India, Sept. 18 -- The Indian contingent for the 2026 Asian Games has begun landing in Aichi-Nagoya (Aichi being the prefecture, Nagoya its capital), with the rumblings about small hotel rooms now replaced by fresh murmurs that no breakfasts have been booked for athletes.

For India, these games are already slightly divergent from past Asian Games. The Indian contingent is 501-strong, down from Hangzhou 2023's 622, as the Sports Ministry applied a criterion of a top-six result in Asia for individuals or top-eight for teams. For the 6/8 rule to be vindicated, India must surpass Hangzhou's tally of 102 medals (28 gold, 37 silver and 41 bronze), the country's best-ever Asiad performance.

Over these last two-plus decades, the Indian sports w...