The Asian Games 2026 will officially begin on Saturday, with the opening ceremony scheduled to start at 2:30pm IST in Nagoya. However, a few competitions, including women’s cricket, soft tennis and teqball, have already got underway ahead of the ceremony.
India’s schedule for Saturday (September 19):
Teqball6:30am IST: Women’s singles semifinal — Quimcy Dsouza vs Sumaya (Indonesia)Opening Ceremony2:30pm IST onwards: Asian Games 2026 opening ceremony
Quimcy Dsouza reaches Teqball semis; mixed doubles pair eyes bronze
India’s Quimcy Joaquim Dsouza moved within one win of creating history after reaching the women’s singles semifinals in teqball at the Asian Games in Nagoya on Friday.Making her Asian Games debut, Quimcy upset top seed Yuina Sakamoto of Japan 2-1 (10-12, 12-11, 13-11) in her first Group A match.She followed that up with a 2-0 (12-9, 12-7) win over Cambodia’s Koemyean DY in her second group match, finishing on top of Group A and booking a place in the semifinals.By topping the group, Quimcy received a bye in the quarterfinals.The 24-year-old will face Indonesia’s Sumaya in Saturday’s semifinal. A win will guarantee India its first-ever medal in Teqball, one of the six sports making its Asian Games debut.Even if she loses in the semifinals, Quimcy will still have a chance to win bronze on Sunday.In the mixed doubles event, Quimcy and Mohammed Anas Imran Beg were beaten 0-2 (7-12, 10-12) by Vietnam’s Hoang Minh Tan Nguyen and Gia Nghi Trinh in the quarterfinals.However, the Indian pair remain in contention for a bronze medal after winning their repechage match.Teqball is one of six sports making its Asian Games debut in Aichi-Nagoya, alongside Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Padel, Surfing, BMX Freestyle and Virtual Taekwondo.The sport combines elements of football and table tennis. It was invented in Hungary in 2014 by Gabor Borsanyi, Gyorgy Gattyan and Viktor Huszar, while the first official Teqball World Championships were held in Budapest in 2017.In Teqball, players use every part of the body except their hands and arms to rally a standard size-five football across a curved table divided by a transparent plexiglass net.
Bhaker, Toor named India’s flag-bearers for Opening Ceremony
Double Olympic medal-winning shooter Manu Bhaker and defending shot put champion Tajinderpal Singh Toor were on Friday named as India’s flag-bearers for Asian Games opening ceremony.The ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, and a 158-strong Indian contingent will take part in it.“Manu Bhaker will be one of the flag-bearers,” India’s chef-de-Mission Sahdev Yadav said.Later, the Athletics Federation of India confirmed that Toor will be the second flag-bearer.One of the four deputy chefs de mission and decorated former shooter, Anjali Bhagwat, said 158 members of the Indian contingent will take part in the opening ceremony.Bhaker made history at the 2024 Paris Olympics by becoming the first athlete from Independent India to win two medals in a single edition of the Olympic Games.Toor has finished with gold medals in the past two editions of the Asian Games.
