Meet the Captains: Ashokan Sports Contingent Leaders Announced

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October is drawing to a close, and while squad rebuilding has been underway for over two months, Ashoka’s teams have only cleared their first tests of the semester at inter-collegiate tournaments at BITS Pilani, IIT Roorkee and IIT Kanpur. Most squads have passed with flying colours and, fresh off the mid-semester break, are now busy refining their rosters, drilling through training routines, and putting their new leadership to the test. As the biggest tournament of the Monsoon semester closes in — Surge, hosted by Shiv Nadar University (SNU) — there is no time to waste. With a solid foundation already in place, the teams’ performance at SNU will look to solidify the authority of this new generation of captains.

Each team has its own way of choosing their squad leaders. A few teams come together and vote for who they think will do justice to the posts, while others have their captains nominated by ex-captains. Some nurture their captains through a leadership pipeline, and others leave it entirely to the sports department.

On 3rd September, the Ashoka Office of Sports and Exercise formally confirmed the Squad Leaders for the academic year 2026/27. These are the new leaders of the Ashoka sports fraternity, by sport, in alphabetical order.

Badminton:

Both the women's and men's teams face the challenge of potentially having to rebuild their squad, seeing as top players Anandita Singh (UG '26), Prithvi Bapna (UG '26), Gokul Sundararaghavan (UG '26), and Pradyumna Subhir (UG '26) graduated at the end of AY25-26. Additionally, the women's team is also missing former vice-captain Kaavya KB (UG '28), who is away on an exchange semester.

This year, the women's team is led by captain Maya Sheshadri (UG '27), who continues as captain from last year. It marks her third time on the list of squad leaders, having been vice-captain in her second year. An impressive feat for the fourth-year student, who beat all odds following a devastating ACL injury and came back to help the team clinch gold at Ashoka's own Agneepath 2026. Sheshadri will be joined by Ananya Sethia (UG '28) as vice-captain, stepping into leadership in her third year on the team.

The men's team is captained by UG '28 powerhouse Shaan Kejriwal, who has been making a name for himself since his first month at Ashoka. Kejriwal follows a long line of first-year prodigies who then went on to become captain, and will also be serving as the President of the Sports Enthusiasts Club. The team's vice-captain is Edict Sports' very own Nirajit Roy Chowdhury (UG '27), who, along with his wit and quick thinking, is sure to make a statement during his term as squad leader.

Basketball:

The Women's Basketball Team will also be seeing a returning captain, with UG '27's Svara Sumesh bearing the torch for the squad once again. Sumesh will be supported by an expanded leadership group of two vice-captains rather than one. Replacing influential former captain Veda Anand's (UG '26) presence off the court will be a challenge for the leadership group. Fourth-year Aashna Thomas (UG '27), who has helped the team bring back more than six golds, steps into the leadership role alongside UG '29 rising star Harshitha VM, the first second-year to take on the role of vice-captain of the basketball team after a debut season where her composure under pressure saw her quickly become a crucial part of the core team.

The men's basketball team will also have some shoes to fill, with the departure of Lakshya Bamal (UG '26) and former captain Jyotirmay Zamre (UG '26). Gian Adri (UG '27), who served as the vice-captain in AY25-26, has been promoted as he takes up the role of captain, while ABA cis-man MVP Arnav Patil (UG '28) will serve as the vice-captain.

Chess:

No changes on the board for Chess. Yashasvi Gupta (UG '28) stays on as captain, with Pranav Ananthasubramanyam (UG '28) continuing right beside her as vice-captain, both serving their second term in those positions. A successful winning term the first time saw notable gold medals at Agneepath and Magnus 2026. With a high turnout at trials, the experienced leadership will eye another successful season.

Cricket:

This is an important year for the cricket teams at Ashoka, with the introduction of the Women's Cricket Team. The team has been training since last semester and has now been officialised as a squad at Ashoka, having attended their first-ever pre-season training camp ahead of AY26-27. UG '28 duo Sana Todi and Tara Hebbar, who have been regulars on the scorecards across Ashoka's cricketing events, will be at the helm of the University's first edition of the women's team.

