Naveen Kumar and Ashu Malik lead a crowded India field as kabaddi probables push for Asian Games 2026 spots
India’s kabaddi preparation for the 2026 Asian Games has moved out of the rhetoric stage and into the gym. The Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India and Mashal Sports rolled out a high-performance strength and conditioning camp at the Inspire Institute of Sport in Bellary between late March and early April, and the group of men’s probables that walked in for it reads like a Pro Kabaddi League Team of the Season list.
Naveen Kumar is there. Ashu Malik is there. Arjun Deshwal, Pawan Sehrawat, Aslam Inamdar, Sunil Kumar and Bharat Hooda are all in the room. A 14-man squad will eventually come out of this process, which means several of the biggest names in Indian kabaddi will be watching the final list get announced with the same knot in their stomach that any probable feels when the selector’s pen comes out.
A selection headache that did not exist three years ago
The depth on offer is what makes this cycle different. Three years ago, India’s Asian Games raiding unit basically picked itself around Pawan and Naveen. This time the conversation includes Deshwal, whose numbers for Jaipur Pink Panthers have been impossible to ignore, and Inamdar, who has built himself into one of the most well-rounded raiders in the league at Puneri Paltan. Malik captained Dabang Delhi to the PKL 12 title in 2025, and he has since become the face of the side’s identity.
The selectors can only take so many raiders and so many defenders. Indian kabaddi has been spoiled in that respect for the last half decade, but it has never been this tight at the top. That is why this camp matters more than the usual fitness drive. It is essentially a trial in a tracksuit.
Ashu Malik talks about the chemistry problem
In his conversations from the camp, Malik has zeroed in on the piece that a star-studded squad can quietly neglect: getting 14 players, most of whom spend the season trying to beat each other in the PKL, to play a coordinated international tournament. He has said the camp’s focus on collaboration and in-game coordination is the thing he values most.
That is a useful tell for anyone trying to read where this team is going. India’s gold at the last Asian Games in Hangzhou was won by a team that looked individually thin but moved like a unit. The 2026 group has more talent, but the challenge of welding them into a team in a short window is real, especially with the tournament set for Japan and every opposing coach now studying Indian players weekly through PKL broadcasts.
What the final 14 should look like
Predicting the squad this early is a mug’s game, but the broad shape is obvious enough. India will take a captain-raider (Malik or Naveen, more likely Malik on current form), a raider who can do both sides of the job (Inamdar), a senior defender to lead the line (Sunil Kumar) and a clutch cover that can hold an end alone late in a half (Hooda or Jaideep Dahiya).
What is less obvious, and more interesting, is how many pure raiders they pick versus how many all-rounders. The modern international game has moved towards players who can fill two roles, and Mashal Sports would have had a long conversation with the AKFI about whether the squad should prioritise PKL’s star names or coverage in every mat situation. Those two priorities do not always point at the same 14 players.
Either way, the camp at Bellary has done what it was meant to do. It has put India’s best kabaddi players in the same training hall, given the coaching group a look at every option, and started the clock on a selection decision that will not be easy. For the players who will not make it, the upside is that the standard itself is now high enough to produce a squad that ought to defend gold in Japan.
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