On Saturday, October 19, the 2026 Asian Games will open in the Japanese city of Nagoya — a continental competition held by the Olympic Council of Asia once every four years. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
History and status of the Asian Games
The Asian Games, the first of which were held in 1951 in Delhi, the capital of India, are the second most significant multi-sport event after the Olympic Games.
The 2026 Asian Games, the 20th edition, will bring together more than 11,000 athletes from 45 countries of the continent. They will compete for 460 sets of medals in 43 sports. Of these, 217 are among men, 204 among women and 39 in mixed categories.
Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony of the Games will be held at the Paloma Mizuho Stadium in Nagoya, which seats 30,000 spectators. The start is at 14:00 Kazakhstan time.
Kazakhstan's flag at the ceremony will be carried by judoka Yeldos Smetov and tennis player Sarvinoz Mirkadirova. Kazakhstan's national team at the 2026 Asian Games will include 559 athletes.
Kazakhstan's history at the Asian Games
In the overall medal table of the Games, Kazakhstan ranks sixth, having won 165 gold, 180 silver and 292 bronze medals. This is despite the fact that our athletes first took part in the Asian Games only in 1994, for understandable reasons missing 11 continental forums.
At six consecutive Asian Games, from 1994 to 2014, Kazakhstan's national team consistently held a place in the top 5. However, the most recent tournaments, in Jakarta and Hangzhou, are nothing for Kazakhstani sport to boast about.
The task for the 2026 Asian Games
At the 2026 Games, our athletes have been set the task of winning 99 medals of various denominations.
Kazakhstanis will take part in competitions in rowing, artistic swimming, badminton, basketball 5x5 and 3x3, trampoline gymnastics, boxing, breaking, road and track cycling, water polo, volleyball, freestyle wrestling, handball, golf, canoe sprint, canoe slalom, Greco-Roman wrestling, jiu-jitsu, judo, karate, esports, equestrian sport, athletics, mountain biking, table tennis, padel, sailing, swimming, beach volleyball, diving, shooting, rugby sevens, skateboarding, mixed martial arts, modern pentathlon, artistic gymnastics, sport climbing, trap shooting, archery, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, weightlifting, wushu, fencing, field hockey and rhythmic gymnastics.
Events started before the official opening
Even before the official opening of the Games, Kazakhstanis started in tournaments in basketball, volleyball, field hockey and modern pentathlon among men and women.