Asian Games 2026 Kabaddi: India's Captains and Coaches for the 20th Asian Games

India travel to the 20th Asian Games in Japan defending both kabaddi gold medals, and the players who will carry that responsibility on the mat are now confirmed. Sunil Kumar will lead the men, with Pawan Sehrawat as his vice-captain. Pushpa Rana will lead the women, with Sonali Shingate as her vice-captain. Both captains are taking charge at the Asian Games for the first time.

The coaching benches have changed as well, and the men's appointment is the one that has got people talking. Balwan Singh is back as head coach ten years after his last stint with the national team. Below is the full list of captains and coaches for both India sides at the Asian Games 2026, along with every India kabaddi captain at the Games since the sport was introduced in 1990.

Team	Captain	Vice-captain	Head coach	Assistant coach
India men	Sunil Kumar	Pawan Sehrawat	Balwan Singh	B.C. Ramesh
India women	Pushpa Rana	Sonali Shingate	Neeta Dadwe	Mamtha Poojari

Neeraj Kumar completes the men's support staff as strength and conditioning coach.

India men's captain for Asian Games 2026: Sunil Kumar

Sunil Kumar will captain the Indian men's kabaddi team at the 20th Asian Games. The cover defender is one of only four players retained from the squad that won gold in Hangzhou in 2022, along with Pawan Sehrawat, Arjun Deshwal and Aslam Inamdar, which makes him the natural pick to hold a largely new side together.

His case is built on leadership rather than raw numbers. Sunil is the most successful captain in Pro Kabaddi League history, and he currently leads U Mumba. Kabaddi captaincy is mostly a defensive job, keeping a chain organised for 40 minutes and judging when to gamble on a tackle, and nobody in the league has done it for longer.

He takes over from Pawan Sehrawat, who captained India to gold in 2022 and has been named vice-captain for this campaign. That is a useful arrangement, because eight of the 12 men in this squad are Asian Games debutants. India need experienced voices on the mat, and now they have two of them side by side.

India women's captain for Asian Games 2026: Pushpa Rana

Pushpa Rana has been named captain of the Indian women's kabaddi team for the 20th Asian Games. She becomes only the fourth woman to captain India in kabaddi at the Games, after Tejeswini Bai, Payel Chowdhury and Ritu Negi.

Rana leads a 12-player squad made up of six defenders, four raiders and two all-rounders, with Sonali Shingate as her vice-captain. She takes the armband from Ritu Negi, who led India to gold in Hangzhou in 2022 and has been retained for this campaign, so the dressing room keeps its most recent title-winning captain in the ranks.

The brief in front of her is simple to state and hard to deliver. India have won three of the four women's kabaddi golds since the event was added in 2010, and the one they missed, in 2018, is still the reference point for what can go wrong. Rana leads a team everyone expects to win.

India men's coaching staff for Asian Games 2026

The men's coaching group has three names on it. Balwan Singh is head coach; B.C. Ramesh is assistant coach, and Neeraj Kumar is the strength and conditioning coach.

Balwan Singh's return is the headline. He last coached India at the Asian Games in 2014 and comes back after a decade away from the national side. He has 14 international gold medals as a coach, and that tally includes all three of India's men's Kabaddi World Cup titles, won in 2004, 2007 and 2016.

B.C. Ramesh gives the bench a second experienced voice, while Neeraj Kumar's appointment reflects how much the physical side of kabaddi has changed. With group matches on four straight days from 21 to 24 September, then a semi-final and a final in the two days that follow, recovery between games could decide this medal as much as tactics do.

India women's coaching staff for Asian Games 2026

The women's team will be coached by Neeta Dadwe as head coach, with Mamtha Poojari as assistant coach.

It is a two-person bench for a squad chasing a fourth gold in five attempts. India's women have medalled at every Asian Games they have entered, taking gold in 2010, 2014 and 2022 and silver in 2018. No other team in the event has a record like it, which is both an advantage and a weight.

Their group is the tougher of the two draws as well. India are in Group A with Iran, Japan and Bangladesh, and Iran are the only side to have beaten India in a women's kabaddi final at the Asian Games, winning 27-24 in Jakarta in 2018. A rematch is very much on the cards.

India have never lost an Asian Games match under Balwan Singh

This is the record that makes the appointment worth a second look. India have never lost a match at the Asian Games with Balwan Singh coaching the team. He was on the bench in 2006, 2010 and 2014, and India won gold all three times.

The rest of the CV reads the same way. Three back-to-back Asian Games golds as coach in 2006, 2010 and 2014. Four South Asian Games gold medals in 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2016. Three Asian Indoor Games golds in 2005, 2008 and 2009. The Asian Kabaddi Championship in 2009. Add the three World Cups and it comes to 14 international golds.

