Asian Games 2018: Here?s everything you need to know about the competition held in Indonesia

By Elton Gomes

Asian Games 2018, simply known as Asiad, will be the 18th edition of the games. The games will commence from August 18 to September 2 in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang. Around 10,000 athletes across 45 countries will take part in the event.

India will look to return with a lot of medals as their 572-strong contingent prepares for the games. Out of the 572 athletes from the Indian contingent, 312 men and 260 women will participate in 36 various sports. The athletes will be accompanied by a total of 232 coaches, support staff, and other officials. Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra will be the flag bearer for India at the opening ceremony.

Previously, India’s contingent size for the Games stood at 524. However, after several court orders and reshuffling to include or drop athletes due to selection controversies, the final number stood at 572. Of these 572, 49 members from the Indian contingent will have to bear their own travel costs.

The Indian contingent

Eight new sports have been added where India has shown some promise. These eight include Karate, Kurash, Pencak Silat, Roller Skating, Sambo, Sepaktakraw, Triathlon, and Soft Tennis. India will also participate in the following sports: Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Boxing, Bowling, Canoe-Kayak (Sprint), Canoe-Kayak (Slalom), Cycling, Equestrian, Fencing, Gymnastics, Golf, Handball, Hockey, Judo, Kabaddi, Karate, Kurash, Pencak Silat, Roller Skating, Rowing, Sailing, Sambo, Sepaktakraw, Shooting, Squash, Aquatics – Swimming, Aquatics – Diving, Tennis, Taekwondo, Triathlon, Soft Tennis, Table Tennis, Volleyball, Weightlifting, Wrestling, and Wushu. The complete schedule of the Asian Games 2018 can be accessed here.

Below is the complete list of the Indian contingent for the Asian Games 2018.

ARCHERY

Men: Recurve: Atanu Das, Jagdish Chaudhary, Sukhchain Singh, Vishwas

Compound: Abhishek Verma, Rajat Chauhan, Sangamprit Bisla, Aman Saini

Women: Recurve: Promila Daimary, Deepika Kumari, Ankita Bhakat, Laxmirani Majhi

Compound: Trisha Deb, Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Madhumita Kumari, Muskan Kirar

ATHLETICS

Men: Track events

200m – Mohammed Anas

400m – Arokiarajiv, Mohammed Anas

800m – Jinson Johnson, Manjit Singh

1500m – Jinson Johnson, Manjit Singh

5000 m – G Lakshmanan

10000 m – G Lakshmanan

4x400m relay – Dharun Ayyasamy, Mohammed Anas, Jeevan Karekoppa Suresh, Jithu Baby, Arokiarajiv, Kunhu Mohammed Puthanpurakkal

400m Hurdles – Dharun Ayyasamy, Santosh Kumar

3000m Steeplechase – Shankar Lal Swami

Field events

Triple Jump – Arpinder Singh, Rakesh Babu AV

Javelin Throw – Shivpal Singh, Neeraj Chopra

Long Jump – Sreeshankar

High Jump – Chethan Balasubramanya

Shot Put – Tajinderpal Singh Toor, Naveen Chikara

Road Events

20 km Walk – Manish Singh Rawat, KT Irfan

50 km Walk – Sandeep Kumar

Women: Track events

100m – Dutee Chand

200m – Dutee Chand, Hima Das

400m – Hima Das

800m – Tintu Luka

1500m – PU Chitra, Monika Chaudhary

5000m – Sanjivani Jadhav, Suriya Longanathan

10000m – Sanjivani Jadhav, Suriya Longanathan

4x400m relay – Jisna Mathew, MR Poovamma, Saritaben Laxmanbhai Gayakwad, Sonia Baishya, Vijayakumari