The men's cricket team will see familiar faces at the top, with skipper Raghav Bhushan (UG '27) and vice-captain Adit Deo Singh (UG '28), who is also serving as the Deputy Sports Minister, looking to lead the team into another successful season, following multiple semi-final appearances last season and a famous gold at Agneepath 2026.

Football:

There have been few on-field duos in recent memory better than UG '28's Mythili Vaidya and Aania Muthreja. Their Xavi-Iniesta-esque partnership in the midfield has been the engine room of the Ashoka Women's Football Team, and they now carry that into the leadership group, with Vaidya taking over as captain and Muthreja as vice-captain. The pair inherit the reins from Priyanshi Singh and Sanjna Sridhar (both UG '27), who led the team to their most successful season ever with six golds and two silvers. With the bar set so high after a season like that, the new captaincy duo will be looking to carry that momentum forward.

Edict Sports' own Bhavin Shivaa (UG '27) has been gearing up to step into the shoes of captain since, some say, he set foot onto the Ashoka football field. Following an immensely successful season as vice-captain, he takes up the top job, with UG '28's Krrish Jain serving as the vice-captain. As part of the team's core leadership system, covered in our men's football team profile back in January, a junior player takes on added responsibility each year—this time, the role falls to UG '29 Varun Girish as the team's second vice-captain.

Pool:

The pool team begins a new season with a new leadership following the graduation of former squad leader Arjun Kumbnani (UG '26). This time, in his place, two squad leaders, Kalid and Devang Arora (UG '27), have been appointed.

Kalid has been on the team since his first year at Ashoka, with a strong 2024 season behind him —a semi-final finish, a hard-fought runner-up finish decided on the final frame, and a quarterfinal run at Jindal. He is joined by the experienced Arora, who will be looking to rise to the job after not having travelled much with the team last season.

The pair take charge at a time of transition for the team: last season presented challenges in the absence of a dedicated coach, compounded by constraints around practice facilities, and the team is hoping for greater institutional support going forward. That said, this year's tryouts recorded the highest turnout since the team's inception, a development both leaders see as a positive sign for the season ahead.

Shooting:

Over in shooting, the experienced Agnim Agarwal (UG '27) takes over as captain, with Tejal Kaur (UG '29), having established herself as one of the standout names from last year's batch, stepping up as vice-captain. The team will have to adjust to life without Manas Karthik (UG '26), one of its most reliable hands on target, and there's a bigger adjustment still on the horizon. Current captain Agarwal, ex-captain Advay Awasthy and ex-vice-captain Arja Kakkad (all UG '27) are graduating next year, which makes this the last season the team gets to lean on that experience before it's gone.

The silver lining, if early impressions are anything to go by, is a first-year batch stacked with a handful of national-level shooters already in tow. If even some of that talent lives up to the noise, this could be the start of a strong, young core, giving shooting just the impetus it needs to go one step further and build on the medals from Agneepath and Magnus last season.

Snooker:

Billiards sees Ramit Sachdev and Surya Singh (both UG '27) pick up the cue from Tanuj Jaiswal (UG '26) as co-captains. Both new captains attribute much of their development (and the team's) to the players who led before them, with Jaiswal and other seniors building a strong competitive environment and showing their successors how a team should be run. The results showed last year, with Ashoka taking silver at Agneepath. Those experienced players have now graduated, but that gives the team a chance to bring in a fresh pair of hands. Sachdev and Singh are keen to build a stronger cue sports culture at Ashoka by practising more consistently and competing at more tournaments.

Squash:

Squash sees one of the youngest leadership overhauls of the lot, with second-years taking over the reins on both sides. Ved Bubna steps up as men's captain with Kushal Vir Singh as his deputy, while Aruja Saraf takes over as women's captain alongside Aanya Mehta as vice-captain (all four UG '29s). Young, yes, but hardly untested, if their former captains are anything to go by. In our team profile piece from March 2026, former captain Abhay Menon (UG '26) had singled out Singh as someone who brought real poise to the squad and Bubna for his tremendous growth in his first year on the team.

On the women's side, former captain Mehek Anand (UG '27) had similarly pointed to Saraf as one to watch, praising her sound technique and a smooth left-side drop shot. With young blood now running the show, the hope will be that they can drive interest among the incoming first-years and push squash to its largest form at Ashoka.

