Asian Games 2026: India open kabaddi campaign with 49-24 win over Japan

India made a commanding start to their men's kabaddi campaign at the Asian Games 2026, defeating Japan 49-24 in their opening match on Monday.

According to ANI, Japan got the first point of the contest through a bonus, but India quickly drew level through Ayan Lochhab's touch point. The Indian team then began to pull away, with Ashu producing a three-point raid before the defence tackled a Japanese raider. Another raid point soon followed as India inflicted their first all-out and moved 11-2 ahead.

India continued to dictate the contest and secured a second all-out to stretch their lead to 18-2. They carried a 31-9 advantage into the break, with Ashu and Devank leading the raiding effort, while Sunil Kumar and Rahul made their presence felt in defence.


The second half saw Pawan Sehrawat, Arjun Deshwal and Aslam Inamdar enter the contest and add further firepower to India's attack. Japan put up more resistance after the interval and crossed the 20-point mark, but India never allowed the hosts to threaten their substantial advantage.

India eventually wrapped up a 49-24 victory to begin their Asian Games campaign on a dominant note.

The kabaddi win came amid a productive day for the Indian contingent at Aichi-Nagoya, with medals secured in shooting and mixed martial arts and athletes making progress across several other disciplines, ANI reported.

In shooting, Himanshu won silver and Rudrankksh Patil took bronze in the men's 10m air rifle individual final. The pair had earlier qualified for the final in third and seventh positions respectively, while Parth Mane finished 11th. The trio also combined to win silver in the team event.

Suchika Tariyal added a bronze in mixed martial arts after losing to Singapore's Teo Hui Hoon in the women's traditional 60kg semifinal.

In boxing, Sumit defeated Thailand's Bunjong Sinsiri in the men's 70kg Round of 32 to progress. India also recorded a 3-0 win over Pakistan in the women's team Group F match in table tennis.

In swimming, Srihari Nataraj reached the men's 50m backstroke final, while Rishabh Das was named a reserve. Akash and Gitesh Shah missed qualification for the men's 50m freestyle final, and Dhanush Suresh failed to advance in the men's 100m breaststroke.

India's day also included wins and exits in other events. Aadhya Tiwari and Jay Meena won their mixed doubles Group B matches in soft tennis against Cambodia and Mongolia, but lost to South Korea's Kim Yeon-hwa and Jaekyu Park before being beaten by the Philippines' Christy Sanosa and Sherwin Nuguit in the round of 16.

In wushu, Nyeman Wangsu finished 15th in the women's Changquan final. India suffered a setback in sepaktakraw, losing to Japan in the men's team regu Group B match.

ANI reported that the Indian contingent continued to collect medals and advance in multiple disciplines as the Asian Games progressed, but the men's kabaddi team's emphatic opening victory provided one of the day's strongest results.

(With inputs from ANI)