Asian Games 2026: Six Gujarat Players to Watch in Japan
Six Gujarat Players Are Set To Compete As The 20th Asian Games Begin in Japan.
✍️ By Shri Pradeep Trivedi
English translation adapted from the original Gujarati article without changes to the content or experiences described by the author.
Freelance Writer | Author | Sports Analyst | Lecturer | Sports Journalist
For the 20th Asian Games in 2026, a total of 5+1 = 6 male players from Gujarat have been selected this time. They include Aryan Nehra in swimming, Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah in table tennis, Aniket Patel in soft tennis, and Bhavnagar’s para athlete Rakesh Bhatt for the Para Asian Games.
The record for winning the most medals as a Gujarati player in the Asian Games is held by the “Cue King” Geet Sethi. He has won a total of one gold, two silver and two bronze medals.
First Historic Medallist: Geet Sethi, Cue Sports
Geet Sethi has the historic honour of winning eight titles at the World Amateur and Professional Billiards Championships. In the 13th Asian Games held in Bangkok in 1998, he won a gold medal in the English Billiards Doubles event in cue sports with Ashok Shandilya. He also won a silver medal in the singles event of the same competition.
Later, at the 14th Asian Games held in Busan, South Korea, in 2002, he won a silver medal in English Billiards Doubles in cue sports with Alok Kumar and a bronze medal in singles.
Then, at the 15th Asian Games held in Doha in 2006, he won a bronze medal in English Billiards Doubles in cue sports with Ashok Shandilya.
Thus, after taking part in three Asian Games in a row, Geet Sethi became the first historic player from Gujarat to win a total of five medals (1+2+2). He has received valuable awards such as the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna and Padma Shri.
Gujarat Players in Earlier Asian Games
If we look at the records from a few years ago, a total of six players from Gujarat took part in the 2010 Asian Games held in Guangzhou. The male players were Geet Sethi and Anshul Kothari. The women players were Lajja Goswami, Pooja Chaurushi, Kanika Bhalla and Aashna Shah.
Anshul Kothari took part in the 4 x 100 metre freestyle swimming event with Vardhwal Khade, Arjun Jayaprakash and Aaron D’Souza. They finished 10th. Geet Sethi took part in the men’s English Billiards singles event in cue sports.
In the 2014 Asian Games held in Incheon, only three players from Gujarat took part. They were one male player, Harmeet Desai, and two female players, Ankita Raina and Lajja Goswami. Surat’s Harmeet Desai took part in the table tennis doubles event with Soumyajit Ghosh. They reached the quarter-finals.
In the 18th Asian Games held in Jakarta-Palembang in 2018, a total of 6+1 = 7 players were selected. The three women players were Sarita Gaikwad, who won a gold medal in the 4 x 400 metre relay, Ankita Raina, who won a bronze medal in tennis singles, and Elavenil Valarivan in shooting.
Among the four male players, Harmeet Desai and Manav Thakkar won a bronze medal in the team event. This was a historic achievement. For the first time, Gujarat won two bronze medals in table tennis.
In soft tennis, Aniket Patel took part in the team and mixed events with Namita Sethi. In the demonstration sport, Bhuj’s Tirth Mehta won a bronze medal in the Hearthstone event. It was India’s first medal in the event.
Thus, the 18th Asian Games in 2018 opened new chapters in the history of sports in Gujarat. Gujarat won one gold and 2+1 = 3 bronze medals for the first time.
The 19th Asian Games were held in Hangzhou in 2022. A total of seven players from Gujarat were selected. The two women players were Ankita Raina in tennis and Mana Patel in swimming.
Among the male players, Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah took part in the table tennis team event. In soft tennis, Aniket Patel took part in the singles, team and mixed team events.
In swimming, Aryan Nehra took part in the 1500 metre freestyle and finished seventh with a national record time of 15:20.91 minutes. He also took part in the 4 x 200 metre freestyle relay, 400 metre freestyle and 800 metre freestyle events.
At these Asian Games, none of the players from Gujarat could win a medal.
Now, in 2026, six players from Gujarat, 5+1, will take part in the 20th Asian Games. They are Harmeet Desai, Manav Thakkar and Manush Shah in table tennis, Aryan Nehra in swimming, Aniket Patel in soft tennis, and Rakesh Bhatt in the Para Asian Games. All these players have taken part in the Asian Games before.
Harmeet Desai: Table Tennis
In the 20th Asian Games, Harmeet Desai will play the doubles event with Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and the mixed doubles event with Yashaswini Ghorpade. He will also play the team event with Sathiyan, Manav Thakkar, Manush Shah and Payas Jain.
Harmeet Desai is a 33-year-old offensive-style table tennis player from Surat.
He won a bronze medal in the team event at the 18th Asian Games held in Jakarta in 2018. In the same year, he had a double success at the Commonwealth Games held in Gold Coast. He won a gold medal in the team event and a silver medal in men’s doubles.
The year 2019 was a “lucky year” for him. In November 2019, he made history by winning the ITTF Indonesia Open Tournament. Harmeet became the first Indian player from Asia to win this tournament.
He also became the first Gujarati player to become the national champion in 2019 and 2020.
In 2019, at the South Asian Games held in Kathmandu-Pokhara, Harmeet achieved a hat-trick of gold medals. He won gold medals in doubles, mixed doubles and the team event. He also won a silver medal in singles, giving him medals in all four competitions.
