Beyond the table: Meet the ‘Teqers’ hoping to put India on the map at Asian Games 2026

Anas Baig, Quimcy Dsouza, and Declan Gonsalves (middle) will represent India at the Asian Games. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

If an average sports watcher is shown a teqball table, there is a chance for their response to be: “Hmm, that’s a weirdly shaped table tennis table.” Unlike the paddle sport, the net is replaced with a transparent plexiglass structure, while the table has a parabolic arc that aids the bounce for a standard size five football.

And this sport, which ingeniously combines football and table tennis, will finally get a chance to shape an identity for itself when it makes its historic debut at Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.

And representing India at the landmark moment will be Anas Baig, Quimcy Dsouza, and Declan Gonsalves.

Quimcy recollects how watching Brazil great Ronaldinho play the sport on Instagram made her develop an interest. Social media was the source of introduction for Anas and Declan as well.

Their footballing interest led to an invitation to play the sport in a club in Mumbai a few years ago, from where the community grew bit by bit, with approximately 8 to 12 individuals playing regularly. Eventually, a federation, Teqball India, was formed in 2020, and national tournaments were conducted the following year, things that Anas wishes had happened earlier.

“After playing the nationals, we ended up being noticed and were eventually motivated to take part in international tournaments by ourselves. Those moments showed us how much more advanced the other nations were,” Anas recalled to Sportstar.

“The game itself was invented (by football enthusiasts - Gabor Borsanyi, György Gattyan, and Viktor Huszar) in Hungary in 2014, but we first heard about it in 2021. It was growing pretty slowly at first, but now I think it’s picking up pace,” he added.

Indians in Teqball at Asian Games 2026:

Men’s doubles: Anas Baig and Declan Gonsalves.

Mixed doubles: Anas Baig and Quimcy Dsouza.

Women’s Singles: Quimcy Dsouza

But taking it up as a full-time career is still some way off for the trio, who all hold day jobs to sustain their dream. Declan handles content for a sports betting company while Anas works in a digital marketing agency. Quimcy remains closest to sport, operating as a test engineer for sporting goods retailer Decathlon, while also founding the Teqball Club of Bangalore, where the team spent time training together ahead of the Asiad.

“These guys (Anas and Declan) usually train in Mumbai; I train in Bengaluru. So it makes a lot of difference when you have the country’s top three playing together,” Quimcy said.

Being around each other is especially useful for the players, who have been training alone for the upcoming games, with hopes of getting a foreign coach not coming to fruition.

“We are the first generation of ‘teqers’, and we taught ourselves to play. But it’s always good to have a perspective from the other end. We may not be able to reflect on the game throughout when we’re playing as peers in the game,” Quimcy noted.

“Moreover, [our opponents] have been training with their government’s help, and I think it makes a difference. They don’t work a 9-5. So, they have all the time to be able to recover,” she added.

(Top) Nihar Shah, Technical Director of Teqball India, (L-R) Anas Baig, Quimcy Dsouza, and Declan Gonsalves.) | Photo Credit: Quimcy Dsouza Instagram

The need for guidance is understood, considering the highly particular rules and regulations that have undergone changes through the years. Hands are off limits; it is forbidden to touch or return the ball with the same body part twice consecutively, and each side has a maximum of three touches, leaving the players with decisions to make in quick time.

“We train different aspects each day. One day it will be smashing, and maybe the next day it will be defending smashes. Then maybe there would be some other day that we focus only on different kinds of attacks, which would be head attack or leg attack. Then one day would be serve,” Declan explained.

“Primarily it’s a very football-oriented sport. If someone doesn’t have really good football touches as such, they will technically struggle. You understand more when you understand how the ball bounces off the table,” he added.

And as the the players juggle between lives on and off the table, Teqball India technical director Nihar Shah believes that more light will be shed on the sport if it manages to get recognition and support from the Sports Ministry and the Indian Olympic Association.

“Currently, Teqball India is developing the sport via state and club members. Recognition (from the associations) is always a plus,” he said, adding that “it will open new horizons and help secure more medals at international championships.”

“Teqball has huge potential and, to begin with, it should be a part of the National Games and Khelo India programs,” Nihar asserted.

The players, meanwhile, have been finding success from their end, securing a men’s doubles bronze medal at the world championships in 2024, which has, in turn, aided the sport’s cause to become relevant. “For the first time, India won a medal and after that, we were pushed a lot by FITEQ (the international federation),” said Anas.

“I think at the last Asian Games, there wouldn’t have been any chance for Teqball to be an event. But it has been given much importance by the different governing bodies, leading to its inclusion. So it’s definitely a sport that the whole world now is aware of,” Declan noted.

While nations like Thailand and Iraq may start as favourites at the Asian Games, the Indian contingent is not shying away from expectations. “We know that we definitely have the Indian Teqball people looking at us, but also people who don’t know the sport looking at us. It’s the anticipation and slight anxiety of how we’re going to perform, which is what’s driving us to do better,” Declan said.

“However, it makes us feel lighter since we’re all together and able to share anxiety,” Quimcy added to that.

While many of the 500-strong Indian team will be expected to return from Japan with silverware, Anas, Quincy and Declan will carry an additional burden on their shoulders: to ensure that the sport they love and pioneered finds a permanent place in the India’s sporting map.