Paris Paralympics club throw gold medallist Dharambir Nain and double bronze winner sprinter Preethi Pal have been named as India's flag bearers for the opening ceremony on September 27.
Chinese sporting authorities have cancelled next month's friendly international between Argentina and Nigeria amid a growing backlash against Lionel Messi's failure to play in an Inter Miami match in Hong Kong last week.
The curtains were brought down on a memorable Asian Games with the celebration of the athletes' stupendous feats and China's cultural heritage at a colourful and technologically mesmerising closing ceremony in Hangzhou on Sunday.
Following is a look at some new and the more unusual events in the schedule of the 19th edition of the Asian Games:
Avinash Sable eyes personal best and World Championship redemption
Mohammed Afsal breaks 800m national record in UAE event
Organisers hope a high-tech opening ceremony on Saturday will help drum up excitement for the Games. Interest at home has been muted as the economy sputters and some question the cost of hosting the mega-event.
Gulveer, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, is also the national record holder in 5,000m with a time of 13:11.82 seconds set last year.
The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has confirmed that cricket will be included in the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
Gold rush: Yarraji, Sable, women's 4x400m relay finish on top to extend India's Asian C'ship dominance
Gulveer Singh clocked 28 minute 38.63 seconds to win the gold to claim the gold medal in the men's 10,000m race at the Asian Athletics Championships.
The maiden edition of Neeraj Chopra Classic javelin throw event will be teeming with stars as the likes of Anderson Peters of Grenada and Thomas Rohler of Germany are taking part.
Saravanan, the Army man who hails from Vellore in Tamil Nadu, obtained India's first quota in sailing for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The three wushu fighters from Arunachal Pradesh were issued stapled visas instead of stamped ones, India's foreign ministry said.
Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain is facing a weight class dilemma after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) scrapped her current 75kg category for the 2028 Los Angeles Games. The boxer will either have to move down to 70kg or bulk up to +80kg.
Elkatohchoongo was the best Indian cyclist at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, reaching to the quarter-finals.
Hangzhou Asian Games bronze medalist Gulveer Singh started his season strong by shattering a 16-year-old national record in the men's 3000m indoor race at the BU David Hemery Valentine Invitational in Boston.
Coach Branko Ivankovic insisted China's World Cup qualifying campaign was still alive despite back-to-back losses to Saudi Arabia and Australia over the last five days leaving them bottom of Asian qualifying Group C.
Reigning Asian champion Jyothi Yarraji broke her own national record twice in the 60m hurdles event at the Elite Indoor Meeting in Nantes, France, clocking 8.04 seconds in the final. Meanwhile, Tejas Shirse won bronze in the men's 60m hurdles with a time of 7.68 seconds.
Andhra Pradesh's Jyothi Yarraji and Tejas Shirse of Maharashtra won their third successive gold medals in the women's 110m hurdles and men's 100m hurdles respectively at the National Games in Dehradun.
India's Vijay Sundar Prashanth and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan found a way to prevail over second seeds Julian Cash and Llyod Glasspool in a tough battle in the Hangzhou Open quarterfinals while Yuki Bhambri progressed to the Chengdu Open semifinals with his partner on Saturday.
While India have never won the gold at the Asia Mixed Team Championships, they did secure mixed team gold and silver at the Commonwealth Games in 2018 and 2022.
The Games coincides with the women team's limited-overs tour of England
'Cricket has been included in the 2028 Olympic Games as well. So the organising committee is very keen on including that in the 2026 Asian Games as well.'
Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand will need to win against the Japanese pairing of Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida on Friday to book their semis spot.
Cheaper ripoffs was how China powered its way as an economic superpower but hitherto the tech realm had remained out of bounds. With DeepSeek's AI model the West, it seemed, was about to lose its competitive edge in cutting edge generative AI technology. And this is what is causing deep furrows in the forehead of tech titans in Silicon Valley.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, the Indian men's doubles badminton pair, have gained recognition for their speed, power, and height, earning praise from top international opponents.
It was the fourth defeat for the Indian pair against the Paris Olympics bronze medallists Japanese rivals in five meetings.
India's PV Sindhu remains the only Indian player to have won the prestigious BWF World Tour Finals in 2018.
Landmine blast survivor Hokato Sema came up with a career-best throw of 14.65 metres to win the bronze medal in the men's Shot Put F57 category at the Paralympic Games in Paris on Friday.
Javelin thrower Sachin Yadav of Uttar Pradesh, 18-year-old high jumper Pooja Singh of Haryana and long distance runner Sawan Barwal of Himachal Pradesh rewrote National Games records and won gold medals on the concluding day of athletics competition. Yadav sent his spear to a Games-record distance of 84.39m in his fifth attempt, while Pooja cleared 1.84m to defend the women's high jump gold. Barwal won the men's 5000m in a time of 13 minutes and 45.93 seconds, bettering the earlier Games record.
Nataraj and Desinghu are tipped to become the best male and female athletes of the Games.
Srihari Nataraj led the charge for swimming powerhouse Karnataka with his fifth gold at the National Games.
The capital of China's Zhejiang province, Hangzhou, was the sole bidder to stage the 19th edition of Asia's biggest multi-sports event.
Throughout the tournament, Anaha Singh displayed remarkable form, dropping only one game.
At the brand new Trishul Shooting Range in Dehradun, Haryana's Asian Games bronze medallist shooter Ramita Jindal turned in a world class performance to top the qualification round in the women's 10m air rifle event.
Sheetal Devi finished second in the women's individual compound open ranking round with a stunning performance to directly make a round of 16 entry
The 24-year-old Hima was last year provisionally suspended by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) for three whereabout failures in a span of 12 months. She was, however, cleared by the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel (ADDP) following a hearing in March.
Bhambri, Nedunchezhiyan-Prashanth reach ATP 250 doubles finals in China
Skeet shooters Maheshwari Chauhan and Anantjeet Singh Naruka, who narrowly missed out on a mixed team bronze at the Paris Olympic Games, return to action at the ISSF World Cup final and are eying a podium finish at the home event, starting in New Delhi on Sunday.
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