek opponent in the early rounds. A wrestler may find a Kazakh or Iranian challenger blocking the route to the final. A weightlifter can discover that a seemingly straightforward medal opportunity has become a contest against several athletes capable of producing a winning performance. The Asian field has become deeper. That is good for the Games, but it makes the road to the podium harder for everyone.
Games That Are Evolving With Sport
Aichi-Nagoya also reflects how the Asian Games themselves are changing. The programme combines traditional Olympic disciplines with newer and regionally significant sports. Across 43 sports and 71 disciplines, athletes will compete for 469 sets of medals. That diversity gives the Games a character of their own. They are not simply an Olympic rehearsal. For some athletes, the Asian Games are the biggest competition of their careers. For some sports, they provide a continental stage that can be more important than any other competition outside the world championships. For smaller nations, this matters enormously. A country does not need hundreds of elite athletes to make an impression here. Sometimes one athlete, one team or one unexpected medal can change the sporting conversation at home. That is why the medal table, while important, never tells the complete story.
The Real Measure of India
For India, Aichi-Nagoya will ultimately provide two different measurements. The first will be obvious: How many medals? The second will take longer to answer: How much depth has Indian sport actually built? The 107 medals at Hangzhou were a milestone. Repeating that kind of breadth would suggest something more enduring than a single successful campaign. There will be setbacks. There will be surprise defeats. Some medal favourites will return home without medals. Some athletes who were barely mentioned before the Games will suddenly become national names. That is the nature of sport. And that is why the Asian Games cannot be reduced to a prediction of who will finish where.
China will try to protect its extraordinary dominance. Japan will attempt to turn home advantage into performance. South Korea will lean on its established strengths. India will try to show that its rise is becoming sustainable. The challengers will look for the cracks. But for the athletes themselves, all of that eventually disappears. A sprinter at the starting blocks is not thinking about China’s medal tally. A shooter is not thinking about India’s target. A boxer is not thinking about the final standings. They are thinking about the next race, the next shot, the next round, the next opponent. That is when the enormity of the Asian Games becomes very small. It comes down to one athlete and one moment. The opening ceremony on September 19 will provide the formal beginning. The competition has already started for some. By October 4, the medal table will provide the final numbers. But somewhere between those two dates will be the stories that numbers cannot capture — the unexpected breakthrough, the agonising defeat, the veteran’s final appearance, the teenager’s arrival and the performance that nobody saw coming. That is what Aichi-Nagoya is really waiting to discover.
Not simply who can win.
Disclosure: Anjana Sasi’s travel to Japan for TheNews21’s on-ground coverage of the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games has been supported in part by a well-wisher of TheNews21. The supporter has no role in the selection, reporting, editing or publication of our editorial coverage.
