India defend two kabaddi golds with eight Asian Games debutants
Sunil Kumar replaces Pawan Sehrawat as captain, Pushpa Rana takes over the women’s team, and the draw in Japan keeps India away from Iran until the semi-finals.
Sep 4, 2026
India go to the Asian Games in Japan later this month defending both kabaddi gold medals, and the men’s squad that has to do it contains eight players who have never been to an Asian Games. The kabaddi competition runs from September 21 to 26 at the Tokai Citizens Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture, and India’s men open against the hosts at 6am IST on the first morning.
Four survivors from Hangzhou
Of the 12 men who won gold in Hangzhou in 2023, only Arjun Deshwal, Sunil Kumar, Pawan Sehrawat and Aslam Inamdar are going to Japan. The other eight places have gone to Jaideep Dahiya, Sumit Sangwan, Ashu Malik, Ankit Jaglan, Gaurav Khatri, Devank Dalal, Ayan Lohchab and Rahul Sethpal.
The captaincy has moved too. Sunil Kumar leads the side, taking over from Sehrawat, who captained the team to gold last time and stays in the squad as an all-rounder alongside Inamdar. Sunil and Sumit Sangwan are the corner pairing.
The raiding is where the turnover shows
Lohchab and Dalal finished first and second on the raid-points list in PKL Season 12 and neither had played an Asian Games. Lohchab was the only raider in the league to pass 300, with 316 from 22 matches, including nine Super Raids and 16 Super 10s. Dalal got 271 in 16 matches, which is an average of 16.94 a game, the best in the competition.
Add Ashu Malik and Deshwal to that and India have four front-line raiders for a tournament where they will realistically need two. That is a selection luxury and also a selection problem, because somebody with those numbers is going to spend the group stage on the bench.
Pushpa Rana takes over the women’s team
Pushpa Rana captains the women’s side, with Ritu Negi, the previous captain, as her deputy and playing a third consecutive Asian Games. Both women are from Shillai, in the Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh, which has now produced two India captains in a row.
India’s women won gold in Hangzhou by beating Chinese Taipei 26-25, a one-point final that Rana’s raids in the closing minutes settled. She goes back as the player in charge.
The groups keep India and Iran apart until the semi-finals
The men are in Group A with Bangladesh, the Republic of Korea, Chinese Taipei and Japan. They play Japan on September 21, Korea on the 22nd, Bangladesh on the 23rd and Chinese Taipei on the 24th, all at 6am IST. The women, in a four-team Group A, face Bangladesh on the 21st, Iran on the 23rd and Japan on the 24th. Semi-finals are on September 25 and both finals on the 26th.
Ten men’s teams and eight women’s teams are entered. Iran, the only side that has ever beaten India to an Asian Games kabaddi gold, are in the men’s other group.
Eight golds from nine, and one bad afternoon in Jakarta
Kabaddi has been an Asian Games sport since Beijing 1990 and India have won the men’s gold at eight of the nine editions. The exception was Jakarta in 2018, where Iran beat them 27-18 in the semi-final and India took bronze because there was no third-place match.
They got it back in Hangzhou, beating Iran 33-29 in the final with Sehrawat captaining. This time Sehrawat is not the captain, eight of his team-mates have never done this before, and the group stage starts before breakfast in India.