![\"\u2018Play](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-134355720,imgsize-173059,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/india-at-asian-games-2026.jpg\" "\\"Prime")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nNEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi<\/a> on Saturday extended his best wishes to the Indian contingent as the 20th Asian Games<\/a> officially opened in Aichi-Nagoya, urging the athletes to give their best and shine as India begins its medal campaign in earnest from Sunday.\u201cAs the Asian Games commence in Aichi-Nagoya, my best wishes to the Indian contingent. Each athlete has worked incredibly hard and shown remarkable dedication and determination. India is proud of them,\u201d PM Modi<\/a> said in a post on X.\u201cMay they give their best, play well and shine!\u201d he added.The message came as the continental sporting extravaganza formally got underway at the Paloma Mizuho Stadium in Nagoya, with Japan\u2019s Emperor Naruhito declaring the Games open. The Asian Games will continue until October 4, with around 11,000 athletes from 45 nations competing across 43 sports.<\/p>\n For India, Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker and kabaddi star Pawan Sehrawat led the contingent into the stadium, carrying the Tricolour at the opening ceremony.Bhaker, a double Olympic medallist from Paris 2024, will compete in the women\u2019s 10m air pistol, 25m pistol and 10m air pistol mixed team events. Sehrawat was part of India\u2019s gold-medal-winning men\u2019s kabaddi side at the previous Asian Games.Reflecting on her selection as flag-bearer, Bhaker spoke about the emotions triggered by the honour and how it reminded her of her journey in sport.\u201cHonestly, when I found out yesterday, I had all these flashback memories of my earlier days. And, you know, when I started, I never thought that this was where I could reach one day in my sport. So, it is definitely a very heartwarming feeling. I feel really proud, really honoured, and really, really happy to be chosen as the flag bearer for my country. I just want to say thank you to God and thank you to everyone for all the love and support,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n With the ceremonial opening now complete, the focus turns to competition, with Indian athletes beginning their push for medals from Sunday<\/a>.India will look to build on its record medal haul at the previous edition in Hangzhou, where it won 106 medals, including 28 gold, 38 silver and 40 bronze.Several established names will headline India\u2019s campaign, including PV Sindhu in badminton, Mirabai Chanu in weightlifting, Lovlina Borgohain in boxing and Aman Sehrawat in wrestling. In athletics, Gulveer Singh, Tejaswin Shankar, Murali Sreeshankar, Jyothi Yarraji and Parul Chaudhary are among the leading contenders, while Tajinderpal Singh Toor will seek a third successive Asian Games gold in the men\u2019s shot put.India are also defending champions in men\u2019s and women\u2019s cricket and kabaddi, while the men\u2019s hockey side will look to retain its title.<\/div>\n Prime Minister Narendra Modi; and Indian contingent at the Asian Games 2026 opening ceremony. (PTI Photos) NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday extended his best wishes to the Indian contingent as the 20th Asian Games officially opened in Aichi-Nagoya, urging the athletes to give their best and shine as India begins its medal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-31"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789831020_india-at-asian-games-2026.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789831020_india-at-asian-games-2026.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789831020_india-at-asian-games-2026.jpg","large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789831020_india-at-asian-games-2026.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789831020_india-at-asian-games-2026.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789831020_india-at-asian-games-2026.jpg","blogsy-small":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789831020_india-at-asian-games-2026.jpg","blogsy-small-tall":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789831020_india-at-asian-games-2026.jpg","blogsy-small-square":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789831020_india-at-asian-games-2026.jpg","blogsy-small-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789831020_india-at-asian-games-2026.jpg","blogsy-medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789831020_india-at-asian-games-2026.jpg","blogsy-medium-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789831020_india-at-asian-games-2026.jpg","blogsy-large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789831020_india-at-asian-games-2026.jpg","blogsy-wide":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789831020_india-at-asian-games-2026.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"admin","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"Prime Minister Narendra Modi; and Indian contingent at the Asian Games 2026 opening ceremony. (PTI Photos) NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday extended his best wishes to the Indian contingent as the 20th Asian Games officially opened in Aichi-Nagoya, urging the athletes to give their best and shine as India begins its medal […]","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":1,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":3,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789831020_india-at-asian-games-2026.jpg",400,225,false],"medium":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789831020_india-at-asian-games-2026.jpg",300,169,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789831020_india-at-asian-games-2026.jpg",150,84,false]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/author\/admin"},"magazine_blocks_comment":0,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36<\/a>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Bhaker, Sehrawat lead India at opening ceremony<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
India begins medal charge from Sunday<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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