India’s weightlifting contingent will be looking to end a 28-year wait for a medal at the Asian Games when the sport takes centre stage at the Aichi-Nagoya Games 2026. Olympic silver medallist Mirabai Chanu will headline India’s four-member women’s squad and will be chasing a maiden Asian Games medal in Japan.

Chanu finished fourth in the women’s 49kg category at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023, having previously finished ninth at the 2014 edition and missed the 2018 Games because of injury. She will return to the continental stage with another opportunity to add an Asian Games medal to her decorated career.

Gyaneshwari Yadav, Seram Nirupama Devi and Harjinder Kaur complete India’s weightlifting contingent. The four Indian lifters will compete in the women’s 49kg, 53kg, 61kg and 69kg categories, respectively.

Who are India’s biggest medal hopes in weightlifting for Asian Games 2026?

Mirabai Chanu will be India’s biggest medal hope in weightlifting. The Tokyo Olympics silver medallist has won multiple major international medals but is yet to stand on an Asian Games podium.

Chanu competed at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, where she finished ninth. She missed the 2018 Jakarta edition because of injury before finishing fourth in the women’s 49kg category at Hangzhou 2023. Her Asian Games medal remains one of the major accolades missing from her career.

The 2026 Games offer Chanu another opportunity to achieve that milestone. She arrives in Nagoya after winning gold at the 2026 Commonwealth Games, adding further momentum to her campaign.

Indian weightlifters’ performance at the Asian Games

India has won 14 weightlifting medals at the Asian Games — five silver and nine bronze — but has never won gold in the sport at the continental event. The country’s last Asian Games weightlifting medal came through Karnam Malleswari, who won silver at the 1998 Bangkok Games.

At the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023, India returned without a weightlifting medal. Mirabai Chanu came closest to the podium, finishing fourth in the women’s 49kg category after recording a total of 191kg.

Chanu’s fourth-place finish continued her wait for an Asian Games medal and will add significance to her campaign in Nagoya.

Indian weightlifting contingent for the Asian Games 2026

Women’s weightlifting

• Mirabai Chanu – Women’s 49kg
• Gyaneshwari Yadav – Women’s 53kg
• Seram Nirupama Devi – Women’s 61kg
• Harjinder Kaur – Women’s 69kg

India originally had five sanctioned weightlifters, including men’s 60kg lifter Chanambam Rishikanta Singh. However, Rishikanta was withdrawn from the squad because of an injury, leaving India with four women competitors at the Asian Games.

Indian weightlifting schedule at the Asian Games 2026

Weightlifting will be held from September 23 to 29, 2026, at the Nagoya City Trade and Industry Center. The competition features 16 gold-medal events.

Indian weightlifting matches broadcast and live streaming details for Asian Games 2026

When will the Indian weightlifting matches take place in the Asian Games 2026?

India’s four weightlifters will compete between September 23 and September 27. Mirabai Chanu and Gyaneshwari Yadav will compete on September 23 in the women’s 49kg and 53kg categories, respectively. Seram Nirupama Devi will compete in the women’s 61kg event on September 25, while Harjinder Kaur will take part in the women’s 69kg event on September 27.

Which channels will telecast the Indian weightlifting matches at the Asian Games 2026?

The Asian Games 2026 will be broadcast in India on Sony Sports Network. Indian viewers can follow the weightlifting events through the network’s television coverage.

Where can people follow the live streaming of the Indian weightlifting matches at the Asian Games 2026?

Indian viewers can follow the live streaming of the Asian Games on SonyLIV, through its website and app.

Nigeria’s Super Eagles have started preparations for their 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign ahead of Friday’s clash with Madagascar.

Head coach Eric Chelle held his first training session with the team on Tuesday, September 22, at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo.

Twenty-three players are currently in camp, with Chippa United goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali, Charlton Athletic goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo, captain Wilfred Ndidi and AC Milan winger Samuel Chukwueze among the latest arrivals.

Udinese goalkeeper Maduka Okoye is the only player yet to join the squad.

The Nigeria Football Federation named Nwabali, Okonkwo and Okoye as the three goalkeepers for the qualifiers.

Nwabali returns to the Super Eagles after missing Nigeria’s recent international assignments. He was the team’s first-choice goalkeeper at the 2025 AFCON, where he saved two penalties against Egypt as Nigeria finished with the bronze medal.

Okonkwo has also earned his place in the squad after his performances during Nigeria’s Unity Cup campaign. The goalkeeper could make his competitive debut for the Super Eagles against Madagascar or Guinea-Bissau.

Okoye brings recent international experience, having started Nigeria’s two friendly matches against Poland and Portugal in June. He played the full 90 minutes in the 2-2 draw with Poland before featuring in the 2-1 defeat to Portugal.

The Udinese goalkeeper was in club action on Saturday, when his team suffered a 1-0 home defeat to Cagliari in Serie A.

Nigeria will face Madagascar on Friday, September 25, at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo, before travelling to Bissau for their second Group L qualifier against Guinea-Bissau on September 29.

Terence Crawford has made it clear who he wants undisputed super-bantamweight king Naoya Inoue to go up against in his next outing.

Inoue captured the undisputed 122lb crown back in 2023 with back-to-back knockout wins over unified champions Stephen Fulton and Marlon Tapales, and since then ‘The Monster’ has gone on to make a remarkable seven defences of all four of those world titles.

The most recent of those victories was his best to date, as he outpointed countryman and fellow pound-for-pound star Junto Nakatani, stopping ‘Big Bang’ from joining him in the elite club of Japanese four-division world champions; which currently consists of Kazuto Ioka, Kosei Tanaka and himself.

