Preview -Asian Games 2026 part 3 of 8
-The Combat sports

The Asian Games features a wide range of combat sports, collectively offering a substantial number of medal opportunities: Jiu-Jitsu (8 events), Kurash (6), MMA (6), Judo (15), Karate (15), Wrestling — Freestyle and Greco-Roman — (18), Wushu — Taolu and Sanda — (15), Boxing (11), and Taekwondo (11). Together, these nine combat sports account for 105 events, making them one of the single biggest sources of medals at the Games.

🤼Wrestling

My favourite sport to watch, wrestling has been a good source of medals for India. Here's what's in store across its three categories.

Greco-Roman — In some shocking pre-event news, three of the six Greco-Roman category wrestlers were found to be doping, so it seems India will field only three wrestlers in Greco. Of these, the only realistic medal chance is Sunil Kumar, who won bronze in 2022 and may repeat that with a good draw.

Women's wrestling — In the 50kg class, 18-year-old Dipanshi could be a future medal winner, but a medal in 2026 looks unlikely. Antim is probably India's most feted wrestler in the 53kg category and will most likely medal, though a gold looks tough with Moe Kiyooka, the reigning Japanese world champion, and Jin Zhang, the world championship silver medallist, in the same event. Beyond her, Manisha Bhanwala (2025 Asian champion), Mansi Ahlawat (2024 World Championship bronze), Nisha Dahiya (2022 U23 World Championship silver) and Priya (2023 U20 World Champion) are all capable of medals, though gold may be a stretch. Around three medals look possible from the women's category.

Men's freestyle — India has five wrestlers, of whom Aman Sehrawat (57kg) and Sujeet Kalkal (65kg) are the pick of the bunch, both capable of winning gold. Sujeet's most dangerous opponent is Kiyooka, the Paris gold medallist — beatable, but difficult. Aman faces 2024 Paris gold medallist Rei Higuchi; again winnable, but close. The third contender at 65kg is Gulomjon, the Uzbek bronze medallist from 2024 — so the event could go to any of the three. Beyond these two weights, India can medal at 74kg with Sagar and at 97kg with Deepak Punia, though gold looks unlikely there.

🦵Taekwondo

India has won only one taekwondo medal so far, Surendra Bhandari's bronze in 2002. But 2026 could be better, led by Rupa Bayer in Poomsae, the artistic format. She is currently ranked No. 1 in Asia in this event and can definitely win a medal — gold may be difficult, since rankings aren't always a true indicator of class. The remaining two Indians in taekwondo, Kashish and Jyoti, are unlikely to medal.

🥋Kurash

Kurash is a 3,500-year-old Central Asian standing-wrestling sport. India won medals in it in 2018 but not in 2022. More recently, India has been doing well in Kurash, led by Pinky Balhara, who won silver in 2018 and is an icon of the sport in India. She, along with Yash Chouhan, are likely medallists — one to two medals looks realistic, though gold may be unlikely.

🥊MMA

In MMA, India has one of its most remarkable athletes. Suchika Tariyal, now 36, competed in judo at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, represented India in Kurash at the 2023 Asian Games, won national titles across three different martial arts, appeared on reality shows like MTV Roadies and India's Ultimate Warrior, and even won a World Championship title in jiu-jitsu.

She is now India's best chance for an MMA medal. Having already represented the country in judo and Kurash, she could well add a medal here too — even gold is within reach. Expectations are lower for Varun, the other Indian competing in MMA.

🥋Karate

In karate, India's medal hopes rest with Alisha Choudhary in the 55kg kumite category. She recently won gold at the Asian Championships in kumite, defeating Rina Kodo, the world No. 2 — so a medal chance is real, and even gold is possible. Chetan Bhatt, the other Indian entrant, looks less likely to medal.

🐉Wushu

India won a silver in wushu at the last edition in 2022 and four bronzes in 2018, and also did well at the World Wushu Championships, winning three silver and one bronze.

India has a high chance of medalling in the two women's Sanda events, through Aparna in the 52kg category and Divyanshi in the 60kg category. There is also a possible medal chance in Taolu, and through Vikrant Baliyan in the 80kg Sanda category. Overall, India should do well in wushu, with two to four medals possible, though gold looks unlikely.

🥊Boxing

With boxing flying India's flag high at the recent Commonwealth Games, expectations from the boxers are high. But expectations need moderating — the Asian Games carries only five women's boxing events compared to seven at the Commonwealth Games, which means the 57kg and 70kg categories are gone, ruling out two of India's best boxers, Arundati and Jaismine.

The level of competition is also higher than at the Commonwealth Games, with some of the world's best boxing nations — Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Chinese Taipei and China — in the fray.

In the lower four classes — Sakshi in 51kg, Preeti in 54kg, Priya in 60kg and Parveen in 65kg — India has a really good chance of winning medals, and even gold. Lovlina is not in great form but can still get a medal in the 75kg category.

In the men's section, with both the Uzbek and Kazakh teams carrying a large group of world and Olympic champions, medals become harder to come by. The best chances lie in the lower weight classes, with Jadumani in 55kg and Sachin in 60kg. One or two more medals could come from the higher weight classes, depending on the draw.

Add it all up and India's combat sports offer a realistic floor of around eleven medals and a ceiling that could stretch past twenty — with wrestling and boxing doing the heavy lifting, and wushu, kurash, MMA, karate and taekwondo each carrying at least one outside shot at gold. Next up: the precision sports that round out India's medal count — archery and shooting.