Asian Para Games 2026: India’s October 16 Schedule and Timings

India’s Asian Para Games 2026 campaign begins on October 16, two days before the Games officially open on October 18, with competitors scheduled in para badminton, para table tennis and blind football in Nagoya. The day includes 25 para badminton matches, four para table tennis singles group-stage contests and the Indian men’s blind football team’s opening group fixture against South Korea.

India has sent a 168-athlete contingent to Aichi-Nagoya across 11 sports. Paralympic medallists Avani Lekhara, Sumit Antil, Bhavina Patel and Pramod Bhagat are included in the wider squad, while October 16 puts the early focus on the country’s badminton, table tennis and blind football programmes.

India schedule for October 16

Para badminton starts at 5:30 AM with Abu Hubaida facing M. Jianpeng of China in men’s singles WH2. At the same time, Manisha and Pramod meet China in mixed doubles SL3-SU5. Murugesan and Kumar play Thailand at 5:35 AM in mixed doubles SL3-SU5.

At 6:05 AM, India are scheduled to face Malaysia in mixed doubles SH6, while Ruthick and Manasi take on Indonesia in mixed doubles SL3-SU5. Prem Kumar Ale meets A. Widodo of Indonesia in men’s singles WH1 at 6:30 AM. Abhijeet Sakhuja faces E. Yeh of Chinese Taipei at 7:00 AM in men’s singles SL4.

Suhas Yathiraj begins his men’s singles SL4 group-stage campaign at 7:05 AM against J. Dhar of Bangladesh. The para table tennis programme begins at 7:10 AM, when Bhavina Patel plays A. Alrasheedi of Kuwait in women’s singles Class 4-5. Baby Sahana Ravi faces T. Nguyen of Vietnam in women’s singles Class 9, and Subham Wadhwa meets K. Thapa of Nepal in men’s singles Class 3. Jehan Madan is scheduled to play Sandeep Dangi in men’s singles Class 1 at 8:20 AM.

Alphia and Prem face China in mixed doubles WH1-WH2 at 8:30 AM. India then play South Korea in men’s blind football group-stage action at 9:00 AM. Manasi Joshi faces L. Yuemei of China in women’s singles SL3 at 9:30 AM.

The remaining listed badminton singles matches include Rakesh Pandey against M. Azri of Malaysia and Alphia James against L. Yutong of China at 10:30 AM. Hardik Makkar plays J. Lee of South Korea, while Sivarajan Solaimalai meets J. Maclong of the Philippines at 11:30 AM. Abu and Pallavi face Thailand in mixed doubles WH1-WH2 at noon.

Krishna Nagar meets J. Lin of Chinese Taipei in men’s singles SH6 at 12:30 PM, with Mandeep Kaur scheduled against Neeraj in women’s singles SL3 at the same time. Sanjana Kumari plays Hong Kong at 1:00 PM, and Kanak Jadaun faces L. Oktila of Indonesia in women’s singles SL4.

Afternoon doubles programme

India’s afternoon schedule continues at 2:00 PM as Umesh and Rakesh face China in men’s doubles SL3-SU5, while Sudarsan Muthusamy plays D. Lee of South Korea in men’s singles SH6. At 2:30 PM, Nitesh and Ruthhick meet Suhas and Abhijeet in men’s doubles SL3-SU5.

Further para badminton group-stage fixtures are listed with timings to be announced: India versus Saudi Arabia in men’s doubles WH1-WH2, India versus Hong Kong in men’s doubles SH6, Murugesan and Joshi versus Indonesia in women’s doubles SL3-SU5, and Mandeep and Shanthiya versus Indonesia in women’s doubles SL3-SU5. The October 16 programme therefore gives India an immediate multi-sport start ahead of the official opening of the Games.