Asian Games: India's Gonsalves-Beg pair knocked out of Teqball competition

India's campaign in teqball at the Asian Games 2026 came to an early end as Declan Marshall Gonsalves and Mohamed Anas Imran Beg were knocked out in the group stage of the men's doubles competition on Thursday.

The Indian pair, placed in Group B, lost both their matches 0-2 and finished at the 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 opening game 10-12 after being level at 10-10 before going down 8-12 in the second.

They then faced South Korea's Junsuk Lee and Taebeen Lee but were unable to put up a fight, losing 4-12, 7-12.

While Gonsalves' Asian Games campaign has ended, Beg will remain in contention in the mixed doubles teqball competition.

Gonsalves and Beg came into the Asian Games as World Championships medallists. The pair won India's first-ever medal in teqball at the 2024 World Championships in Vietnam, claiming bronze in the men's doubles event.

Teqball is among the 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 football and table tennis, teqball is played on a curved table with a standard-size five football. Players can use almost every part of their body except their hands and arms to return the ball across the net.

The sport was invented in Hungary in 2014 by Gabor Borsanyi, Gyorgy Gattyan and Viktor Huszar. The first official Teqball World Championships were held in Budapest in 2017.

India will be looking to improve on their medal haul from the Hangzhou Asian Games, where they won 107 medals, including 28 gold, 38 silver and 41 bronze.- EndsPublished By: Saurabh KumarPublished On: Sep 17, 2026 16:00 IST