Asian Games 2026: Indian hopes to end medal drought pinned on Sajan, Srihari – Preview

India has not won an Asian Games medal in swimming in 12 years and as the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya games underway, the onus to end the medal drought will firmly fall on the shoulders of Olympians Sajan Prakash and Srihari Nataraj.

The last time an Indian swimmer stood on the Asian Games podium was at Incheon 2014, when Sandeep Sejwal won bronze in the 50m breaststroke.

There will be no Indian participation in the women’s category as no Indian female swimmer made the cut for Aichi-Nagoya, same as the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

The 33-year-old Sajan will compete in 100m and 200m butterfly while Srihari will compete in 50m backstroke when the swimming action gets underway at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre from September 20-25.

In Glasgow, Sajan had finished eighth in the final with a time of 1:58.05s while Srihari had failed to reach the finals in 50m and 100m backstroke, finishing 14th and 13th, respectively.

National record holder in 200m backstroke, Rishabh Das will also be competing in the 50m backstroke.

The team also includes long distance swimmer Aryan Nehra, who became the first Indian swimmer to break the 8-minute barrier in men’s 800m and broke the 1500m freestyle national record at the Senior Nationals in Ahmedabad in June this year.

Aryan has been training in France as part of the World Aquatics scholarship.

Rohit Benedicton is another swimmer to look out for. He will be taking the pool after shattering the 50m butterfly national record twice in the same day. His best effort of 23.63s should take him to the finals where he is likely to face a tough competition from Chinese and Japanese butterflies.

The team also has the presence of 21-year-old Vedaant Madhavan, who will be competing in the 200m freestyle and 200m backstroke. Vedaant, son of Bollywood superstar R Madhavan, is also part of the 4x200m freestyle relay team along with Dhakshan Shashikumar, Aneesh Sunil Kumar Gowda.

India's chances of medal

It has been two editions since the Indian swimmers have gone without a medal . Virdhawal Khade, Asian Games bronze medalist from 2010, came closest to winning another medal but finished fourth in the 50m butterfly final in 2018 Jakarta Games. He missed the bronze medal by 0.01 seconds to Japan’s Shunichi Nakao, clocking 22.47s.

In Hangzhou, Indian swimmers sank as many as six national records but Sajan’s fifth place in 200m Butterfly with a time of 1:57.44 was the best performance by an Indian.

Srihari, who competed in 50m and 100m backstroke, finished sixth while Likith Selvaraj was seventh in the 100m breaststroke.

India has won a total of 9 medals, six of which came in the inaugural 1951 edition.

Japan leads the overall swimming medals tally with 729 medals, followed by China with 466 and South Korea with 120.

The hunger to win and make the podium is high among Indian swimmers but the probabilities are low.

There will be a number of national records and final appearances but India’s best chance to medal remains via Sajan and Srihari.

Indian Squad

Men: Sajan Prakash (100m, 200m butterfly), Srihari Nataraj (50m backstroke), Aryan Nehra (800m, 1500m freestyle), Rishabh Das (50m, 100m backstroke, 4x100m medley relay), Rohit Benedicton (50m, 100m butterfly, 100m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle relay, 4x100m medley relay), Vedaant Madhavan (200m backstroke, 200m freestyle, 4x200m freestyle relay), Akash Mani (50m, 100m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle relay, 4x100m medley relay), Utkarsh Santosh Patil (100m, 200m backstroke), Heer Gitesh Shah (50m freestyle, men's 4x100m freestyle relay), Dhakshan Shashikumar (400m freestyle, 4x200m freestyle relay), Aneesh Sunil Kumar Gowda (200m, 400m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle relay, 4x200m freestyle relay) and Danush Suresh (50m, 100m breaststroke, 4x100m medley relay).

Schedule

September 20 I Day 1

07:14 AM: Men's 100m Freestyle Heats

07:35 AM: Men's 100m Backstroke Heats

02:27 PM: Men's 100m Freestyle Final

02:49 PM: Men's 100m Backstroke Final

September 21 I Day 2

06:30 AM: Men's 50m Backstroke Heats

06:44 AM: Men's 50m Freestyle Heats

07:04 AM: Men's 100m Breaststroke Heats

07:31 AM: Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay Heats

01:30 PM: Men's 50m Backstroke Final

01:42 PM: Men's 50m Freestyle Final

02:12 PM: Men's 100m Breaststroke Final

02:53 PM: Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay

September 22 I Day 3

08:17 AM: Men's 4 x 100m Medley Relay Heats

01:59 PM: Men's 1500m freestyle

03:03 PM: Men's 4 x 100m Medley Relay Final

September 23 I Day 4

06:39 AM: Men's 100m Butterfly Heats

07:03 AM: Men's 200m Freestyle Heats

01:38 PM: Men's 100m Butterfly Final

01:54 PM: Men's 200m Freestyle Final

September 24 I Day 5

06:38 AM: Men's 50m Butterfly Heats

07:43 AM: Men's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay Heats

01:35 PM: Men's 50m Butterfly Final

02:13 PM: Men's 900m Freestyle Final

02:44 PM: Men's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay Final

September 25 I Day 6

06:37 AM: Men's 50m Breaststroke Heats

06:58 AM: Men's 200m Backstroke Heats

07:10 AM: Men's 400m Freestyle Heats

07:34 AM: Men's 200m Butterfly Heats

01:35 PM: Men's 50m Breaststroke Final

01:55 PM: Men's 200m Backstroke Final

02:20 PM: Men's 400m Freestyle Final

02:47 PM: Men's 200m Butterfly Final

Where to Watch?

You can catch all the LIVE action from the 2026 Asian Games on the Sony Sports Network.