India are set for another medal-heavy programme at the 2026 Asian Games on September 26, with the country’s challenge beginning before sunrise and continuing deep into the evening. Athletics, shooting, canoe sprint and kabaddi offer direct medal opportunities, while squash has three Indian entries competing in the semifinals.
Sawan Barwal and Kartik Karkera will open India’s medal hunt in the men’s marathon final at 4:00 AM IST. Shooting follows with Ashi Chouksey, Tilottama Sen and Vidarsa Vinod competing in the women’s 50m rifle 3 positions qualification, which will also determine the team medals, before the individual final later in the morning.
Kabaddi could provide two of the day’s biggest moments. India’s women face Iran in the gold-medal match at 9:30 AM IST before the men’s team also meet Iran in the final at 2:30 PM. In squash, Joshna Chinappa and Velavan Senthilkumar contest the mixed doubles semifinal, while Anahat Singh and Abhay Singh feature in the women’s and men’s singles semifinals respectively.
The evening programme is dominated by athletics. Tajinderpal Singh Toor and Karanveer Singh compete in the men’s shot put final, Praveen Chithravel and Karthik Unnikrishnan line up in the men’s triple jump final, while India’s 400m runners and the women’s 1500m pair of Pooja and Parul Chaudhary will also chase medals. Tejaswin Shankar and Thowfeeq Noushad, meanwhile, begin their decathlon campaigns with five disciplines scheduled through the day.
India’s complete Asian Games schedule for September 26
All timings are in IST.
Surfing
Women’s shortboard, Round 2: Kamali Prakash — 3:58 AM onwards
Women’s shortboard, Round 2: Sugar Shanti Gayen — 3:58 AM onwards
Men’s shortboard, Round 2: Sivaraj Babu — 3:58 AM onwards
Athletics
Men’s marathon final: Sawan Barwal and Kartik Karkera — 4:00 AM
Men’s decathlon 100m, Heat 1: Thowfeeq Noushad — 5:30 AM
Men’s decathlon 100m, Heat 2: Tejaswin Shankar — 5:43 AM
Men’s decathlon long jump: Tejaswin Shankar and Thowfeeq Noushad — 6:15 AM
Men’s decathlon shot put: Tejaswin Shankar and Thowfeeq Noushad — 7:55 AM
Women’s long jump qualification: Shaili Singh and Ancy Sojan — 8:15 AM
Men’s 200m heats: Animesh Kujur — 8:32 AM
Men’s decathlon high jump: Tejaswin Shankar and Thowfeeq Noushad — 2:35 PM
Women’s 100m hurdles, heats: Jyothi Yarraji — 4:04 PM
Women’s 100m hurdles, heats: Nandhini Kongan — 4:12 PM
Men’s shot put final: Tajinderpal Singh Toor and Karanveer Singh — 4:30 PM
Women’s 200m heats: Harita Bhadra — 4:33 PM
Women’s 200m heats: Unnathi Bolland — 4:41 PM
Men’s triple jump final: Praveen Chithravel and Karthik Unnikrishnan — 5:05 PM
Men’s 1500m heats: Yoonus Shah — 5:21 PM
Men’s 1500m heats: Gulveer Singh — 5:31 PM
Men’s decathlon 400m: Tejaswin Shankar and Thowfeeq Noushad — 5:50 PM
Women’s 400m final: Prachi and Kiran — 6:15 PM
Men’s 400m final: Vishal TK — 6:33 PM
Women’s 1500m final: Pooja and Parul Chaudhary — 6:45 PM
Archery
Men’s and women’s recurve and compound individual and team qualification: Dhiraj Bommadevara, Jyothi Surekha Vennam and others — 4:30 AM onwards
Badminton
Men’s singles, second round: Lakshya Sen vs Loh Kean Yew of Singapore — 6:00 AM
Women’s singles, second round: Unnati Hooda vs Wong Ling Ching of Malaysia — 11:30 AM
Men’s singles, second round: Ayush Shetty vs Makhsut Tajibullayev of Kazakhstan — 12:30 PM
Women’s singles, second round: PV Sindhu vs Chiu Pin-chian of Chinese Taipei — 1:30 PM
Women’s doubles, second round: Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand vs Mayu Matsumoto/Yuki Fukushima of Japan — 2:30 PM
Equestrian
Dressage individual, second qualifier: Gaurav Pundir, Hriday Vipul Chheda, Shruti Vora and Jai Sud — 6:00 AM
Fencing
Women’s foil team, Round of 16: India vs Indonesia — 6:00 AM
Men’s sabre team, Round of 16: India vs Philippines — 7:00 AM
Shooting
Women’s 50m rifle 3 positions individual qualification and team final: Ashi Chouksey, Tilottama Sen and Vidarsa Vinod — 6:30 AM
Women’s 50m rifle 3 positions individual final: Ashi Chouksey, Tilottama Sen and Vidarsa Vinod — 9:30 AM, subject to qualification
Canoe Sprint
Men’s kayak single 500m semifinal: Harshwardhan Shaktawat — 6:30 AM
Mixed kayak double 500m semifinal: Parvathy Geetha/Prasanna Kumar — 6:50 AM
Mixed canoe double 500m final: Raju Rawat/Neha Devi Leichonbam — 8:20 AM
Table Tennis
Women’s singles, Round 3: Yashaswini Ghorpade vs Miwa Harimoto of Japan — 6:30 AM
Esports
Puyo Puyo Champions quarterfinal: Paritosh vs Dongshin Kang — 6:45 AM
Pokémon Unite, group stage: India vs Japan — 10:45 AM
Squash
Mixed doubles semifinal: Joshna Chinappa/Velavan Senthilkumar vs Tang Ming Hong/Lee Ka Yi of Hong Kong — 8:30 AM
Women’s singles semifinal: Anahat Singh vs Satomi Watanabe of Japan — 10:35 AM
Men’s singles semifinal: Abhay Singh vs Muhammad Irfan of Pakistan — 11:15 AM
Kabaddi
Women’s final: India vs Iran — 9:30 AM
Men’s final: India vs Iran — 2:30 PM
Boxing
Men’s 55kg, Round of 16: Jadumani Singh vs Carlo Paalam of the Philippines — 10:15 AM
Men’s 90kg, Round of 16: Kapil Pokhariya vs Sam Estaki of Iran — 10:45 AM
Women’s 60kg, Round of 16: Priya vs Oh Yeonji of South Korea — 2:15 PM
Hockey
Men’s Pool A: India vs Japan — 1:30 PM