The 20th Asian Games opened on September 19 in Aichi Prefecture and Nagoya, and by the end of the first full day of competition, the continent’s biggest multi-sport event had already delivered the mix of dominance, upsets, and full-circle storylines that make it must-watch television across Asia. China stormed to an early lead on the medal table, host nation Japan collected wins in triathlon and karate in front of home crowds, and India opened its campaign with a shooting silver that set the tone for a deep squad chasing its best-ever Asiad. On Monday, all eyes turn to Nagoya City General Gymnasium, where Philippine gymnast Carlos Yulo returns to the country where his career first took shape, hunting the one continental title that has eluded him.
A Games Built at Nearly Quadruple the Original Budget
Running from September 19 through October 4, the Aichi-Nagoya Games bring together 46 delegations, 10,787 athletes, and 469 medal events across 43 sports — the largest edition of the Asian Games to date. The opening ceremony at the newly built Paloma Mizuho Stadium, themed “Harmonic Heart Beat,” was presided over by Emperor Naruhito, with IOC President Kirsty Coventry among the dignitaries in attendance. Organizers billed it as the first Japan-hosted multi-sport opening ceremony to welcome international spectators without restriction since the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Getting to opening night wasn’t smooth. The organizing budget ballooned from an initial estimate of roughly ¥85 billion to about ¥370 billion, driven by a weak yen and construction-cost inflation. Record torrential rains forced the evacuation of some athletes as early as September 8, and because Nagoya opted against a single centralized athletes’ village, competitors have been housed across a patchwork of hotels, container-style villas, and even a docked cruise ship. Reports of visibly empty seats at the opening ceremony, despite organizers describing it as sold out, added to the scrutiny — a reminder that hosting a Games of this scale carries real logistical and financial risk even for a country as experienced as Japan.
China Opens Fast, Japan and Korea Chase
After the first day of finals, China topped the standings with 11 gold, 6 silver, and 3 bronze medals, building an early cushion through strong showings in swimming and triathlon. Host nation Japan sat second with 6 golds, 6 silvers, and 7 bronzes, highlighted by a triathlon gold and a ninth consecutive Asian Games karate title — a streak that underscores just how deep Japan’s dominance in that discipline runs. South Korea rounded out the early top three with 3 golds and a total of 13 medals, while Kazakhstan and Thailand each posted three golds of their own to crack the top five.
The day also produced a genuine piece of sporting history: Myanmar won the inaugural teqball gold medal in Asian Games history, as the hybrid football-and-table-tennis sport made its debut on the program alongside other newcomers freestyle BMX, mixed martial arts, padel, surfing, and an inaugural “virtual sport” medal event in virtual taekwondo. Cricket, meanwhile, returned to the Asiad after last featuring in the 2023 edition, giving South Asian audiences another reason to tune in.
India’s Shooters Deliver the Opening Medals
India’s campaign got underway in the range rather than the arena. Elavenil Valarivan won silver in the women’s 10m air rifle individual final, finishing behind Japan’s Hinata Taichi, who set what was described as an Asian Games record score of 253.0 points. Valarivan then combined with two teammates to add a team silver in the same event, giving India two medals on day one and a share of the top-ten places on the tally alongside Kazakhstan and Thailand. With a roster that spans shooting, badminton, athletics, wrestling, and hockey, India’s contingent will be looking to build steadily on that start over the Games’ two-and-a-half-week run — historically, Indian medal counts at the Asiad have climbed as track-and-field and combat-sport events get underway in the second week.
Carlos Yulo Returns to Where It All Began
The most personal storyline of the Games’ opening days belongs to Carlos Yulo, the Philippines’ first Olympic gymnastics champion, who competes in the men’s all-around at Nagoya City General Gymnasium (Rainbow Hall) on September 21. Now 26, Yulo deliberately skipped the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games to chase world championship points ahead of Paris 2024 — a gamble that paid off when he won Olympic gold in both floor exercise and vault, becoming his country’s first-ever Olympic gymnastics champion in the process.
Nagoya carries particular meaning for Yulo: it’s where he trained as a teenage scholar-athlete under Japanese coach Munehiro Kugimiya, developing the technical foundation that eventually carried him to Olympic gold. “All-around is the hardest among all events because we’re talking six apparatuses here,” Yulo said ahead of the competition, referring to the grueling single-day test across floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars, and horizontal bar. The field is stacked: Japan’s Hashimoto Daiki is the reigning world all-around champion in 2022, 2023, and 2025, while teammate Oka Shinnosuke holds the Paris 2024 Olympic all-around title. The Gymnastics Association of the Philippines has publicly targeted a three-gold haul from Yulo across floor, vault, and potentially rings or parallel bars — a big ask, but not an unreasonable one given his recent form.
What to Watch as the Games Progress
With more than two weeks of competition remaining, the medal table is still very much in its opening chapters. China’s early lead is unsurprising given its historical strength across the Asian Games program, but Japan’s home-soil momentum and South Korea’s traditionally strong finishes in combat sports and archery mean the top of the table is likely to tighten. For athletes like Yulo and Valarivan, and for delegations like India’s still hunting their first golds, the next two weeks in Aichi and Nagoya will decide whether this expensive, occasionally chaotic Games is remembered for its logistics — or for the performances that unfolded despite them.