For this success, he received the “Arjuna” Award from President Ram Nath Kovind in 2019.
At the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham, he again won a gold medal in the team event. He also won four bronze medals at the Asian Championships held in 2021, 2023 and 2024.
Thus, Harmeet Desai is an outstanding table tennis player. There are expectations of a medal from him at these Asian Games.
Manav Thakkar: Table Tennis
Manav Thakkar is a 26-year-old table tennis player from Rajkot who uses a right-handed shakehand grip. At the 20th Asian Games, he will play singles, doubles with Manush Shah, and the team events with his team-mates.
In February 2026, Manav Thakkar had his highest ranking of world number 33.
At the 18th Asian Games held in Jakarta in 2018, he won a bronze medal in the team event. At the Asian Championships held in 2021, 2023 and 2024, he won four bronze medals in team and doubles events.
In May 2020, Manav Thakkar was ranked number one in the men’s singles at the ITTF World Under-21 level.
A medal is also expected from Manav Thakkar.
Manush Shah: Table Tennis
Manush Shah is a 26-year-old left-handed player from Vadodara who plays an attacking style of table tennis. He is an international table tennis player.
Manush Shah, along with his fellow Gujarati player Manav Thakkar, has reached a career-best world ranking of number two in men’s doubles. He is part of the highest-ranked Indian doubles pair in table tennis history.
At WTT 2026 in Lagos, Manush Shah won the men’s doubles title with Manav Thakkar and the mixed doubles title with Diya Chitale.
At these Asian Games, Manush Shah will play men’s singles, doubles with Manav Thakkar and the team event.
Manush Shah won a gold medal in the men’s team event at the Commonwealth Championships held in 2026. He has also won a medal at the Asian Table Tennis Championships. There are expectations of a medal from Manush as well.
Aryan Nehra: Swimming
Aryan Nehra is a 22-year-old top freestyle swimmer from Ahmedabad. At the 20th Asian Games, Aryan Nehra will take part in the 800 metre and 1500 metre freestyle events. He holds national records in both events.
Aryan Nehra holds the national record in the 800 metre freestyle with a time of 7:59.36 minutes and in the 1500 metre freestyle with a time of 15:14.88 minutes.
Aryan Nehra made history by becoming the first Indian swimmer to record a time of under eight minutes in the 800 metre freestyle.
Earlier, at the 11th Asian Age Group Championships, he won gold medals in the men’s 4 x 200 metre freestyle and 50 metre freestyle events.
He became the first swimmer from Gujarat to directly qualify for the 2026 Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.
A medal is also expected from him.
Aniket Patel: Soft Tennis
At the 20th Asian Games, Aniket Patel will play mixed doubles with Aadhya Tiwari and the men’s team event with other team-mates.
Aniket Patel is a 28-year-old international soft tennis player from Ahmedabad. He completed a BE in Computer Engineering from GTU.
The year 2019 was a golden year for Aniket. At the First Asian Junior Soft Tennis Championship held in the Philippines, he won a bronze medal in singles.
At the AGL World Tour Championship, he won gold in doubles, silver in singles and bronze in the team event.
He also won gold in doubles and silver in singles at the Thailand International Soft Tennis Championship.
He represented India at the 16th World Soft Tennis Championship held in China.
Aniket has received the Gujarat Government’s “Sardar Patel Award” in lawn tennis and soft tennis.
He took part in the Asian Games held in Jakarta in 2018 and Hangzhou in 2022.
So far, Aniket has won a total of 27 medals at the international level, including 7 gold, 8 silver and 12 bronze medals. At the national level, he has won a total of 56 medals.
This year, he is eager to win a medal at the Asian Games. We all wish him the very best.
Rakesh Bhatt: Para Athlete
Rakesh Bhatt from Bhavnagar is an international para athlete in the Cerebral Palsy (T37) category. He represents India in the 100 metre and 200 metre races.
Rakesh Bhatt is from Moti Babariyat village in Talaja taluka of Bhavnagar district. He comes from a simple farming family.
In 2022, he took part in the National Para Athletics Championship for the first time. He won gold medals in both the 100 metre and 200 metre races.
In 2026, at the 24th National Para Athletics Championship held in Bhubaneswar, he again won gold medals in the 100 metre and 200 metre races.
In 2023 in Dubai and in 2025 at the Morocco World Para Athletics Grand Prix, he won silver medals in the 100 metre and 200 metre races.
He achieved his best performance at world level in 2026 by winning gold medals in both the 100 metre and 200 metre races at the World Para Athletics Grand Prix held in Delhi.
In the 200 metre race, he is ranked number one in Asia with a time of 23.44 seconds. In the 100 metre race, he is ranked number three in Asia with a time of 11.62 seconds.
Rakesh Bhatt has a total of 18 gold and 20 silver medals. He is taking part in the Asian Games again after 2022.
There is hope that he will certainly bring home a medal this time. We all wish him the very best.
Best Wishes to All the Players
Thus, all the players from Gujarat who are going to take part in the Asian Games this time have performed at their best at national and international level.
There is hope that they will return with good medals.
Best wishes to all the players for the 20th Asian Games.
Acknowledgement:
Newz Daddy extends sincere thanks to Shri Pradeep Trivedi, author, sports analyst and journalist, for sharing his memorable Asian Games details. We also appreciate the photographs and personal experiences that have enriched this article.
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