India face their first packed Asian Games 2026 day on September 20, with a cricket semifinal, hockey openers and 

Updated on: Sep 19, 2026, 18:26:43 IST

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India’s Asian Games campaign will shift decisively into a higher gear on Sunday, September 20, with the contingent facing its first genuinely crowded competition day of the 2026 edition.

After a relatively staggered opening to the Games, India will have athletes competing across nine sports on Sunday, beginning with wushu at 5:30 am IST and continuing through table tennis in the afternoon. The programme combines early medal opportunities with the women’s cricket semifinal, the opening fixtures for both hockey teams and the start of India’s badminton team campaign.

Suraj Singh Mayanglambam will be the first Indian athlete in action when he competes in the men’s Changquan final at 5:30 am. Barely 45 minutes later, India’s shooting campaign gathers pace as Elavenil Valarivan, Sonam Uttam Maskar and Vidarsa K Vinod enter the women’s 10m air rifle qualification, which will also determine the team medals.

The same trio could return at 11 am for the individual final should they qualify, giving India an opportunity to convert an already busy morning into an early medal haul.

Medals arrive early as India’s campaign gathers pace

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Teqball will provide two more direct shots at the podium. Quimcy Joaquim Dsouza faces Japan’s Yuina Sakamoto in the women’s singles bronze-medal match at 6:30 am before returning half an hour later alongside Mohamed Anas Imran Beg for the mixed doubles bronze match against Vietnam’s Minh Tan Nguyen and Gia Nghi Trinh.

Table tennis also begins early, with the Indian women facing Indonesia in Group F at 6:30 am. The men meet Indonesia at 9 am before the women return against Singapore at 12:30 pm. India’s men then close their group-stage programme for the day against Iran at 3 pm.

Swimming joins the schedule at 7:22 am, when Akash Mani and Rohit Benedicton compete in Heat 5 of the men’s 100m freestyle. Rishabh Das and Utkarsh Santosh Patil follow at 7:37 am in Heat 3 of the men’s 100m backstroke. The evening-session finals fall at 2:23 pm for the freestyle and 2:43 pm for the backstroke, subject to the Indians progressing from their respective heats.

India’s women’s hockey team begin their Pool B campaign against Uzbekistan at 7:30 am, while the men open against Indonesia in Pool A at 11:30 am. Badminton also enters the Indian programme at 11:30 am, with PV Sindhu and company facing Kazakhstan in the women’s team Round of 16.

Mixed martial arts provides another knockout dimension. Suchika Tariyal faces Mongolia’s Altanchimeg Baigalmaa in the women’s Traditional -60kg quarterfinal at 8:10 am, while Varun Aryamaan Sanyal contests the men’s Traditional -77kg quarterfinal at 2 pm against the winner of a preliminary-round bout.

Defending champions India face Bangladesh for place in cricket final

The biggest team contest of the day arrives at 10:30 am, when India meet Bangladesh in the women’s cricket semifinal. India entered the tournament as defending Asian Games champions and now stand one victory away from another gold-medal match.

The cricket semifinal sits at the heart of a Sunday programme that looks markedly different from India’s opening days at the Games. Instead of isolated appearances across a handful of disciplines, multiple Indian campaigns will now overlap, creating the first day on which attention will have to move rapidly between medal events, knockout contests and team-sport fixtures.

Wushu returns to the programme later in the day. Aparna faces Iran’s Sogand Sinkaeichetan in the women’s 52kg Sanda Round of 16, while Vikrant Baliyan meets Iran’s Soheil Mousavi in the men’s 75kg Round of 16. Both bouts are scheduled in the session beginning at 2:30 pm.

For India, September 20, therefore, represents more than another day on the Asian Games calendar. It is the first time at Aichi-Nagoya 2026 that the contingent’s programme assumes the scale of a full multi-sport campaign, with medal possibilities beginning before sunrise in India and major team events stretching deep into the afternoon.

India at Asian Games, September 20: Schedule in IST

5:30 am: Wushu – Suraj Singh Mayanglambam, Men’s Changquan Final

6:15 am: Shooting – Elavenil Valarivan, Sonam Uttam Maskar, Vidarsa K Vinod, Women’s 10m Air Rifle Individual Qualification and Team Final

6:30 am: Table Tennis – India vs Indonesia, Women’s Team Group F

6:30 am: Teqball – Quimcy Joaquim Dsouza vs Yuina Sakamoto, Women’s Singles Bronze Medal match

7:00 am: Teqball – Quimcy Joaquim Dsouza/Mohamed Anas Imran Beg vs Minh Tan Nguyen/Gia Nghi Trinh, Mixed Doubles Bronze Medal match

7:22 am: Swimming – Akash Mani and Rohit Benedicton, Men’s 100m Freestyle Heat 5

7:30 am: Hockey – India vs Uzbekistan, Women’s Pool B

7:37 am: Swimming – Rishabh Das and Utkarsh Santosh Patil, Men’s 100m Backstroke Heat 3

8:10 am: Mixed Martial Arts – Suchika Tariyal vs Altanchimeg Baigalmaa, Women’s Traditional -60kg Quarterfinal

9:00 am: Table Tennis – India vs Indonesia, Men’s Team Group F

10:30 am: Cricket – India vs Bangladesh, Women’s Semifinal

11:00 am: Shooting – Women’s 10m Air Rifle Individual Final, subject to qualification

11:30 am: Hockey – India vs Indonesia, Men’s Pool A

12:30 pm: Table Tennis – India vs Singapore, Women’s Team Group F

2:00 pm: Mixed Martial Arts – Varun Aryamaan Sanyal vs TBD, Men’s Traditional -77kg Quarterfinal

2:23 pm: Swimming – Men’s 100m Freestyle Final, subject to qualification

2:30 pm onwards: Wushu – Aparna vs Sogand Sinkaeichetan, Women’s 52kg Sanda Round of 16

2:30 pm onwards: Wushu – Vikrant Baliyan vs Soheil Mousavi, Men’s 75kg Sanda Round of 16

2:43 pm: Swimming – Men’s 100m Backstroke Final, subject to qualification

3:00 pm: Table Tennis – India vs Iran, Men’s Team Group F

The official schedule notes that timings remain subject to change.

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