It is also worth noting where the gaps in India's Asian Games record fall. The men have won gold at eight of the nine Games they have played, and the one miss came in Jakarta in 2018, when they took bronze. That tournament was not one of Balwan Singh's.

Every India men's kabaddi captain at the Asian Games

Kabaddi was added to the Asian Games programme in 1990 and has been on it ever since. Eight men captained India across those nine editions, and only one of them finished a Games without gold. Sunil Kumar becomes the ninth.

Year	Host city	Captain	Result
1990	Beijing	Hardeep Singh	Gold
1994	Hiroshima	S. Rajarathinam	Gold
1998	Bangkok	Biswajit Palit	Gold
2002	Busan	Ram Mehar Singh	Gold
2006	Doha	Dinesh Kumar	Gold
2010	Guangzhou	Rakesh Kumar	Gold
2014	Incheon	Rakesh Kumar	Gold
2018	Jakarta	Ajay Thakur	Bronze
2022	Hangzhou	Pawan Sehrawat	Gold
2026	Aichi-Nagoya	Sunil Kumar	To be decided

Rakesh Kumar is the only man to have captained India in kabaddi at two Asian Games, in 2010 and 2014, and both ended in gold.

Every India women's kabaddi captain at the Asian Games

Women's kabaddi joined the Asian Games in 2010, which means the list is shorter but the standard is just as high.

Year	Host city	Captain	Result
2010	Guangzhou	Tejeswini Bai	Gold
2014	Incheon	Tejeswini Bai	Gold
2018	Jakarta	Payel Chowdhury	Silver
2022	Hangzhou	Ritu Negi	Gold
2026	Aichi-Nagoya	Pushpa Rana	To be decided

Tejeswini Bai is the only woman to have led India at two Asian Games, and like Rakesh Kumar she won gold on both occasions. Pushpa Rana is only the fourth name on that list.

What the captain and coach picks tell us

The pattern across both teams is the same. India have handed the armband to a first-time Asian Games captain while keeping the previous gold-winning captain in the squad. On the men's side, that has been made formal, with Pawan Sehrawat named vice-captain under Sunil Kumar. In the women's team, Sonali Shingate is the deputy and Ritu Negi is still in the ranks. It is a deliberate way of refreshing a side without losing the people who know what a final feels like.

The coaching appointments pull in the other direction, towards experience. The men's squad has eight Asian Games debutants and only four players left from Hangzhou, so putting the most decorated coach in Indian kabaddi history in charge of it makes sense. Balwan Singh has taken teams to gold at three Asian Games, three World Cups and four South Asian Games, and none of the new players in this squad have been anywhere near that pressure yet.

Put together, India go into the 20th Asian Games with new leaders on the mat and old hands on the bench. Kabaddi runs from 21 to 26 September 2026, with the group stage across the first four days, the semi-finals on 25 September and both finals on 26 September.

Frequently asked questions

Who is the captain of the Indian kabaddi team for the Asian Games 2026?

Sunil Kumar captains the Indian men's kabaddi team and Pushpa Rana captains the women's team at the 20th Asian Games. Both are leading India at the Asian Games for the first time.

Who are the vice-captains of the Indian kabaddi teams for the Asian Games 2026?

Pawan Sehrawat is the vice-captain of the men's team and Sonali Shingate is the vice-captain of the women's team. Sehrawat captained India to gold at the 2022 Asian Games.

Who is the coach of the Indian men's kabaddi team for the Asian Games 2026?

Balwan Singh is the head coach, B.C. Ramesh is the assistant coach and Neeraj Kumar is the strength and conditioning coach. Balwan Singh returns to the role after ten years.

Who coaches the Indian women's kabaddi team at the Asian Games 2026?

Neeta Dadwe is the head coach and Mamtha Poojari is the assistant coach of the Indian women's kabaddi team for the 20th Asian Games.

Who captained India to kabaddi gold at the 2022 Asian Games?

Pawan Sehrawat captained the men and Ritu Negi captained the women when India won both kabaddi golds in Hangzhou. Both players are in the 2026 squads.

How many kabaddi gold medals has India won at the Asian Games?

India have won 11 kabaddi golds at the Asian Games, eight in the men's event and three in the women's. That is out of 13 gold medals available since 1990.

Has India ever lost a kabaddi match at the Asian Games under Balwan Singh?

No. India were unbeaten at the 2006, 2010 and 2014 Asian Games with Balwan Singh coaching the team, and won gold at all three.

When is kabaddi at the Asian Games 2026?

Kabaddi runs from 21 to 26 September 2026 at the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. The group stage is from 21 to 24 September, the semi-finals are on 25 September, and both finals are on 26 September.

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