Asian Games: India’s Gonsalves-Beg pair crashed out of the Teqball competition in the group stage

India’s teqball campaign at the 2026 Asian Games ended prematurely when Declan Marshall Gonsalves and Mohamed Anas Imran Beg crashed out in the group stage of the men’s doubles competition on Thursday.

The Indian pair, seeded in Group B, lost both their matches 0-2 to finish bottom of the group, ending their hopes of reaching the quarter-finals.

Gonsalves and Beg began their campaign against Vietnam’s Truong Giang Ba and Anh Khoa Le. The Indians lost the opener 10-12 after being tied at 10-10 and falling 8-12 in the second.

They then faced Junsuk Lee of South Korea and Taebeen Lee but were unable to fight back and lost 4-12, 7-12.

While Gonsalves’ Asian Games campaign is over, Beg will remain in contention in the mixed doubles teqball competition.

Gonsalves and Beg entered the Asian Games as World Championship medalists. The pair won India’s first-ever teqball medal at the 2024 World Championships in Vietnam, claiming bronze in the men’s doubles.

Teqball is among six sports making their Asian Games debut at the Aichi-Nagoya Games, alongside mixed martial arts, padel, surfing, BMX freestyle and virtual taekwondo.

A combination of soccer and table tennis, teqball is played on a curved table with a standard size five netball. Players can use almost every part of their body except their hands and arms to return the ball over the net.

This sport was invented in Hungary in 2014 by Gabor Borsanyi, Gyorgy Gattyan and Viktor Huszar. The first official teqball world championship was held in Budapest in 2017.

India will be looking to improve on their medal tally from the Hangzhou Asian Games where they won 107 medals, including 28 gold, 38 silver and 41 bronze.

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Issued by:

Saurabh Kumar

Published on:

17 Sep 2026 16:00 IST