Top 3 Indian Raiders at the 2026 Asian Games

India came away from the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya with another men’s kabaddi gold medal, their ninth, after beating Iran 40-34 in the final on 26 September. The team did not lose a single match across the tournament, and most of that came down to how hard their raiders made life for every defence they faced.

Three names stand out from India’s raid chart. Devank Dalal, Arjun Deshwal and Ayan Lohchab finished as the top three Indian raiders at the 2026 Asian Games. All figures below are the tournament totals for the Indian men’s team.

Raider	Raid points	Tackle points	Total points
Devank Dalal	59	1	60
Arjun Deshwal	35	0	35
Ayan Lohchab	35	0	35

1. Devank Dalal

Devank Dalal was making his Asian Games debut and he raided like a man who had been doing it for years. He finished with 59 raid points, comfortably the most by any Indian at the tournament, and added a tackle point for good measure to take his total to 60. No other Indian raider got within 20 points of him.

Devank was the main scoring option in almost every match India played. The big group stage wins over Japan, Bangladesh and the Republic of Korea, and the 66-28 semi-final rout of Thailand, were built on his ability to keep coming back with multi-point raids rather than settling for a bonus and running home.

He arrived in Japan off a strong Pro Kabaddi Season 12, where he finished second on the raid points chart with 271. Turning that PKL form into a gold medal in his first Asian Games is the kind of season a raider builds a career on.

2. Arjun Deshwal

Arjun Deshwal was one of only four players retained from the Hangzhou 2022 gold medal squad, and that experience showed when India needed it most. He finished with 35 raid points, second among the Indian raiders.

His biggest contribution came in the final. India trailed Iran 17-18 at the break, and it was the second-half push, with Deshwal among the key men, that turned a tight contest into a 40-34 win. Raiding under that kind of pressure, against the best defensive unit in Asia, is a different job than raiding in a group game.

Arjun scored 209 raid points in Pro Kabaddi Season 12 and now has two Asian Games gold medals. He has quietly become one of the most reliable big match raiders India has.

3. Ayan Lohchab

Ayan Lohchab also finished on 35 raid points, level with Arjun, in his first Asian Games. He was expected to be a central figure after the season he had just had, and he delivered without ever needing to carry the side on his own.

Ayan was the leading raider of Pro Kabaddi Season 12 with 316 raid points, the highest in the league that year. At the Asian Games, he was used more as a partner to Dalal than as the lone option, which kept India’s raiding unpredictable and spread the scoring load.

For a player at the start of his international career, finishing joint second in India’s raid chart in a gold medal campaign is a strong marker to set.

India’s campaign at the 20th Asian Games

India were unbeaten through the tournament. They beat Chinese Taipei 37-21, Japan 49-24, Bangladesh 48-25 and the Republic of Korea 63-31 in Group A, then knocked out Thailand 66-28 in the semi-final before the 40-34 win over Iran in the gold medal match.

It was India’s ninth men’s kabaddi gold at the Asian Games and came alongside a women’s gold, giving India a clean sweep in kabaddi in Aichi-Nagoya.

Sunil Kumar’s leadership

Captain Sunil Kumar took charge of a side with eight Asian Games debutants in it, and the way the new raiders played says plenty about the environment he set. India never lost control of a match, and the only real scare, the first half of the final, was answered rather than panicked over.

Sunil Kumar is the ninth man to captain India in men’s kabaddi at the Asian Games, and he joins the long list of Indian captains who have finished the job with gold.

How the rest of the squad contributed

Ashu Malik backed up the top three with 31 raid points, while all-rounder Aslam Inamdar added 21 raid points and two tackle points. Pawan Sehrawat, the Hangzhou 2022 winning captain, chipped in with eight raid points in a leadership role this time.

In defence, Jaideep Dahiya led the way with 17 tackle points, followed by Rahul Sethpal with 16 and Sumit Sangwan with 15. Ankit Jaglan picked up nine and Gaurav Khatri four, with the captain adding five tackle points and a raid point. That spread is why India could keep attacking: the defence kept giving the raiders the mat back.

Why these numbers matter

The headline figure is 59. One raider scoring that many points in a six-match tournament tells you how far ahead of the field India’s attack was, and it came from a debutant rather than a veteran. Add Deshwal and Lohchab on 35 each and India had three raiders scoring at a rate most teams could not match with their whole unit.

It also points to where Indian kabaddi is heading. Dalal and Lohchab are both early in their international careers, and both came through Pro Kabaddi, which keeps doing its job as the pipeline for the national side.

Frequently asked questions

Who was India’s top raider at the 2026 Asian Games?

Devank Dalal, with 59 raid points. He also picked up one tackle point for a total of 60 points.

How many raid points did Arjun Deshwal and Ayan Lohchab score?

Both finished with 35 raid points, joint second among India’s raiders at the tournament.

Who captained India at the 2026 Asian Games?

Sunil Kumar captained the men’s team, with Pawan Sehrawat as his deputy.

Did India win the kabaddi gold at the 2026 Asian Games?

Yes. India beat Iran 40-34 in the men’s final on 26 September 2026 for a ninth gold, and the women’s team also won gold.

Conclusion

Devank Dalal set the tone with 59 raid points on debut, Arjun Deshwal brought the big match nerve when the final was still in the balance, and Ayan Lohchab matched him with 35 while still finding his feet at this level. Between them, they gave India an attack no defence in Aichi-Nagoya could hold.

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