Nagoya [Japan], September 19 (ANI): Double Olympic medallist Manu Bhaker remembered her late coach Jaspal Rana as she mirrored on the emotional significance of main the Indian contingent as flagbearer on the opening ceremony of the Asian Games 2026 on Saturday.
The 24-year-old shooter, who shared the flag-bearing honour with Kabaddi star Pawan Sehrawat on the ceremony at Paloma Mizuho Stadium, spoke about Rana’s significance in her profession and stated his absence made the event significantly emotional.
“I miss Jaspal sir, a lot. He was special to me; it’s a very big emotional moment for me,” Bhaker instructed ANI after the ceremony.
Rana, a Dronacharya Award-winning coach and recipient of the Arjuna Award and Padma Shri, handed away in New Delhi on June 13 after battling well being problems. He was present process remedy at a hospital in South Delhi.
Widely thought to be certainly one of India’s most profitable shooters, Rana loved an illustrious profession spanning greater than three many years. He received 15 medals, together with 9 gold, throughout 4 editions of the Commonwealth Games, making him India’s most profitable athlete on the occasion.
Beyond his achievements as a shooter, Rana made a major contribution to Indian taking pictures as a coach, guiding junior athletes and serving as a high-performance coach. He had been India’s high-performance coach for the 25m pistol occasion since February 2025.
Rana was Bhaker’s long-time coach and performed an vital position in her improvement as a world shooter. Bhaker went on to win two bronze medals on the Paris 2024 Olympics, changing into the primary athlete from impartial India to win two medals in a single version of the Olympic Games.
The flag-bearing honour on the Asian Games opening ceremony got here as Bhaker ready to start one other main worldwide marketing campaign, this time representing India on the continental multi-sport occasion in Japan.
Bhaker will compete within the ladies’s 10m air pistol, ladies’s 25m pistol and 10m air pistol blended staff occasions. Her presence on the opening ceremony positioned certainly one of India’s most distinguished taking pictures stars on the head of the contingent because the Games formally obtained underway.
The ceremony at Paloma Mizuho Stadium marked the official opening of the twentieth Asian Games, which is able to run from September 19 to October 4. India is represented by a 501-athlete contingent competing throughout 36 sports activities.
Pawan Sehrawat, who changed shot-putter Tajinderpal Singh Toor because the male flagbearer resulting from technical points, joined Bhaker in main the Indian contingent. Sehrawat was a part of India’s gold-medal-winning males’s kabaddi staff on the earlier Asian Games and can now goal to assist the nation defend its title.
India has historically loved appreciable success in males’s kabaddi on the Asian Games, profitable gold in eight of the 9 editions wherein the occasion has been held. The exception got here on the 2018 Games, the place India completed with bronze. At Hangzhou 2023, India defeated Iran 33-29 within the closing to reclaim the title.
India will look to construct on its efficiency at Hangzhou, the place it completed fourth within the medal standings with 106 medals, together with 28 gold, 38 silver and 40 bronze.
The Indian contingent options 5 particular person Olympic medallists, though defending javelin throw champion Neeraj Chopra has withdrawn resulting from an ankle damage. PV Sindhu will spearhead the badminton marketing campaign, whereas Mirabai Chanu will lead the weightlifting problem. Lovlina Borgohain will compete in boxing, and Aman Sehrawat will signify India in wrestling.
India’s boxers arrive in Japan after securing 10 medals, together with seven gold, on the Commonwealth Games. Athletics can also be anticipated to be a serious contributor, with greater than 70 observe and area athletes set to compete. Gulveer Singh, Tejaswin Shankar and Olympian Sarvesh Kushare are among the many athletes to look at.
India will even search to defend its males’s and ladies’s titles in cricket and kabaddi, together with the lads’s hockey crown. Shreyas Iyer will lead the lads’s cricket staff within the T20 competitors, with teenage batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi included within the squad. The ladies’s staff will probably be led by T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur.
The males’s and ladies’s hockey tournaments will even carry added significance, with each serving as qualification occasions for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The winners will safe direct qualification for the Games, whereas India could have additional alternatives to earn quota locations in archery, crusing, squash, browsing and tennis.
In squash, younger Anahat Singh will return after contributing to India’s ladies’s staff bronze at Hangzhou 2023. She additionally received a blended doubles bronze alongside Abhay Singh and will probably be among the many gamers anticipated to function prominently within the marketing campaign. (ANI)