India’s eFootball medal hopes at the 2026 Asian Games came to an unexpected end after Mongolia failed to report on time for a crucial group-stage match, resulting in a 0-0 forfeit win for India.
Indian players Danial Patel and Chinmay Sahoo had opened their Group F campaign with a 0-0 draw against Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan later recorded big wins over Mongolia in both the mobile and console games, giving them a strong goal difference.
India therefore needed a positive result against Mongolia to stay in contention for the knockout stage. However, the Mongolian team reportedly arrived three minutes after the stipulated check-in deadline. Under the tournament regulations, the late arrival resulted in a forfeit.
India were awarded the victory, but because the result was officially recorded as a 0-0 forfeit, they did not receive any goal-difference advantage. As a result, India and Uzbekistan finished level on points, but Uzbekistan advanced because of its superior goal difference.
India also missed out on qualification as one of the best second-placed teams. Thailand and Saudi Arabia progressed from the other groups with better goal-difference records.
Indian console player Chinmay Sahoo said the team protested the decision and requested that the match be played instead of accepting a forfeit win. However, officials reportedly told them that the tournament rules required the forfeit.
The Indian team was also informed that it could pay $500 for a judge panel review. Sahoo said India eventually decided against pursuing the review, as the team believed a review would not change the outcome unless the result was converted into a larger walkover score.
The elimination was particularly disappointing as Danial Patel entered the tournament as the reigning Asian eFootball champion. India had also been hoping to secure its first-ever Asian Games esports medal after failing to win one at the 2022 edition.
Uzbekistan later reached the semifinals but lost to Malaysia, while Iran eventually won the eFootball title.
The result leaves India out of the medal race despite securing a victory on paper, with the format of the forfeit result ultimately proving decisive in the group standings.
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