Pawan Sehrawat replaced Tajinderpal Singh Toor as India’s male flag bearer at the Asian Games 2026 opening ceremony on September 19, joining Manu Bhaker, after an issue with Toor’s official ceremonial kit.
It is a small story, but it illustrates a familiar failure mode. A two-time defending champion in his event was sidelined from a ceremonial honour not because of performance but because a piece of kit was not where it needed to be.
The upside is in how the replacement worked. Sehrawat, a gold medallist in kabaddi at the 2022 Asian Games, was given notice at short notice and stepped in, which shows how a well-prepared contingent can absorb a last-minute change.
Most teams and organisations have a version of this. The big preparation goes into the competition, while ceremonial and logistical details are the ones that quietly slip.
The practical lesson is to run a short checklist on the unglamorous items, kit, documents and accreditation, before the big day, because those are the failures that cannot be fixed by talent.
Bhaker first competed at the Asian Games as a teenager in 2018 and has spoken about how far she has come since then.
She will compete in the women’s 10m air pistol, the women’s 25m pistol and the mixed team 10m air pistol events.
Teqball player Quimcy Dsouza lost her semifinal on September 19 and plays bronze medal matches on September 20.
On September 20, the Indian women’s cricket team plays Bangladesh in a semifinal, and hockey, badminton, shooting and table tennis fixtures are also scheduled.
Some sports, including women’s cricket, began before the official opening on September 19.
India won gold in women’s cricket at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games and is defending the title in Japan.
The opening ceremony was held at the Mizuho stadium in Aichi-Nagoya, one of the main venues of the multi-sport event.
Paloma Mizuho stadium, Nagoya, Japan (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC0