Asian Games 2023: Where does India stand in newly introduced sports at Hangzhou?

The upcoming Asian Games will see two sports make their debut

An aerial photo shows the night view of Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Stadium, which will host competition at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. | Photo Credit: AFP

The upcoming Asian Games, scheduled from September 23 to October 8 in Hangzhou, China, will see two sports make their debut as a medal events - open water swimming and esports.

The addition of these two has pushed the games to 61 disciplines and 40 sports.

Among the newly-introduced sports, India will be taking part in only one -- Esports, which was a demonstration sport in 2018.

In the Asian Games, India will be taking part in four different Esports titles - DOTA 2, FIFAe, Street Fighter V, and League of Legends, with a 15-member squad.

India stands a strong chance in FIFAe, where it will be represented by Karman Singh Tikka and Charanjot Singh. The latter recently represented India in the FIFAe Nations Cup 2023.

At Hangzhou the Esports events will be held in Hangzhou Esports Centre from September 24 to October 2, with the athletes competing for seven gold medals.

Indian esports squad:

FIFAe – Charanjot Singh, Karman Tikka

Street Fighter V – Mayank Prajapati and Ayan Biswas

League of Legends – Akshaj Shenoy, Aditya Selvaraj, Aakash Shandilya, Mihir Ranjan, Sanindhya Malik, and Samarth Trivedi

DOTA 2 – Darshan Bata (captain), Krish Gupta, Abhishek Yadav, Shubham Goli, and Ketan Goyal