Asian Games 2026: Mongolia’s late arrival costs India potential Esports medal

In a bizarre turn of events, India’s eSports medal hopes at the 2026 Asian Games were dashed after opponents Mongolia failed to report on time for their eFootball Group F match on Tuesday.

Danial Patel and Chinmay Sahoo, who were representing India in the discipline, started their campaign with a 0-0 draw against Uzbekistan in the three-team group.

Uzbekistan then went on to beat Mongolia 2-0, winning both the mobile and console matches, raking up a positive goal difference +15 with a 6-3 and a 12-0 wins.

As a result Patel and Sahoo had a mountain to climb when they took on Mongolia, but unfortunately they never got to showcase their skills at the Aichi Sky Expo centre.

“The Mongolian team leader arrived three minutes late than the check in time,” a dejected Patel, who plays on the mobile device, told The Bridge.

“The organising committee decided to give a forfeit win to India with 0-0 score.

“Due to this, we had a goal difference of 0 and Uzbekistan were able to top the group on goal difference,” he added.

The 0-0 decision also meant that Patel and Sahoo couldn’t advance as the highest-placed second ranked teams either.

Those spots went to Thailand, who had a goal difference of +3 in Group B, and Saudi Arabia, who had a goal difference of +2 in four-team Group A.

All three of India, Thailand, and Saudi Arabia ended their group stage with a win apiece.

Sahoo, India’s console player, revealed that India did protest the decision, but it led nowhere.

“We protested and said that we want to play the games instead of a forfeit win, but they [officials] said a forfeit win is what the rules say,” said Sahoo.

“We were told we could pay $500 for a judge panel check,” he added.

But they decided against it.

“The thing is $500 is kind of a waste of money, because they have mentioned that coming late is a forfeit according to the rules,” said Sahoo, defending the Indian contingent’s decision.

“Unless they gave us a 3-0, 3-0 walkover with a +6 goal difference, we were not qualifying,” he further explained.

This development comes just days after India paid $1000 to protest Suchika Tariyal’s semi-final loss in women’s 60kg traditional MMA.

The protest then had gone against India, with Tariyal having to settle for a bronze medal for weighing 700 grams more than her Singaporean counterpart before their fight.

The efootball saga is a major medal miss for India, especially considering the fact that Patel is the reigning efootball Asian Champion, having won the mobile title earlier this year at the FIFAe Continental Championship.

A deeper run into the tournament and a medal win for Patel and Sahoo could also have propelled them into history books as India's first-ever esports medallists at the Asian Games.

India had returned empty handed from the 2022 Asian Games when esports made a debut as the official medal event. However, when it was a demonstration event at the 2018 Games, Tirth Mehta had won a bronze in Hearthstone.

With Patel and Sahoo's unfortunate exit, the onus of winning an esports medal for India in Aichi-Nagoya will now fall on the shoulders of Pokemon Unite, League of Legends, and Puyo Puyo Champions teams.