Indian Kabbadi squads given a warm send off in Gandhinagar for 20th Asian Games at Aichi Nagoya

Both the squads underwent a prepertory camp at SAI,NCoE, Gandhinagar from September 5-14, 2026.

Rakesh Thapliyal 

New Delhi: The Aichi Nagoya Asian Games bound Indian men’s and women’s squads were given a warm sent off at the SAI, NCoE at Ghandinagar on Tuesday morning.

Both the teams consist of 12 players, three Coaches and three support staff.

The men’s team has Balwan Singh as the Head coach while BC Ramesh and Anup Kumar are Assistant Coaches.

Neeta Dadwe is the head coach of the women’s team, while Mamtha Poojari and Tejaswini Bai are the Assistant Coaches.

Both the squads underwent a prepertory camp at SAI,NCoE, Gandhinagar from September 5-14, 2026.

The send ceremony saw Regional Director, Sports Authority of India (SAI) Prashant Singh present shawls to the coaching staff of the two squads.

Deputy Director, Sports Authority of India (SAI) Ashok Khatri presented shawls to the captains of the two teams- Sunil Kumar (Men) and Pushpa Rana (Women).

Speaking to SAI media, Head Coach Neeta Dadwe said that her team is well prepared

“we are very well prepared, we had a 15 day trainning camp in May, followed by month long camp in June, then another month long camp at JSW Ballari and finally the camp here at SAI, Gandhinagar. We are looking forward to the Games.”

Dadwe stressed that apart from Iran, Chinese Taipei has emerged as a strong Kabbadi team

“Apart from Iran, Chinese Taipei is a very strong side, last time they were second place, they watch a lot of our videos, and have a strong academy system. We have an edge over most teams as we play a lot of tournaments.”

Indian women’s Kabbadi team bagged the Gold at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou after a narrow 26-25 win over Chinese Taipei in the final match.

Indian women’s team captain Pushpa Rana credited the Pro Kabaddi League(PKL) for increasing international popularity of the sport.

“many foreign coaches and players are now a part of the PKL, they go back and help in the development of the sport in their respective nations. This is one of the reasons why Iran and Chinese Taipei are getting better and better.”

Indian men’s team skipper Sunil Kumar noted that the game is evolving in terms of tactics and also getting faster

“competition in the Asian Games is rising as the game grows in popularity, new teams are also innovating in terms of tactics and the game is becoming faster than before.”Kumar expects Nepal to be a strong team at the upcoming tournament.

Indian men’s kabaddi team had won the Gold medal at the 2022 Asian Games after beating Iran in the final.