400m Hurdles – Jauna Murmu, Anu Raghavan

3000m Steeplechase – Sudha Singh, Chinta Yadav

Field Events

Hammer Throw – Sarita Romit Singh

Discus Throw – Sandeep Kumari, Seema Punia

Javelin Throw – Annu Rani

Long Jump – Nayana James, Neena Varakil

Road Events

20km Walk – Soumya Baby, Khushbir Kaur

Combined Events

Heptathlon – Purnima Hembram, Swapna Barman

Mixed

4x400m mixed relay – Kunhu Mohammed Puthanpurakkal, Arokiarajiv, Mohammed Anas, Hima Das, MR Poovamma

BADMINTON

Men

Singles – Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy

Doubles – Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, Manu Attri, Sumeeth Reddy

Women

Singles – PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal

Doubles – Ashwini Ponnappa, N Sikki Reddy; Rutaparna Panda, Arathi Sara Sunil

Mixed doubles – Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Sumeeth Reddy, Pranav Jerry Chopra, N Sikki Reddy, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Ashwini Ponnappa

Team – Kidambi Srikanth, HS Prannoy, B Sai Praneeth, Sameer Verma, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, Manu Attri, Sumeeth Reddy, Pranav Jerry Chopra, PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, N Sikki Reddy, Ashwini Ponnappa, Sourabh Verma, Sai Uttejitha Rao, Ashmita Chaliha, Rutaparna Panda, Arathi Sara Sunil, Aakarshi Kashyap, Gayathri Gopichand

BASKETBALL

Women’s Team 5X5: Nisha Sharma, Pushpa Senthil Kumar, Prasannan Geetha Anjana, Hemmige Mahesha Bhandavya, Palanilkumakalayil Skaria Jeena, Rajapriyadharshini Rajaganapathi, Raspreet Sidhu, Shireen Limaye, Priyanka Prabhakara, Madhu Kumari, Sangeeta Kaur, Stephy Nixon

BOXING

Men

Light Flyweight (49 kg) – Amit Panghal

Flyweight (52 kg) – Gaurav Solanki

Bantamweight (56 kg) – Mohammad Hussamuddin

Lightweight (60 kg) – Shiva Thapa

Light Welterweight (64 kg) – Dheeraj Rangi

Light Welterweight (69 kg) – Manoj Kumar

Middleweight (75 kg) – Vikas Krishan Yadav

Women

Flyweight (51 kg) – Sarjubala Devi

Featherweight (57 kg) – Sonia Lather

Lightweight (60 kg) – Pavitra

BOWLING

Men

Trios: Dhruv Sarda, Shabbir Dhankot, Akaash Ashok Kumar; Parvez Ahmed Saud, Ramachandraiah Kishan, Shoumick Datta

Team of 6: Dhruv Sarda, Shabbir Dhankot, Aakaash Ashok Kumar, Parvez Ahmed Saud, Kishan Ramachandriah, Shoumick Datta

Masters: Parvez Ahmed Saud, Shoumick Datta

BRIDGE

Men: Pranab Bardhan, Sapan Desai, Subhash Gupta, Rajeev Khandelwal, Ajay Khare, Finton Lewis, Debabrata Majumder, Gopinath Manna, Sumit Mukherjee, Shibhnath Dey Sarkar, Bachiraju Satyanarayana, Jaggy Shivdasani, Arun Kumar Sinha, Rajeshwar Tewari and Raju Tolani.

Women: Rita Choksi, Feroza Chothia, Hema Deora, Bharati Dey, Marianne Karmarkar, Himani Khandelwal, Kiran Nadar, Aparna Sain and Vasanti Shah.

 

CANOE-KAYAK

Men

Sprint: Chingching Singh Arambam, Albert Raj Selvaraj, Naocha Singh Laitonjam, Prohit Baroi, Jamesboy Singh Oinam, Gaurav Tomar, Prakant Sharma, Sunil Singh Salam

Traditional Boat Race: Bijender Singh, Ravinder, Sivasankar Thayyil Baburaj, Manmohan Dangi, Dilip singh Negi, Abhay Singh, Arun Nandal, Suraj Singh Negi, Ankit Pachori, Satypal Tomar, Kiran Singh Moirangthem, Hariom Kurmi, Sachin Kumar, Parminder Singh, Manjeet Singh, Heisnam Nganba Meitei

