India, Sept. 18 -- The 2026 Asian Games begin today at Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, and sportspeople, sports administrators, and fans across India will be closely watching the performance of the 501-strong Indian contingent for two things: one, the number of medals it wins; two, for what the performance of Indians in various disciplines says about how they could do in the 2028 Olympic Games. India's athletes as well as its millions of sports fans no longer consider qualifying for the national squad a big achievement. Their appetites whetted by some success in the last two Olympics, they are hoping that Indian sportspeople can showcase the country's growing prowess in sport at the 2028 games.

There is a basis for such hopes; between the 2006 Asia...