India Face Malaysia in Asian Games Men's Hockey Gold Medal Match on October 3

India's men's hockey team will play Malaysia for the Asian Games 2026 gold medal on Saturday, October 3, at 3:30 PM IST at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium in Kakamigahara. India are the defending champions from Hangzhou 2023. The gold medallist earns a direct place at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

India reached the final with a dramatic 4-3 win over Pakistan in Thursday's semi-final. Captain Harmanpreet Singh scored from penalty corners in the 5th and 13th minutes, and Sukhjeet Singh added a field goal in the 23rd to make it 3-0. Pakistan then came back through Abu Mahmood (30th), Hannan Shahid (45th) and Waheed Rana (49th). With a shootout looming, Abhishek scored the winner with about 50 seconds left, after a shot deflected off a Pakistani stick into the goal. The semi-final also marked Mandeep Singh's 300th senior international appearance.

Malaysia beat South Korea 2-1 in the other semi-final. Pakistan and South Korea will meet in the bronze medal match on the same day.

India came through Pool A with five wins from five matches. They scored 49 goals and conceded four. The results included an 8-2 win over South Korea, a 2-0 win over Japan, which was their toughest pool match, and a 10-0 win over Bangladesh. The unbeaten run follows a disappointing seventh-place finish at this year's World Cup.

India have not lost to Pakistan since the 2016 South Asian Games final. A win on Saturday would give India back-to-back Asian Games titles and a direct ticket to Los Angeles. The women's team plays China for gold today at 3:30 PM IST, the first time both Indian teams have reached the finals at the same Games since 1998.