Women

Sprint: Ragina Kiro, Sandhya Kispotta, Soniya Devi Phairembam, Meena Devi Laishram, Inoacha Devi M, Anjali Bashisht, Meera Das

Slalom: Aarti Pandey, Champa Mourya

Traditional Boat Race: Rajeshwari Kushram, Sanjana Singh, Nazis Mansoori, Dimita Devi Toijam, Manju, Oinam Yaiphabi Devi, Sushila Chanu Shoibam, Aarti Nath, Neetu Varma, Thajamanbi Chanu, Sarju Devi Kojenbam, Yumnam Shamashakhi Devi, Menu, Manisha Rani, Kirti Kewat, Ramkanya Dangi.

CYCLING

Men: Ranjit Singh, Manjeet Singh, Raju Bati, Manohar Lal, A. Bike Singh, Rajbeer Singh, Esow, Appolonious and Dilawar

Women: Deborah Herold, Aleena Reji, M. Sonali Chanu, T. Manorama Devi, Nayana Rajesh Priyadarshini, E. Chaoba Devi and Megha Gugad

EQUESTRIAN

Men: Ashish Malik, Rakesh Kumar, Jitender Singh, Fouaad Mirza, Kaevaan Kevic Setalvad, Chetan Reddy Nukala

FENCING

Women: Thoudam Kabita Devi, Ena Arora, Jas Seerat Singh, Jyotika Dutta

GYMNASTICS

Men

Individual/Team: Rakesh Patra, Yogeshwar Singh, Gaurav Kumar, Ashish Kumar, Siddharth Verma

Women

Individual/Team: Dipa Karmakar, Pranati Das, Aruna Reddy, Mandira Chowdhury, Pranati Nayak

GOLF

Men

Individual/Team: Kshitij Naveed Kaul, Harimohan Singh,Rayhan Thomas, Aadil Bedi

Women

Individual/Team: Diksha Dagar, Ridhima Dilawari, Sifat Sagoo

HANDBALL

Men Team: Kamaljeet Singh, Bajrang Thakur, Atul Kumar, Harender Singh, Sachin Kumar Bhardwaj, Karamjeet Singh, Deepak, Davinder Singh, Harjinder Singh, Navdeep, Naveen, Ramesh Chand, Avin Khatkar, Adithya Nagaraj, Rahul Dubey, Greenidge Dcunha

Women Team: Diksha Kumari, Kajal, Nina Shil, Nidhi Sharma, Deepa, Ritu, Sushma, Indu Gupta, Maninder Kaur, Sanjeeta, Priyanka Thakur, Jyoti Shukla, Banita Sharma, KM Manjula Pathak, Khila Devi, Rimpi

HOCKEY

Men’s Team: PR Sreejesh (Captain), Chinglensana Singh Kangujam (Vice-Captain), Krishan B Pathak, Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar, Birendra Lakra, Surender Kumar, Rupinder Pal Singh, Amit Rohidas, Manpreet Singh, Simranjeet Singh, Sardar Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, SV Sunil, Mandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Dilpreet Singh

Women’s Team: Rani Rampal (Captain), Savita (Vice-Captain), Rajani Etimarpu, Deep Grace Ekka, Sunita Lakra, Deepika, Gurjit Kaur, Reena Khokhar, Namita Toppo, Lilima Minz, Monika, Udita, Nikki Pradhan, Neha Goyal, Vandana Katariya, Lalremsiami, Navneet Kaur, Navjot Kaur

JUDO

Men: Vijay Kumar Yadav, Harshdeep Singh Brar, Avtar Singh

Women: Th. Kalpana Devi, Garima Chaudhary, Rajwinder Kaur

KABADDI

Men’s team: Ajay Thakur (captain), Pardeep Narwal, Monu Goyat, Rishank Devadiga, Rahul Chaudhari, Rohit Kumar, Girish Ernak, Surender Nada, Deepak Niwas Hooda, Manjeet Chillar, Surjeet Singh Narwal, Rajulal Chaudari, Sandeep Narwal, Mohit Chillar.

