Asian Games 2026 Kabaddi: Full Schedule From 21 to 26 September, Groups, Format and India’s Route to the Gold Medal Match in Aichi
Quick answer: Kabaddi at the Asian Games 2026 is played from 21 to 26 September 2026 at the Tōkai Citizens Gymnasium in Tōkai, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Group matches run 21–24 September, both semi-finals are on 25 September, and both gold medal matches are on 26 September. India are the defending champions in the men’s and women’s events.
Asian Games 2026 kabaddi schedule at a glance
Kabaddi returns to the Asian Games programme for the ninth consecutive edition, having appeared at every Games since Beijing 1990. The 20th Asian Games are being staged across Aichi Prefecture and Nagoya in Japan from 19 September to 4 October 2026, and the kabaddi competition occupies a compact six-day window near the start of that period.
| Stage | Dates | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Group stage | 21–24 September | Round-robin matches in both groups, men’s and women’s |
| Semi-finals | 25 September | Both men’s and women’s semi-finals |
| Gold medal matches | 26 September | Men’s final and women’s final on the same day |
Four days of group matches followed by two knockout days is a tight turnaround by kabaddi standards. There is no rest day built into the group phase, which means squad depth and recovery management matter as much as raw talent. Teams carrying a knock into day three have very little room to hide it.
Where the Asian Games 2026 kabaddi matches are being played
The confirmed venue is the Tōkai Citizens Gymnasium, located in the city of Tōkai in Aichi Prefecture, a short distance south of Nagoya. This is the venue named in the official Games documentation and repeated by the Pro Kabaddi League’s own coverage.
One point worth flagging, because it has caused confusion in Indian coverage: a number of news agency reports have named the Nagoya City Trade and Industry Centre as the kabaddi venue instead. Both names have appeared in reputable outlets within the same week. Until the organising committee publishes a final venue-by-venue session list, treat Tōkai Citizens Gymnasium as the primary reference, since that is what appears in the Games master plan and on the league’s own feature.
The wider Games use Paloma Mizuho Stadium as the main venue for ceremonies. Kabaddi, like most indoor team sports at these Games, sits in a dedicated regional gymnasium rather than the central stadium complex.
Men’s kabaddi groups: India avoid Iran until the semi-finals
Ten men’s teams contest the title, split into two groups of five. The draw was confirmed in late July, and it produced the outcome most Indian fans wanted: India and Iran, the two dominant forces in international kabaddi over the past decade, are kept apart in the group phase.
| Group A | Group B |
|---|---|
| India | Iran |
| Bangladesh | Pakistan |
| Republic of Korea | Nepal |
| Chinese Taipei | Thailand |
| Japan (hosts) | Malaysia |
That draw is a genuine advantage, but it is not a free pass. Bangladesh and the Republic of Korea are both multiple Asian Games kabaddi medallists, and Korea in particular has beaten India at this level before. Japan carry home support and will play in front of a crowd that has no fixed expectations about how a kabaddi match is supposed to look, which is an underrated factor in a sport where crowd noise influences referee reviews and raider confidence.
The practical consequence of the draw is that India cannot meet Iran before the semi-finals. If both sides top their groups, they meet in the final. If either slips to second place, they collide a day earlier on 25 September.
Women’s kabaddi groups: a much harder draw for India
The women’s competition features eight teams in two groups of four. Here the draw broke the other way. India have been placed in Group A alongside Iran, Japan and Bangladesh — meaning the marquee India versus Iran fixture arrives in the group stage, on 23 September, rather than in a medal match.
| Group A | Group B |
|---|---|
| India | Sri Lanka |
| Iran | Thailand |
| Japan | Chinese Taipei |
| Bangladesh | Nepal |
Chinese Taipei sit in Group B this time, which matters because they pushed India to the final raid at the previous Games. Avoiding them early is useful; running into them in a semi-final is not. Group A is comfortably the tougher of the two pools, and with only two qualification places available, a single defeat could be decisive.
