The Asian Games 2026 get under way in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, with Asia’s leading athletes chasing continental titles, Olympic qualification and a place in the history of the event.
The competition will feature six sports making their Asian Games debuts. In some disciplines, victory will also bring automatic qualification for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Among the leading contenders are Olympic champions, emerging teenage talents and athletes seeking to improve on previous Asian Games performances.
Alex Eala leads tennis hopes for the Philippines
Alex Eala will be the leading name in the women’s singles draw after a breakthrough season. The 21-year-old Filipino won her first WTA 1000 title last month and reached the third round of the US Open.
She will compete at the Singapore Open before the Games but is skipping the Beijing Open, with an Asian Games gold medal offering automatic qualification for Los Angeles 2028.
Defending champion Zheng Qinwen and former world number one Naomi Osaka are not competing in Japan, leaving Eala with a strong opportunity to improve on the bronze medal she won in 2022.
Javelin contests set to attract attention
Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Pathirage arrives after winning the Diamond League, Commonwealth and Ultimate Champion titles. The 23-year-old is now targeting the Asian record of 92.97 metres, set by Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Pathirage has been the only thrower this season to surpass 92 metres twice. His nearest challenger, India’s Neeraj Chopra, has withdrawn with an injury, while Nadeem’s fitness and recent form remain concerns.
Japan’s Haruka Kitaguchi will be aiming to claim the women’s javelin title in front of the home crowd. The 28-year-old set a national record of 68.92m when she won the Ultimate Championship in Budapest last week.
Kitaguchi, who is making her Asian Games debut, will face China’s 18-year-old world number one Yan Ziyi. Yan became only the sixth woman to throw beyond 70m when she recorded 71.74m in May, setting an Asian and world under-20 record.
She went unbeaten in the five Diamond League competitions she contested but finished behind Kitaguchi at the Ultimate Championship after withdrawing following one throw because of injury.
India defend cricket crown
India will seek to retain the men’s cricket title, with attention focused on 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
The left-handed top-order batter has already broken records as the highest scorer in this year’s Indian Premier League and became India’s youngest men’s player.
Swimming stars return to familiar waters
China’s Pan Zhanle will compete at the venue where he first broke the 47-second barrier in the men’s 100m freestyle and became the first Asian male to do so.
The Olympic champion also won silver medals in the 200m and 400m freestyle at the Hangzhou 2022 Games, alongside bronze in the 50m freestyle and golds in the men’s 4x100m freestyle and 4x100m medley relays.
China’s Yu Zidi, meanwhile, is preparing for her first Asian Games at the age of 13. She has entered the 200m individual medley, 400m individual medley and 200m butterfly, as well as relay events.
Yu was 12 when she became the youngest-ever medallist at the 2025 World Swimming Championships. She narrowly missed individual podium places there but later won two golds and a silver at the Chinese National Swimming Championships, setting an Asian record in the 200m individual medley.
“Train well, don’t slack off. Demonstrate the level of your training and work hard to break past yourself,” Yu said while training with the China team in Beijing.