Women’s team: Sakshi Kumari, Kavita Devi, Priyanka, Manpreet Kaur, Payel Chowdhury, Ritu Negi, Sonali Vishnu Shingate, Sayali Sanjay KeriPale, Randeep Kaur Khehra, Shalini Pathak, Usha Rani Narasimhalah, Madhu. Standby: Priyanka, Shama Parveen

KARATE

Men: Jayendran Sharath Kumar, Vishal

MARTIAL ARTS (KURASH)

Men: Jatin, Jacky Gahlot, Kunal, Manish Tokas, Divesh, Danish Sharma, Parikshit Kumar, Ashwin Pandari Chandran

Women: Pincky Balhara, Malaprabha Yallappa Jadhav, Binisha Nayakattu Biju, Megha Tokas, Jyoti Tokas, Amisha Tokas

MARTIAL ARTS (PENCAK SILAT)

Men: Boynao Singh Naorem

Women: Sonia, Simran

ROLLERSPORTS

Men: Amitesh Mishra, Harshveer Singh Sekhon

Women: Aarathy Kasturi Raj, Varsha Puranik

ROWING

Men: Dattu Baban Bhokanal, Sawarn Singh, Om Prakash, Sukhmeet Singh, Monu, Arjun Lal Jat, Malkeet Singh, Gurinder singh, Dushyant, Rohit Kumar, Bhagwan Singh, Jagvir Singh, Tejash Shinde Hanamant, Jegan Sekhar, Bhopal Singh, Manish Yadav, Hardeep Singh, N. Pranay Ganesh, Rahul Giri, Pandu Rang, Lucky, Akshat, M. Lakshman Rohith, Sumith, Sono Laxmi Narayan, Arvind Singh and Manpreet Singh.

Women: Navneet Kaur, Yamini Singh, Harpreet Kaur, Annu, Sanjukta Dung Dung, Sayali Shelke and Pooja Sangwan.

SAILING

Men: Govind Bairagi, Dayna Edgar Coelho, Varun Ashok Thakkar, Ganpathy Kelapanda

Women: Katya Ida Coelho, Nethra Kumanan, Sweta Shervegar, Harshita Tomar, Varsha Gautham

SEPAK TAKRAW

Men: Niken Singh Khangembam, Sandeep Kumar, Malemnganba Singh Sorokhaibam, Seitaram Singh Thokchom, Henary Singh Wahengbam, Sanjeck Singh Waikhom, Akash Yumnam, Harish Kumar, Lalit Kumar, Ngathem Jotin Singh, Dheeraj, Gurumayum Jiteshor Sharma

Women: Tharangini Annam, Dolly Srivastava, Maipak Devi Ayekpam, Khushbu, Manisha Kumari, Nganthoi Chanu Yanglem, Aruna Devi Mutum, Chaoba Devi Oinam, Linthoingambi Chanu Pangambam, Rashmi, Ronita Devi Elangbam, Jwensinle Kesen

SHOOTING

Men

Rifle

50m Rifle 3 Positions – Sanjeev Rajput, Akhil Sheoran10m Air Rifle – Ravi Kumar, Deepak Kumar300m Standard Rifle 3 Positions – Harjinder Singh, Amit Kumar

Pistol

10m Air Pistol – Abhishek Verma, Saurabh Chaudhary25m Rapid Fire Pistol – Shivam Shukla, Anish

ShotgunTrap – Lakshay, Manavjit Singh SandhuSkeet – Sheeraz Sheikh, Angadwir Singh BajwaDouble Trap – Ankur Mittal, Shradul Vihaan

Women

Rifle50m Rifle 3 Positions – Anjum Moudgil, Gaayathri N10m Air Rifle – Apurvi Chandela, Elavenil Valarivan

Pistol10m Air Pistol – Manu Bhaker, Heena Sidhu25m Pistol – Manu Bhaker, Rahi Sarnobat