How the Asian Games kabaddi format works
The competition has used the same structure since the 2006 Games. Each team plays every other side in its group once. The top two teams from each group after the round-robin advance to the semi-finals. Semi-final winners contest the gold medal match; the two losing semi-finalists take bronze, as kabaddi at the Asian Games does not stage a third-place playoff.
For the men, that means four group matches per team. For the women, three. There is no repechage and no second chance. In a five-team group, a team can theoretically qualify with two wins and two losses if the head-to-head and score-difference numbers fall correctly, but no serious contender plans for that.
Score difference is the standard tiebreaker, exactly as it is in domestic league kabaddi. Anyone who has followed a tight PKL points table finish will recognise the mechanic: when two teams finish level on wins, the margin of victory across the whole group stage decides who progresses. This is why favourites are often encouraged to keep raiding hard against weaker opposition rather than protecting a lead.
India’s men’s fixtures and what each one asks of them
India open on 21 September against hosts Japan in the morning session. The remaining group matches are against the Republic of Korea, Bangladesh and Chinese Taipei across 22, 23 and 24 September, with exact session allocations confirmed closer to the event.
- vs Japan — the opener, against a home side with nothing to lose and a partisan crowd. Historically a comfortable fixture for India, but openers are where rust shows.
- vs Republic of Korea — the most technically awkward opponent in the group. Korea’s defensive structure has troubled India before and their raiders are disciplined rather than spectacular.
- vs Bangladesh — a South Asian rivalry with genuine edge. Bangladesh have medalled at these Games and will target this fixture specifically.
- vs Chinese Taipei — on paper the most comfortable, and therefore the match where India will look to bank score difference.
India’s women’s fixtures
The Indian women begin on 21 September against Bangladesh in the evening session, then face Iran on 23 September in what is effectively a group final, and Japan in the remaining fixture. With only three group matches, there is almost no margin for a slow start.
Why this tournament matters for the Pro Kabaddi League
This is the part most Asian Games coverage misses. The Aichi-Nagoya kabaddi competition is not a standalone event on the Indian kabaddi calendar — it is the reason the domestic season looks the way it does in 2026.
The international calendar this year runs Asian Games in September, the Commonwealth Kabaddi Championship in October, and the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games later in the year. Franchises cannot run pre-season camps while their marquee raiders are representing India, and the league cannot stage an auction while selectors are still assessing form. That sequencing is why the PKL Season 13 auction drifted from a mid-year window into October, and why the season itself is now expected in December rather than August.
There is a second consequence, and franchises are acutely aware of it. Season 12’s auction happened in May, three months before competitive kabaddi resumed. A late-October auction means franchises will be bidding with two full international tournaments of fresh evidence in front of them. A strong Asian Games can add materially to a player’s auction price. A poor one, or an injury picked up in Tōkai, can remove a name from the bidding entirely.
India’s record in Asian Games kabaddi
India are the most successful nation in the history of the event, with eight gold medals in the men’s competition. The men won gold at every edition from 1990 through 2014 without losing a single match across those tournaments — a run of dominance almost unmatched in any team sport at continental level.
That run ended in 2018, and the recovery came at Hangzhou, where India beat Iran 33–29 in the men’s final to reclaim the title. Both the men’s and women’s teams arrive in Japan as defending champions. Our full kabaddi international events guide covers the wider calendar these results sit within.
Every nation competing in kabaddi at Aichi-Nagoya
Eighteen national teams are involved across the two draws — ten in the men’s competition and eight in the women’s. That is a broader field than kabaddi’s reputation as a South Asian sport suggests, and the spread tells you something about where the game has taken root.
South Asian core. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. These are the nations where kabaddi is played at village and school level, and where the talent pipeline is organic rather than manufactured.
The Iranian exception. Iran is the only non-South-Asian nation to have won men’s Asian Games gold. Iranian kabaddi is built differently — heavily coached, defensively systematic, and supported by a domestic structure that has produced a steady stream of professional-grade corner defenders.
