The 20th Asian Games will officially get under way in Aichi-Nagoya on September 19, with India entering the continental showpiece after its record-breaking campaign in Hangzhou. Athletics will once again be central to India's medal ambitions. The track and field contingent produced 29 medals, including six gold, 14 silver and nine bronze, at the 2022 Asian Games, held in 2023 after a one-year postponement.

India has now set its sights on building on that performance in Japan. With a 77-member athletics squad and several established Asian Games medallists returning, the question is whether India can reach the 30-medal mark, a target that AFI senior vice-president Anju Bobby George believes is realistic.

India sending strong contingent for Asian Games

Athletics is India's largest discipline at the Aichi-Nagoya Games, with the AFI selecting 77 athletes, including 34 men and 43 women, across track, field and road events. The squad includes established names such as Avinash Sable, Gulveer Singh, Murali Sreeshankar, Tajinderpal Singh Toor, Tejaswin Shankar, Jyothi Yarraji, Parul Chaudhary, Ancy Sojan and Shaili Singh.

The depth of the squad is reflected in the range of events in which India has medal contenders. Gulveer, who won 10,000m bronze at Hangzhou, will compete in the 1,500m, 5,000m and 10,000m. Sable returns as the defending champion in the men's 3,000m steeplechase, while Toor will look to retain the men's shot put title he won in 2018 and 2023. Murali Sreeshankar, meanwhile, comes into the Games after winning long jump silver at both Hangzhou and the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

• Harita Bhadra — 200m, mixed 4x100m relay
• Unnathi Aiyappa Bolland — 200m, mixed 4x100m relay
• Prachi Choudhary — 400m, 4x400m relay
• Kiran Pahal — 400m, 4x400m relay
• Gowthami Jayaraman — 800m
• Pooja — 800m, 1500m
• Parul Chaudhary — 1500m, 5000m, 3000m steeplechase
• Seema — 5000m, 10,000m
• Ankita Dhyani — 3000m steeplechase
• Priyanka Goswami — marathon race walk
• Manju Rani — marathon race walk
• Jyothi Yarraji — 100m hurdles
• Nandhini Kongan — 100m hurdles
• Anu Raghavan — 400m hurdles
• Vithya Ramraj — 400m hurdles, 4x400m relay
• Tamanna — 4x100m relay, mixed 4x100m relay
• Srabani Nanda — 4x100m relay
• Abinaya Rajarajan — 4x100m relay
• Sneha Sathyanarayana — 4x100m relay, mixed 4x100m relay
• Sudeshna Shanuvalli — 4x100m relay
• Rashdeep Kaur — 4x400m relay, mixed 4x400m relay
• Ansa Babu — 4x400m relay, mixed 4x400m relay
• Machettira Raju Poovamma — 4x400m relay
• Kumari Saloni — 4x400m relay
• Neeru Pathak — 4x400m relay

Men

• Aadarsh Ram Jothi Shankar — high jump
• Sarvesh Anil Kushare — high jump
• Kuldeep Kumar — pole vault
• Dev Meena — pole vault
• Murali Sreeshankar — long jump
• Praveen Chithravel — triple jump
• Karthik Unnikrishnan — triple jump
• Karanveer Singh — shot put
• Tajinder Pal Singh Toor — shot put
• Damneet Singh — hammer throw
• Praveen Kumar — hammer throw
• Rohit Yadav — javelin throw
• Yash Vir Singh — javelin throw
• Tejaswin Shankar — decathlon
• Thowfeeq Noushad — decathlon

Women

• Pooja Singh — high jump
• Supriya Basavaraju — high jump
• Baranica Elangovan — pole vault
• Sindhushree Ganesh — pole vault
• Shaili Singh — long jump
• Ancy Sojan Edappilly — long jump
• Niharika Vashisht — triple jump
• Asha Ilango — triple jump
• Manpreet Kaur — shot put
• Krishna Jayasankar Menon — shot put
• Sanya Yadav — discus throw
• Seema Kaliramna — discus throw
• Tanya Chaudhary — hammer throw
• Anushka Yadav — hammer throw
• Pooja — heptathlon
• Anamika Kozhinjaparambil Aneesh — heptathlon

AFI senior vice-president backs India for 30 medals in Aichi-Nagoya

Anju Bobby George believes India's athletics tally can move beyond the 29 medals won at Hangzhou.

