Sports Ministry Adds 11 Athletes To Expand India's Asian Games Contingent To 768 Members

Bigger contingent, coaching shake-up, and injury buzz ahead of Asiad

Quick update on the India camp for the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. The Sports Ministry added 11 more names to the earlier 492-athlete list, pushing the total contingent to 768 (503 athletes: 269 M / 234 F, plus 246 officials and 19 contingent staff), set to contest 36 disciplines. New entries span athletics, MMA, and surfing — a sport debuting at the Asiad, with Kishore Kumar, Sivaraj, Kamali and Sugar Shanti representing India. MMA also features for the first time, Varun Sanyal in the box. Athletics got six: Praveen Kumar, Harita Bhadra, Kiran Pahal, Asha Ilango, Sindhushree Ganesha and Sanya Yadav.

Cricket coaching set-up locked in: Sunil Joshi to head coach the men's side (Laxman joined by Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Subhadeep Ghosh), while Amol Muzumdar will spearhead the women's team with Aavishkar Salvi (bwl coach) and Munish Bali (fielding coach) on the staff.

The injury angle (my area of interest): Neeraj Chopra has been ruled out of the season and dropped from the 77-member athletics squad, replaced by CWG bronze medallist Yashvir Singh. As a sports doc, I always flag this — a two-time Olympic medallist missing the Games due to a season-ending injury is a tough one, and it reminds us how fast workload and recovery can swing a career. Rohit Yadav is the other men's javelin pick. Tejas Shirse (110m hurdler) has also been omitted despite competing with two stress fractures in his left foot at the CWG — a case worth watching long-term. Separately, Abhishek Pal was dropped after a NADA notice over an apparent violation.

Source: Cricketnmore