India Complete Hockey Golden Double, Women End 44-Year Wait as Men Defend Title

India completed a hockey golden double at the Asian Games, with the women beating China 1-0 to end a 44-year wait for gold on Friday, before the men defended their title with a 5-1 rout of Malaysia on Saturday, both results securing direct qualification for the LA 2028 Olympics.

The men's team, captained by Harmanpreet Singh, went through the tournament unbeaten, surviving a dramatic 4-3 semi-final against arch-rivals Pakistan before dominating Malaysia in the final. It is India's fifth Asian Games men's title, adding to their wins in 1966, 1998, 2014 and 2022, and a successful defence of the gold they won at Hangzhou.

The women's win was the more historic of the two, their first Asian Games hockey gold since 1982 and ending defending champions China's reign at the top. India went through their campaign unbeaten as well, having earlier beaten South Korea in the semi-final. It marks the first time since 1998 that both India's men's and women's hockey teams have reached the Asian Games final in the same edition, and the first time both have won gold together.