The stars of India’s athletics contingent begin their campaign on Friday while tennis stars Saketh Myneni, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Rutuja Bhosale and Rohan Bopanna will be gunning for gold. As usual, athletics is likely to account for the the lion’s share of India’s total medal count. In the 2018 Asian Games, athletics had contributed 20 medals (8 gold, 9 silver, 3 bronze) out of India’s total of 70.

Race walkers Sandeep Kumar and Vikash Singh will begin India’s campaign in the men’s 20km race walk event in the morning on Friday, but their medal prospects are not high. Priyanka Goswami will compete in the women’s 20km race walk and she can be in medal contention if she produces her best.

Rachna Kumari and Tanya Chaudhary are the two Indians who will feature in the women’s hammer throw final on Friday while Manpreet Kaur and Kiran Baliyan can hope for minor medals if they produce their best. A total of 48 gold medals will be at stake during seven days of competition. Hosts China have topped the athletics medal tally at every Asian Games since 1986.

Here is India’s complete schedule for Asian Games 2023 on Friday (September 29):

Athletics:

Men’s 20km race walk final: Sandeep Kumar, Vikash Singh 4.30am

Women’s 20km race walk final: Priyanka 4.40am

Women’s 400m Rd 1

Heat 1: Aishwarya Mishra 4.30pm

Heat 3: Himanshi Malik 4.46pm

Women’s hammer throw final: Rachna Kumari 4.40pm

Men’s 400m Rd 1

Heat 1: Muhammad Anas Yahya 4.55pm

Heat 2: Muhammed Ajmal Variyathodi 5.03pm

Women’s Shot Put Final: Kiran Baliyan, Manpreet Kaur 6.15pm

Badminton:

Women’s Team Quarterfinal: India vs Thailand 6.30am

Men’s Team Quarterfinal: India vs Nepal 4.30pm

Basketball:

Women’s Group A: India vs Mongolia 5.30pm

Boxing:

Women’s 57kg round of 16: Parveen vs Zichun XU (China) 12pm

Men’s 80kg round of 16: Lakshya Chahar was Omurbek Bekzhigit (Kyrgyzstan) 1.45pm

Women’s 50kg quarterfinal: Nikhat Zareen vs Hannan Nassar (Jordan) 4.45pm

Bridge:

Round robin matches 6.30am

Cycling Track First Round

Heat 2: David Beckham (12.06pm)

Heat 3: Esow (12.12pm)

ESports:

DOTA2 Group A Match 1: India vs Kyrgyzstan 11.30am

DOTA2 Group A Match 2: India vs Philippines 12.30pm

Golf:

Men’s individual round 2: Anirban Lahiri, SSP Chawrasia, Shubhankar Sharma 4am

Men’s team round 2 4am

Women’s individual round 2: Aditi Ashok, Pranai Urs, Avani Prashanth 4am

Handball:

Women’s Group B: India vs China 3.30pm

Hockey:

Women’s Pool A: India vs Malaysia 4pm

Shooting:

Men’s 50m 3 positions air rifle 6.30am

Women’s 10m air pistol 6.30am

Women’s 10m air pistol team final 6.30am

Squash:

Women’s team semifinals from 8.30am

Men’s team semifinals from 1.30am

Swimming:

Multiple qualifying heats from 7.30 am

Finals from 4pm

Table Tennis:

Singles and doubles round of 16 matches from 7.30amm

Tennis:

Men’s doubles final: India vs Chinese Taipei 7.30am

Women’s doubles final: India vs Chinese Taipei not before 9.30am