“We are expecting more medals (in athletics) than last time (29 medals at Hangzhou in 2023). We are realistically expecting 30 to 32 medals,” Anju said in a virtual interaction on Thursday.

The former long jumper, who won Asian Games gold at Busan in 2002, pointed to the depth of Indian athletics and the federation's emphasis on developing athletes beyond the established senior group.

Anju has also backed long jumpers Ancy Sojan and Shaili Singh to deliver medals in Aichi-Nagoya. The pair will provide India with two strong options in an event where domestic competition has intensified. Ancy broke Anju's 22-year-old national record in June, jumping 6.88m at the Inter-State Championships in Bhubaneswar.

The AFI's approach, according to Anju, has increasingly focused on creating a smoother pathway from grassroots and developing athletes to the senior level, rather than concentrating solely on national camps and established names.

A 30-medal haul would therefore represent a modest numerical improvement on Hangzhou. Reaching the upper end of Anju's projection, 32, would mean India adding three medals to its previous record.

India's medal hopefuls in athletics at Asian Games 2026

Gulveer Singh: Gulveer enters the Games after winning silver in the 10,000m and bronze in the 5,000m at the 2026 Commonwealth Games. He also won 10,000m bronze at Hangzhou and will compete in three events in Aichi-Nagoya.

Avinash Sable: The steeplechaser is the defending Asian Games champion in the 3,000m steeplechase. He will be looking to retain the title he won at Hangzhou.

Tajinderpal Singh Toor: Toor has won the men's shot put gold at the last two Asian Games and is chasing a third consecutive title. He is also one of India's two flag-bearers at the opening ceremony.

Murali Sreeshankar: The long jumper won silver at Hangzhou and followed it with another silver at the 2026 Commonwealth Games, where he jumped 8.09m.

Ancy Sojan and Shaili Singh: The two long jumpers are among India's most closely watched field-event athletes. Ancy enters the Games as the national record-holder after her 6.88m jump, while Anju has backed both athletes to finish on the podium.

Parul Chaudhary: The Hangzhou double medallist will compete across the 1,500m, 3,000m steeplechase and 5,000m. Her versatility gives India multiple medal opportunities.

Jyothi Yarraji: The 100m hurdler won silver at Hangzhou and returns as one of India's established track medal contenders.

Priyanka Goswami: The race walker, who has previously won Commonwealth Games silver, is part of India's road-event contingent in the full marathon race walk.

The big miss: Neeraj Chopra

India's biggest absentee in athletics is Neeraj Chopra, the defending Asian Games javelin champion and the winner of gold at both Jakarta 2018 and Hangzhou 2023.

Chopra withdrew from the Aichi-Nagoya Games after suffering a ligament tear in his ankle during training. The injury also brought his 2026 season to an early end. He had returned to competition in June following an injury lay-off and subsequently competed at the Doha, Glasgow and Lausanne Diamond League meetings before the latest setback.

His absence removes India's defending champion from an event in which he has dominated at the Asian Games. Chopra won gold in Jakarta with a throw of 88.06m and successfully defended the title in Hangzhou.

The javelin responsibility now shifts to Rohit Yadav, who produced a personal best of 87.68m in Bhubaneswar earlier this season.

Chopra's absence is significant in the context of India's 30-medal target. The challenge for the rest of the squad is not to replace one athlete but to compensate for the medal opportunity created by his withdrawal.

How India has fared in athletics at the Asian Games (1951–2023)

Athletics has historically been India's most productive sport at the Asian Games. Across 19 editions from New Delhi 1951 to Hangzhou 2023, India has won 283 athletics medals — 85 gold, 102 silver and 96 bronze.

The inaugural Games in New Delhi remain India's biggest single-edition athletics haul. The country won 34 medals in 1951, including 10 gold, 12 silver and 12 bronze.

After a long period of fluctuations, India's athletics tally began showing a stronger upward trend in the modern era. The country won 17 medals at Busan in 2002, 12 at Guangzhou in 2010 and 13 at Incheon in 2014 before rising to 20 at Jakarta-Palembang in 2018.

Hangzhou marked the biggest breakthrough. India won 29 athletics medals — six gold, 14 silver and nine bronze, making it the country's highest athletics tally at an Asian Games since the inaugural edition.

India's medal tally in athletics in each Asian Games