While sports like cricket, football and kabaddi dominate the sports landscape in India, water sports are also steadily gaining popularity in the country. It includes such disciplines as rowing, rafting, canoeing and sailing.
The 2026 aquatics calendar has several major international events where Indian athletes will look to win medals with strong performances. These competitions will give athletes from the country a chance to prove themselves against the best talents in the world.
Let’s take a look at three such events that Indians can look forward to in 2026:
#3 Rafting World Cup 2026
India plans to participate in the 2026 Rafting World Cup in Kenya. The competition will be held from July 12 to 14 at Rapids Camp Sagana, Tana River. It includes categories such as senior men, senior women and para-rafting.
The Indian Aquatics Team will compete in Sprint, RX and Slalom (Classic format) with the river difficulty being Grade III/IV Rapids.
World Rowing Championships #2 2026
The World Rowing Championships is another major event where Indian athletes will be seen. The seven-day competition will begin on August 24 at the Bosban rowing track in Amsterdam.
India will participate in the championships after the successful III Rowing World Cup 2026 in Lucerne, Switzerland. Havildar Lakshay and Havildar Ujjwal Kumar Singh made history by winning India’s first ever gold medal at the Rowing World Cup. The duo won the lightweight sculls title with a time of 6:26.09.
#1 Asian Games 2026
Indian aquatics athletes will be aiming for a podium finish at the upcoming 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. The games will be held from September 19 to October 4.
India will compete in five categories: swimming, canoeing and kayaking, rowing, sailing and surfing. Notably, India has won 61 Asian Games medals in water sports.
Rowing dominates with 28 medals, including two gold. The country has 23 and 9 medals in sailing and swimming, respectively, as well as two medals in kayaking and canoeing.
Edited by Aditya Suketu Desai
