Archive · 24 Sep 2026
Mongolia’s Three-Minute Delay Ends India’s Asian Games Esports Hopes
India was playing eFootball at the 2026 Asian Games.
Its players needed a strong result against Mongolia to keep advancing.
Mongolia arrived three minutes late, so officials treated the match as a forfeit.
India was given a win, but the result was recorded as 0-0.
A 0-0 score did not improve India’s goal difference.
Uzbekistan already had a much better goal difference after beating Mongolia.
India’s players wanted to play, but officials followed the competition rules.
Because of the result, India could not move on to the next stage.
Mongolia arrived three minutes late for its Group F eFootball match against India at the 2026 Asian Games.
Officials awarded India a 0-0 forfeit victory under the competition rules.
Danial Patel and Chinmay Sahoo reportedly wanted to play the match and protested the decision.
The 0-0 result left India with a goal difference of zero and unable to advance.
Uzbekistan, Thailand and Saudi Arabia advanced with stronger goal differences in their respective groups.
- Who
- India’s Danial Patel and Chinmay Sahoo, Mongolia’s team, Uzbekistan, and tournament officials were involved.
- What
- India received a 0-0 forfeit win after Mongolia arrived three minutes late, but did not advance because of its goal difference.
- When
- The incident occurred on Tuesday during the 2026 Asian Games.
- Where
- The match was scheduled at the Aichi Sky Expo centre.
- Why
- Officials treated Mongolia’s late arrival as a forfeit under the competition rules, leaving India without the goal difference needed to advance.
India’s Protest
Officials’ Decision
Whether the match should have been played
India’s Protest
Danial Patel and Chinmay Sahoo reportedly protested and wanted to play the match against Mongolia.
Officials’ Decision
Officials reportedly maintained that Mongolia’s three-minute late arrival required a forfeit under the competition rules.
Effect of the result
India’s Protest
India received a technical win but was disadvantaged because a 0-0 score provided no goal-difference boost.
Officials’ Decision
The organising committee applied the stated forfeit procedure and awarded a 0-0 result rather than arranging the match.
- Competition
- 2026 Asian Games esports
- Match
- India versus Mongolia in eFootball Group F
- Delay
- Mongolia arrived three minutes after the designated check-in time
- Official result
- India won 0-0 by forfeit
- India’s goal difference
- Zero after the forfeit result
- Uzbekistan’s goal difference
- +15 after wins of 6-3 and 12-0 against Mongolia
- Other advancing teams
- Thailand advanced with +3 and Saudi Arabia with +2
