India's Asian Games squad gets 17 new additions, total upto 651

On Wednesday, September 13, the sports ministry added 17 new names to India's contingent for the upcoming Asian Games. With this addition, the total number of athletes in the Indian squad has increased from 634 to 651.

The additions came from a variety of sports, including skeet shooting, ju-jitsu, kurash, athletics, cycling, and modern pentathlon.

For skeet shooting, Olympian Angad Veer Bajwa, and shooters Manisha Keer and Preeti Rajak were added to the team. Indian sprinter and national record holder for the 100m and 200m, Amlan Borhohain, saw his name included in the updated list on Wednesday.

Ju-Jitsu and Kurash both benefited immensely from India's revised team for the Asiad. While Jiu-Jitsu saw the addition of five athletes, four players were added to the team for kurash. This takes the total of the squads for Jiu-Jitsu and Kurash up to 11 and 6, respectively.

India to make Asian Games debut in modern pentathlon

The sports ministry on Wednesday approved the name of Mayank Vaibhav Chapheker for the modern pentathlon event. This will mark India's Asian Games debut in the sport.

Initially, the Modern Pentathlon Federation of India had sent the names of five athletes to be considered for the games. However, none were mentioned on the initial list of Indian athletes going to Hangzhou.

Two players, one of which was Mayank, had then reached out to the Punjab and Haryana High Court to plead their case. The court ordered the Sports Authority of India to get an expert opinion on the matter, after which Mayank saw his name included in the list of athletes heading to the Asiad.

Given that the Modern Pentathlon is an Olympic event and that the Asian Games are a qualifier for Paris, Mayank's inclusion in the Indian contingent will prove to be beneficial for the players and the sport.