East Asian programmes. Japan, the Republic of Korea and Chinese Taipei. All three have invested in national programmes over the last two decades, and Korea in particular has produced players good enough to earn professional contracts in India. Japan’s involvement is enhanced this cycle by hosting.
Southeast Asian participants. Thailand and Malaysia. Thailand’s women’s programme is the more advanced of the two and has been competitive at continental level.
What the group draw actually means in practice
Draws in a five-team round-robin group are more consequential than they look. With only two qualification places and four matches per team, the sequencing of fixtures affects strategy as much as the opponents themselves.
A team that faces its toughest opponent on day one can afford to lose and recover. A team that faces the same opponent on day four is playing an effective elimination match with no time to respond. India opening against hosts Japan rather than the Republic of Korea is therefore useful: it gives the squad a competitive fixture to settle into without the qualification maths already being tight.
The second-order effect is score difference. Because tiebreakers are decided on margin, the order in which you play weaker opponents determines how much information you have when deciding whether to press for extra points. A team that has already banked a large margin can manage workload in its final group match. A team still chasing margin on day four is forced to raid aggressively when it would rather rest players before a semi-final.
How kabaddi’s Asian Games format has evolved
The competition has not always looked like this. At Beijing 1990, kabaddi’s debut, six men’s teams played a straight round-robin with no knockout stage at all — the team topping the table took gold. The field has expanded steadily since, and the group-plus-semi-final structure used in 2026 has been the standard since the 2006 edition.
The women’s event, added in 2010, has followed the same structural pattern with a smaller field. Eight teams in two groups of four remains the current shape.
The direction of travel is towards a larger, more competitive field. Ten men’s teams in 2026 is a meaningful increase on the six that contested the sport’s debut, and the presence of Malaysia, Thailand and Chinese Taipei reflects genuine expansion rather than token participation.
What to watch for tactically
International kabaddi at this level rewards different qualities from franchise league kabaddi, and viewers who follow the domestic game will notice the shift within the first few raids.
Bonus points carry more weight. In cautious knockout kabaddi, raiders take the bonus and return rather than hunting multi-point raids. Matches are frequently decided by a two or three point margin, and a bonus taken or refused becomes significant.
Super tackles become the defensive goal. With low scoring, a defence that converts a super tackle at three-defenders-remaining swings the momentum of an entire half.
All-outs are rarer and more decisive. Well-drilled international defences avoid the cascading collapse that produces multiple all-outs in league matches. When one does happen, it usually decides the result.
Do-or-die raids define the rhythm. Watch the empty-raid count. Two consecutive unsuccessful raids force the third raider to score or leave the mat, and in tight international matches that is where most swings originate.
Frequently asked questions
When does kabaddi start at the Asian Games 2026?
Kabaddi begins on 21 September 2026 with group-stage matches and concludes on 26 September with both gold medal matches.
Where is Asian Games 2026 kabaddi being played?
At the Tōkai Citizens Gymnasium in Tōkai, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Some agency reports have alternatively named the Nagoya City Trade and Industry Centre.
Which group is India in for Asian Games 2026 kabaddi?
Both the Indian men’s and women’s teams are in Group A. The men face Bangladesh, Republic of Korea, Chinese Taipei and Japan. The women face Iran, Japan and Bangladesh.
Will India play Iran in the group stage?
The men will not — Iran are in Group B, so the earliest possible meeting is the semi-final on 25 September. The women will, on 23 September.
How many teams are competing in kabaddi at the Asian Games 2026?
Ten men’s teams in two groups of five, and eight women’s teams in two groups of four.
Is there a bronze medal match in Asian Games kabaddi?
No. Both losing semi-finalists receive bronze medals, so there is no third-place playoff.
How does a team qualify for the semi-finals?
The top two teams in each group after the round-robin stage advance. Score difference is used as the tiebreaker when teams finish level.
Official Games information, including the confirmed competition programme, is published by the Olympics.com Asian Games kabaddi draw report.
