New Delhi [India], August 23 (ANI): Two-time Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra will spearhead India's 73-member athletics squad at the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, as he aims to defend his men's javelin throw title for the third consecutive time, according to Olympics.com.
The Asian Games are scheduled to be held from September 19 to October 4, with 16 athletes in India's athletics contingent having won medals at the previous edition in Hangzhou, including five individual champions returning to defend their titles.
Chopra, the reigning Asian Games champion, will be joined in the men's javelin throw by Rohit Yadav, who recently recorded a personal best of 87.68m while winning at the World Athletics Silver Level Continental Tour meet in Bhubaneswar.
The squad also features Hangzhou 2023 champions Avinash Sable, Tajinderpal Singh Toor, Parul Chaudhary and Annu Rani, who will look to retain their respective titles.
Sable, who won gold in the men's 3000m steeplechase and silver in the 5000m event at Hangzhou, will return after an injury-hit period. Toor will aim for a hat-trick of Asian Games shot put titles, while Parul Chaudhary has been selected for three events -- 1500m, 5000m and 3000m steeplechase, according to Olympics.com.
Rajesh Ramesh, a member of India's gold medal-winning men's 4x400m relay team at Hangzhou, is also part of the squad.
Other Hangzhou medallists included in the team are Jyothi Yarraji, Murali Sreeshankar, Tejaswin Shankar, Gulveer Singh, Mohammed Afsal, Ancy Sojan, Praveen Chithravel and Vithya Ramraj.
Tejas Shirse has also been selected for the men's 110m hurdles despite suffering two stress fractures in his left foot during the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
India will look to continue its strong performance in athletics after producing its best-ever Asian Games medal haul in the sport at Hangzhou 2023, where the country won 29 medals, including six gold, 14 silver and nine bronze.
Indian athletics team for the Asian Games 2026, as per Olympics.com.
Men Contingent:
Gurindervir Singh (100m)
Animesh Kujur (100m, 200m, mixed 4x100m relay)
Rajesh Ramesh (400m, 4x400m relay)
Vishal Thennarasu Kayalvizhi (400m, 4x400m relay)
Krishan Kumar (800m)
Mohammed Afsal Pulikkalakath (800m)
Yoonus Shah (1500m)
Abhishek Pal (5000m, 10000m)
Gulveer Singh (1500m, 5000m, 10000m)
Sawan Barwal (marathon)
Kartik Karkera (marathon)
Tejas Shirse (110m hurdles)
Yashas Palaksha (400m hurdles)
Santhosh Kumar Tamilarasan (400m hurdles)
Avinash Sable (3000m steeplechase)
Pranav Pramod Gurav (mixed 4x100m relay)
Mohammed Ashfaq (4x400m relay)
Dharmveer Choudhary (4x400m relay)
Jay Kumar (4x400m relay, mixed 4x400m relay)
Manu Thekkinalil Saji (4x400m relay, mixed 4x400m relay)
Aadarsh Ram Jothi Shankar (high jump)
Sarvesh Kushare (high jump)
Kuldeep Kumar (pole vault)
Dev Meena (pole vault)
Murali Sreeshankar (long jump)
Shahnavaz Khan (long jump)
Praveen Chithravel (triple jump)
Karthik Unnikrishnan (triple jump)
Karanveer Singh (shot put)
Tajinderpal Singh Toor (shot put)
Damneet Singh (hammer throw)
Neeraj Chopra (javelin throw)
Rohit Yadav (javelin throw)
Thowfeeq Noushad (decathlon)
Tejaswin Shankar (decathlon)
Women Contingent:
Prachi Choudhary (400m)
Gowthami Jayaraman (800m)
Pooja (800m, 1500m)
Parul Chaudhary (1500m, 5000m, 3000m steeplechase)
Seema (5000m, 10000m)
Priyanka Goswami (marathon race walk)
Manju Rani (marathon race walk)
Jyothi Yarraji (100m hurdles)
Nandhini Kongan (100m hurdles)
Unnathi Aiyappa Bolland (200m)
Anu Raghavan (400m hurdles)
Vithya Ramraj (400m hurdles)
Ankita Dhyani (3000m steeplechase)
Tamanna (4x100m relay, mixed 4x100m relay)
Nithya Gandhe (4x100m relay)
Srabani Nanda (4x100m relay)
Abinaya Rajarajan (4x100m relay)
Sneha Sathyanarayana (4x100m relay, mixed 4x100m relay)
Sudeshna Shivankar (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)
Pooja Singh (high jump)
Supriya Sindigere Basavaraju (high jump)
Baranica Elangovan (pole vault)
Shaili Singh (long jump)
Ancy Sojan Edappilly (long jump)
Niharika Vashisht (triple jump)
Manpreet Kaur (shot put)
Krishna Jayasankar Menon (shot put)
Seema Kaliramna (discus throw)
Tanya Chaudhary (hammer throw)
Anushka Yadav (hammer throw)
Annu Rani (javelin throw)
Pooja (heptathlon)
Anamika Kozhinjaparambil Aneesh (heptathlon). (ANI)
Neeraj Chopra to lead 73-member Indian athletics squad at Asian Games 2026
