Asian Games 2026: Why India missed out on an eFootball medal despite beating Mongolia
India’s eFootball medal hopes at the 2026 Asian Games ended in unusual circumstances, with the team unable to even play its decisive group-stage fixture against Mongolia.
Danial Patel and Chinmay Sahoo had begun their Group F campaign with a 0-0 draw against Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan subsequently defeated Mongolia and finished with a substantial positive goal difference.
That left India needing a strong result against Mongolia to keep its qualification hopes alive. However, Mongolia failed to report within the stipulated check-in time, resulting in a forfeit in India’s favour. The match was recorded as a 0-0 win rather than a scoreline carrying a goal difference.
That detail proved decisive.
India and Uzbekistan finished the group with one win and a draw each, but Uzbekistan advanced as the group winner because of its superior goal difference. India also missed out on qualification as one of the best second-placed teams. Thailand and Saudi Arabia took those two spots with better goal differences.
The result was particularly frustrating given Danial’s status as the reigning mobile Asian eFootball champion.
India had also been chasing its first official Asian Games esports medal after returning empty-handed from the 2022 edition.
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Published on Sep 23, 2026
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