India’s kabaddi defence starts at 6am on Monday, and the one team to beat them in an Asian Games pool is in their group
Kabaddi at the Asian Games runs from 21 to 26 September at the Tokai Citizens Gymnasium in Aichi. India’s men open against Japan and meet the Republic of Korea the next morning.
Sep 18, 2026
India’s kabaddi teams start defending two Asian Games golds on Monday morning, and Indian viewers who want to watch will need an alarm. The men open against Japan at 6:00 AM IST on 21 September at the Tokai Citizens Gymnasium in Aichi Prefecture, six and a half hours before the women begin against Bangladesh.
The competition runs to 26 September. Ten men’s teams and eight women’s teams play pool matches from Monday to Thursday, the semi-finals are on 25 September, and both gold medal matches are on the 26th.
The men’s pool has the wrong sort of history in it
India’s men were drawn into Group A with Japan, the Republic of Korea, Bangladesh and Chinese Taipei, which leaves Iran, Pakistan, Nepal, Malaysia and Thailand in the other pool. On paper that is the kinder half. It also contains the only team that has ever beaten India in an Asian Games group match.
That was South Korea in Jakarta in 2018, 24-23, and it broke a run that had lasted since kabaddi entered the Asian Games at Beijing 1990. India had won all seven golds up to that point and had never lost a pool game. They recovered enough to reach the semi-final, lost it 27-18 to Iran, and went home with bronze for the first time.
India play South Korea at 6:00 AM IST on Tuesday. Nothing about the 2018 result guarantees a repeat, and India settled the argument with Iran in the Hangzhou final in 2023, winning 33-29 to get the title back. But a pool draw that puts Korea in front of them on day two is worth noticing.
The women got the hard group
Eight teams, two pools of four, and India were drawn with Iran, Japan and Bangladesh. Chinese Taipei, who took silver in 2023 after knocking Iran out in the semi-final, are in the other group, which means India cannot meet them before the last four.
The Iran game, on Wednesday the 23rd, is the one that shapes the group.
India’s women have three Asian Games golds, from Guangzhou 2010, Incheon 2014 and Hangzhou 2023, with a silver in between at Jakarta 2018. The last of those golds came by a single point: 26-25 against Chinese Taipei, and it was India’s 100th medal of the 2023 Games.
Who is leading them
Sunil Kumar captains the men, Pushpa Rana the women. Both squads have been through heavy turnover since Hangzhou, which has been picked over plenty in the weeks since they were named. That argument gets settled on the mat from Monday.
The full India schedule in IST
The men play Japan at 6:00 AM on 21 September, the Republic of Korea at 6:00 AM on the 22nd, Bangladesh at 6:00 AM on the 23rd and Chinese Taipei at 6:00 AM on the 24th. The women play Bangladesh at 12:30 PM on the 21st, Iran at 6:00 AM on the 23rd and Japan at 12:30 PM on the 24th.
Semi-finals are on 25 September at 9:30 AM and 2:30 PM IST. On the 26th the women’s final is at 9:30 AM and the men’s at 2:30 PM. If both teams get there, India’s kabaddi campaign ends inside a single working day in Japan, and before dinner in India.