India’s Asian Games 2026 campaign gathers pace on Friday, September 18, with the defending women’s cricket champions beginning their title defence against hosts Japan in Aichi.
The Indian women’s cricket team, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, will face Japan in the quarter-finals at the Korogi Athletic Park at 10:30 AM IST.
India, the highest-ranked team in the eight-nation competition, head into Aichi-Nagoya on the back of winning a record-extending eighth Women’s Asia Cup title last week.
The match will also be the first-ever meeting between the Indian and Japanese women’s cricket teams.
India will also be represented in soft tennis and teqball on Friday, a day before the Asian Games 2026 opening ceremony.
The men’s soft tennis team of Jay Meena, Aniket Patel, Yogesh Chaudhary, Aryan Thakur and Om Yadav will begin its preliminary Group C campaign.
The team has two more group matches scheduled later in the day, with the quarter-finals to follow, subject to qualification.
In teqball, Quimcy Joaquim Dsouza will begin her women’s singles campaign.
Dsouza will later join Mohamed Anas Imran Beg for the mixed doubles competition. The Indian pair have three matches scheduled on the day before another fixture at 1:00 PM.
The mixed doubles quarter-finals are also scheduled, while the repechage will take place, with India’s participation in the latter stages subject to qualification.
The Asian Games 2026 officially gets underway on September 19 and will run until October 4.
Asian Games 2026 India schedule today: September 18
All timings in Indian Standard Time (IST)
Soft tennis
- Men’s team preliminary Group C, Match 1: Jay Meena, Aniket Patel, Yogesh Chaudhary, Aryan Thakur, Om Yadav – 5:30 AM
- Men’s team preliminary Group C, Match 2: India – 7:30 AM
- Men’s team preliminary Group C, Match 3: India – 9:30 AM
- Men’s team quarter-finals: India (subject to qualification) – 11:30 AM
Teqball
-
Women’s singles, Match 2: Quimcy Joaquim Dsouza – 6:00 AM
-
Women’s singles, Match 3: Quimcy Joaquim Dsouza – 6:30 AM
-
Mixed doubles, Match 2: Quimcy Joaquim Dsouza/Mohamed Anas Imran Beg – 9:30 AM
-
Mixed doubles, Match 5: Dsouza/Beg – 11:00 AM
-
Mixed doubles, Match 7: Dsouza/Beg – 12:30 PM
-
Mixed doubles, Match 9: Dsouza/Beg – 1:00 PM
-
Mixed doubles quarter-finals: Dsouza/Beg (subject to qualification) – 3:00 PM
-
Mixed doubles repechage: Dsouza/Beg (subject to qualification) – 4:00 PM
Cricket
- Women’s quarter-finals: India vs Japan – 10:30 AM
#Asian #Games #India #schedule #today #September #Womens #cricket #team #soft #tennis #campaigns #start
