India’s kabaddi men avoid Iran in the Asian Games draw, the women get them in Group A
The Asian Games 2026 kabaddi draw keeps India’s men and Iran apart until the knockouts, while India’s women were placed alongside Iran in Group A. The tournament runs from 21 to 26 September in Aichi-Nagoya.
Jul 26, 2026
India’s kabaddi teams found out on Thursday who stands between them and a title defence in Japan, and the two draws could hardly have worked out more differently. The men were kept apart from Iran until the knockouts. The women were handed them straight away.
How the groups fell
India’s men are in Group A alongside Bangladesh, South Korea, Chinese Taipei and Japan. Group B has Iran, Pakistan, Nepal, Thailand and Malaysia. Ten teams, two groups of five, with the top two from each going into the semi-finals, so India and Iran cannot meet before the last four. India and Pakistan, who met in the semi-final at Hangzhou in 2023, are also on opposite sides of the group stage this time.
The women’s draw is tighter. Eight teams, two groups of four, and India share Group A with Iran, Japan and Bangladesh. Group B is Sri Lanka, Thailand, Chinese Taipei and Nepal, which means the side India beat in the 2023 final is in the other half and a rematch would have to wait for the knockouts.
Kabaddi runs from 21 to 26 September at the Tokai Citizens Gymnasium, inside a Games that opens on 19 September and closes on 4 October in Aichi-Nagoya.
Two titles to defend
India arrive holding both golds, and neither was comfortable. The men beat Iran 33-29 in a final that was stopped for the best part of an hour while officials sorted out a rules dispute, and Pawan Sehrawat’s raiding in the closing minutes settled it. The women got past Chinese Taipei 26-25, one point, for a third Asian Games gold.
Iran remain the reason Indian kabaddi never treats these tournaments as a formality. In 2018 they won both golds in Jakarta, knocking India’s men out in the semi-final and beating the women 27-24 in the final, the first time India had lost an Asian Games kabaddi final since the sport was added in 1990. Avoiding them in the group is worth something, but only in the sense that it delays the problem rather than removing it. For the women, the problem arrives on day one.
The squad is still being cut
Neither team has been named yet. The Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India started with 45 probables in a first national camp, trimmed that to 29 for a second camp that ran from 8 June to 7 July, and the selectors now have to get from there to a travelling squad. Naveen Kumar, Arjun Deshwal and Pooja Narwal are among the names who have been through the process, and the competition for the raiding slots in particular has been the story of the camps.
Two months out, the draw at least gives the selectors something concrete to plan against. A men’s group with Bangladesh and South Korea in it is a serious enough test to arrive at the semi-finals sharp, and Japan will not want to lose at home. The women, meanwhile, get their answer about Iran before the tournament is a week old.