Inoue is now set to be targeting a return to action in spring 2027; against either Jesse ‘Bam’ Rodriguez or a featherweight world champion, and on his X account, Crawford has had his say.

He has urged Inoue to face ‘Bam’, listing the potential undisputed super-bantamweight title showdown as the first fight amongst a host of other possible match-ups that ‘Bud’ is keen to see.

Whilst Inoue has threatened to move on from Rodriguez if he cannot be fit for the spring, it seems as though Rodriguez, who holds the WBA bantamweight world title, will first fight in a 118lb title unification against WBO titleholder Christian Medina before the end of the year. 

Then, a decision will be made as to whether the Texan is happy to venture up to super-bantamweight or if Inoue should finally make his long-awaited move into the featherweight division for his March or April outing.

Apr 18, 2026; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CANADA; UFC CEO Dana White talks to the media after the fight between Gilbert Burns (red gloves) and Mike Malott (blue gloves) during UFC Fight Night at Canada Life Centre. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Fedyck-Imagn Images

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Will Jacks produces a match-winning performance to help England to a comfortable 89-run victory over Sri Lanka at Chester-le-Street in the first one-day international of the three-match series.

READ MORE: Jacks stars as England grind out win over Sri Lanka

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Irish taoiseach [prime minister] Micheal Martin said comments made by the Israel Football Association about the Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson are “unacceptable” and “should be withdrawn”.

Israel’s football governing body accused Hallgrimmson of “ignorance, hypocrisy and stupidity” regarding comments made last week when he said: “We’re not playing with genocide, we’re playing against genocide. We’re playing against Israel, we’re not playing with Israel.”

The teams are set to meet twice in the space of a week in the Nations League, with Israel’s ‘home’ game in Debrecen, Hungary on Sunday, with the return fixture also in a neutral venue of Backa Topola, Serbia on 4 October.

On Monday, the Israel FA posted a message on X, saying: “We have contributed to the world and humanity in countless fields, earning an impressive number of Nobel Prizes along the way.

“Unfortunately, we have not yet found a cure for stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy displayed by @IrelandFootball team coach.

“We’re not playing with ignorance, hypocrisy and stupidity, We’re playing against the coach who embodies them.”

While the Football Association of Ireland [FAI] did not respond, Martin did comment.

“They are unacceptable remarks and should be withdrawn,” he told reporters in New York, where he is attending the UN General Assembly.

“We’re very clear and I think [UN secretary-general] Antonio Guterres said it again this morning, he has never in his lifetime seen the level and scale of death and destruction as he witnessed in terms of the Israeli government’s war on Gaza in the aftermath of the horrific Hamas attack preceding the war. Our manager is saying the exact same thing.

“Israel can’t keep denying what the world knows and what the world understands.”

India’s players hold the national flag after winning in the women’s final T20I cricket match between India and Sri Lanka in the ongoing Asian Games 2026, in Nagoya, Japan. (PTI photo)

Nagoya: On the sidelines of the cricket facility at Korogi Athletic Park, a few Sri Lankan men sat watching the India-Sri Lanka women’s final. Not far away, an Australian kept a close eye on the proceedings.They were not casual spectators. They were among the men who helped turn a baseball ground in a public park on the outskirts of Nagoya into a cricket venue capable of hosting the best teams in Asia.Asian Games Full Coverage | Schedule | Medal TallyThe journey began in late September last year, when the decision was taken to include cricket in this edition of the Asian Games. A little over 300 million yen was earmarked to create the infrastructure, including temporary stands with a capacity of 2,500 spectators.Korogi was chosen because of the size of the facility. The Japan Cricket Association (JCA) also had a head start, having signed an MoU with Sri Lanka Cricket in March 2024, paving the way for Sri Lankan curators to be brought in.At the centre of the operation was Jarrad Shearer, an Australian who has lived in Japan for the past 30 years.“When it was decided that cricket would be part of the Asian Games, Alex Miyaji, the CEO of the JCA, approached me for a role because I had played some cricket back home in Perth and knew Japanese,” Shearer, a sports manager in the planning section of the organising committee, told TOI.The transformation was no small job. The existing facility consisted of three baseball diamonds, with lines of trees demarcating the playing areas. The first task was to clear the trees and level the ground.“We did the pitch and the outfield at the same time. While we were digging a hole to build the pitch, we were laying the outfield. So we created one hybrid wicket and four turf wickets,” said Shearer, who is also a Japanese translator by profession.Gamini de Silva, former curator of Bangladesh’s Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, and Asitha Wijesinghe, curator of Sri Lanka’s Pallekele International Stadium, came on board. They were joined by a few Sri Lankan-origin residents of Japan who had experience as groundsmen.“While the four groundsmen are from here, Gamini and Asitha took turns to be here to oversee the preparations,” Shearer said.Pitch construction, however, presented one of the biggest challenges.“The pitch construction was interesting because we had a Japanese company doing it and they didn’t know anything about turf wickets. So our planning and instructions had to be spot on,” he said.The pitches were built using layers of gravel, washed riverbed soil and 15cm of local Japanese clay.“While we were testing the clay, we were informed that it was very similar to Pakistani clay,” Shearer said.The surface got its first serious test in May during the T20 World Cup East Asia-Pacific Qualifier, when six matches were played on the hybrid wicket.The plan was to use the turf wickets for the women’s competition, but heavy rain disrupted the schedule.“The heavy rain a couple of weeks ago upset our plans and we couldn’t get the turf wickets ready in time. But we are confident that the men’s tournament will be held on those wickets,” Shearer said.After October 3, when the men’s final is scheduled to be played, the facility will, in all probability, return to its original identity as a baseball ground for local children.For now, though, the men who transformed it into an Asian Games cricket venue can stand on the sidelines and take pride in what they have created.