Swimming:

The swim team begins the new season with a newly renovated pool and a fresh leadership pair. Manya Gupta and Faizaan Saberwal, both UG '29 second-years, have taken over as captains from Mrinank Chandar (UG '26) and Raina Gupta (UG '27), who led the team last year.

Although the team participated in only one tournament last year (Magnus 2026 at OP Jindal Global University), they made the most of the opportunity, finishing with nine medals: four golds, three silvers, and two bronzes. Among the medal winners, new captains Gupta and Saberwal were a major part of the success, winning two gold medals each in the highly competitive 50m and 100m freestyle.

Although tournament exposure may have been limited, experience is not in short supply, as both captains are national-level swimmers. Things have also got off to a good start this year, with regularly scheduled training sessions and full availability of the pool, and the team hopes to take part in more tournaments this season.

Table Tennis:

The women's table tennis team enters the new season under fresh leadership, with MA '28 Mauli Sharma, the only Master's student across all squads as part of the leadership, stepping in as captain—notably, in her first year on the team itself—taking over from Avistika Sinha (UG '26), who graduated last year. Sharma's appointment comes backed by a serious competitive résumé. She represented India at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Youth Contender 2024 in Dubai and has competed in over 15 national-level rankings and championships, giving the team a great deal of experience and leadership. Supporting her is UG '29 Darshana Baishya, a second-year, who takes over as vice-captain after a promising debut season.

Meanwhile, the men's table tennis team sees Udayveer Agarwal (UG '28) take over the reins, succeeding Sharav Garg (UG '27) after a two-year term. Umang Khandelwal (UG '27), a table tennis team veteran, takes up the vice-captaincy to ring in his last year on the team. Coming off a season of mixed results — three golds and four silvers at Rishihood, World University of Design (WUD) and Delhi Technological University (DTU) were sullied by four semi-final defeats — the team's focus this year will be on converting those close finishes to medals.

Tennis:

In tennis, Vaibhav Jain (UG '27) and Anushka Garimella (UG '28) take over as men's and women's captains, respectively, after having served as vice-captains last season. But easing into the role doesn't mean an easy job ahead, as they inherit the role from two pivotal players, Arya Shah (UG '26) and Anika Urs (UG '26), respectively, leaving them with big shoes to fill both on the captaincy front and on-court.

The men's side faces the steeper rebuild, having lost a significant chink of experience in Sarthak Gandhi, Arya Shah and Mihir Aggarwal (all UG '26) all at once. New vice-captain Naman Anshuman (UG '28) will be central to bridging that gap, and much will hinge on how well he and Jain can bring a younger squad up to speed.

The women's side looks comparatively settled by contrast. Fourth-year Saima Mehta (UG '27) steps into the vice-captaincy after a season in which, as captain Garimella noted in our team profile piece last year, she carved out a bigger role for herself despite carrying a recurring knee injury.

Ultimate Frisbee:

Edict Sports seems to be a nursery for squad leaders! Our own Yashwanth Reddy (UG '27) is handed the reins for the upcoming season, with UG '28 Arya Gupta rounding out the leadership as vice-captain. Similar to quite a few others, the team has opened up the opportunity for other seniors to take up responsibilities, and the two squad leaders will be supported by a leadership team consisting of two spirit captains, two fitness leaders, and mentors in former captains Arnav Mayur and Akil Ravichandran (both UG '27).

Volleyball:

The women's volleyball team find themselves at a crucial point this year with change beckoning on the horizon and the team's UG '27 stalwarts — Sanah Tripathi, Shria Nair, and former Edict Sports Editor Aditi Gudi — all due to graduate at the end of the season. Fourth-year Tripathi takes over at the helm in her final year, while UG '28 Jahnavi Krishna steps up as vice-captain. UG '28 Nayna Taneja joins the leadership group as second vice-captain, with former captain Gudi (UG '27) serving as mentor after a two-year captaincy term.

In a growing trend, the men's volleyball team also feature a leadership team system this year. Ribhu Singh (UG '27) continues as captain, while UG '29 Ariya Meshram debuts as vice-captain, bringing a young, hungry energy to the leadership group and a lot of hope for the team's future. Stepping up to complete the leadership team is UG '28 Vikas Yadav, who served as vice-captain last year and has long been the team's defensive anchor.