ShotgunTrap – Shreyasi Singh, Seema TomarSkeet – Ganemat Sekhon, Rashmmi RathoreDouble Trap – Shreyasi Singh, Varsha Varman

Mixed10m Air Rifle Mixed Team – Ravi Kumar, Apurvi Chandela10m Air Pistol Mixed Team – Abhishek Verma, Manu BhakerTrap Mixed – Lakshay, Shreyasi Singh

SQUASH

Men: Saurav Ghosal, Harinder Pal Sandhu, Ramit Tandon, Mahesh Mangaonkar

Women: Joshna Chinappa, Dipika Pallikal, Sunayna Kuruvilla, Tanvi Khanna

Team: Saurav Ghosal, Harinder Pal Sandhu, Joshna Chinappa, Dipika Pallikal

SWIMMING

Men: Sajan Prakash, Aaron Agnel D’Souza, Virdhawal Khade, Sandeep Sejwal,Advait Page, Srihari Nataraj, Anshul Kothari, Arvind Mani, Avinash Mani, Neel Roy, Sidharth Bajrang Pardeshi, K Ramananda Sharma

SPORT CLIMBING

Men: Chingkheinganba Maibam, Bharath Stephen Pereira Kamath

Women: Shreya Sanjay Nankar

TENNIS

Men

Singles: Prajnesh Gunneswaran, Ramkumar Ramanathan

Doubles: Sumit Nagal, Leander Paes, Rohan Bopanna, Divij Sharan

Women

Singles: Karman Kaur Thandi, Ankita Raina

Doubles: Pranjala Yadlapalli, Prarthana Thombare, Riya Bhatia, Rutuja Bhosale

Mixed doubles: Leander Paes, Rohan Bopanna, Ankita Raina, Prarthana Thombare

TAEKWONDO

Men: Navjeet Maan, Akshay Kumar

Women: Kashish Malik, Anamika Walia, Latika Bhandari, Mamta Kumari Shah, Rodali Barua, Shilpa Thapa

SOFT TENNIS

Men: Rohit Dhiman, Jay Meena, Jitender Mehlda, Aniket Chirag Patel, Kamlesh Kumar Shukla

Women: Abhilasha Mehra, Namita Seth, Saayana Sreedetha Prakash, Aadhya Tiwari, Shubh Gulati

TABLE TENNIS

Men

Singles: Achanta Sharath Kamal, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran

Women

Singles: Manika Batra, Mouma Das

Mixed doubles

Achanta Sharath Kamal, Anthony Amalraj, Manika Batra, Madhurika Patkar

Team

Achanta Sharath Kamal, Anthony Amalraj, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkar, Manika Batra, Mouma Das, Sutirtha Mukherjee, Ayhika Mukherjee, Madhurika Patkar

VOLLEYBALL

Men’s Team: Akhin Gopala Ammal, Ashok Karthik, Deepesh Kumar Sinha, Prabagaran, Amit, Ajithlal Chandran, Rohit Kumar, Gurinder Singh, Jerome Vinith Charles, Vinit Kumar, Ranjit Singh, Ukkrapandian Mohan, Prabakaran Pattani, Pankaj Sharma

Women’s Team: Anju Balakrishnan, Soorya, Anusri Ghosh, Aswani Kandoth, Nirmala, Rekha Sreesailam, Anusree Kambrath Poyilil, Sruthi Murali, Minimol Abraham, Anjali Babu, Jini Kovat Shaji, Ruksana Khatun, Priyanka Khedkar, Aswathi Raveendran

WEIGHTLIFTING

Men: Sathish Kumar Sivalingam (77 kg), Ajay Singh (77 kg); Vikas Thakur (94 kg)

Women: Rakhi Halder (63 kg)

WRESTLING

Men

Freestyle

Sandeep Tomar – 57 kgBajrang Punia – 65 kgSushil Kumar – 74 kgPawan Kumar – 86 kgMausam Khatri – 97 kgSumit Malik – 125 kg

Greco-Roman

Gyanender – 60 kgManish – 67 kgGurpreet Singh – 77 kgHarpreet Singh – 87 kgHardeep – 97 kgNaveen – 130 kg

Who didn’t make it?

Runners Prachi Choudhary and Chhavi Sharawat will not be competing in the games after losing their petition against the Athletics Federation of India (AFI). Both runners had a problem with the AFI’s selection policies and alleged that the federation changed rules to keep them out of the games.

On Thursday, veteran tennis player Leander Paes said that he will be withdrawing from the games as he did not get a “specialist” doubles partner. After Divij Sharan and Rohan Bopanna decided to play together, men’s team’s captain Zeeshan Ali was left with little choice but to let a young Sumit Nagal play alongside Paes. “It is with a heavy heart that I have to say that I will not be playing the upcoming Asian Games in Indonesia,” Paes said in a statement sent to PTI.

Whom to watch out for?

Day 1 of the games

On the first day of the Games, Olympic medallists PV Sindhu, Sushil Kumar, and others will be in action. The Indian women’s hockey team will kick off their campaign with a match against Indonesia. After hockey, the action will then shift to freestyle wrestling wherein Sandeep Tomar (57kg), Bajrang Punia (65kg), Pawan Kumar (86kg), and Mausam Khatri (97kg) will be in action on day one.

Top Indian athletes

Indian shooters have had a memorable year so far, and will look to continue their medal-winning streak. All eyes will be on Manu Bhaker, who has won gold in every competition she has participated in. Apart from Bhaker, a lot will be expected from Heena Sidhu, who became the first Indian pistol shooter to win a gold medal in an ISSF World Cup final. Another young shooter in the Indian contingent is Anish Bhanwala, who won a gold medal in the Commonwealth Games at the age of 15.

In the 65 kg freestyle wrestling category, Bajrang Punia could be a serious contender. Punia already has a hat-trick of golds (the Commonwealth Games in Australia, Yasar Dogu International in Turkey, and Tbilisi Grand Prix in Georgia) and will surely look to add to his medal count.

Hockey player Lalremsiami played a vital role in helping the Indian women’s team in reaching the quarter-finals of the Women’s Hockey World Cup in London. Her presence has been highly influential for the women’s team, and they will be counting on Lalremsiami’s penalty corner conversions to help them in the games.

Track and field athlete Neeraj Chopra has shown great promise in javelin throw. Chopra bagged gold at the Commonwealth Games in Australia and also holds the national record (87.43 m) in javelin throw. The games in Indonesia will be the first Asiad for Chopra, and his main opponent would be Taiwan’s Chen Chao-tsun, current holder of the Asian record (91.36 m).

Star wrestlers Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat will also look to make an impact as they lead India’s women’s squad. Malik won bronze in the 2016 Olympic Games and will want to settle for nothing less than gold in the 62 kg category. Phogat will compete in the 50 kg division.

India also has hopes in boxer Vikas Krishan Yadav, who has won bronze and gold, respectively, in 2014 and 2010 editions of the games. Yadav will be up against some tough competition wherein boxers from Uzbekistan could prove to be formidable opponents.

Other athletes to look out for

China’s Sun Yang will look to create ripples in the sport of swimming. Sun has previously won three golds [400m and 1,500m freestyle, and 4x100m freestyle relay] and came in second in the 200 m, four years ago at Incheon. Badminton player Lin Dan will be participating in his fifth Asiad this year. Lin bagged a silver medal in Doha in 2006, but remained unbeatable in Guangzhou and Incheon. The veteran’s presence will be a significant boost to the Chinese team.

Indonesia’s hopes for a medal have been pinned on Lindswell Kwok. The 26-year-old Chinese-Indonesian is a five-time wushu world champion and has strong backing from Indonesia. “She is one of our best medal hopes and the whole country is behind her,” Jakarta-based journalist, Ade Alkausar, said about Kwok, as reported by the South China Morning Post.

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Elton Gomes is a staff writer at Qrius