India's Women Beat China 1-0 for Asian Games Hockey Gold After 44 Years, and the Men Beat Pakistan 4-3 and Malaysia 5-1 to Retain Their Title

Lalremsiami’s reverse-hit in the tenth minute against China on 2 October 2026 gave India’s women the Asian Games hockey title, their first since 1982. The next day the men, captained by Harmanpreet Singh, beat Malaysia 5-1 to keep the title they won in 2023. Both finals were played in Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture, as part of the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, the men’s at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium. Organiser and UNI report that it was the first time Indian men’s and women’s hockey teams had won gold at the same Asian Games.

The medal table is in our overview of India at the 2026 Asian Games. This piece follows the matches themselves: the women’s final, the men’s semi-final against Pakistan and the men’s final.

The women arrive unbeaten

India’s women won all five of their pool matches, against Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan and Singapore, according to Telangana Today. The semi-final came on 30 September against South Korea. The first two quarters were goalless, though India won eight penalty corners, PTI reported, and the Korean goalkeeper Seoyeon Lee made several saves.

Ishika Chaudhary broke through in the 44th minute, deflecting in a penalty-corner variation worked by Deepika. A second goal followed in the 48th minute. PTI credited it to the captain, Salima Tete, after a solo run, while Telangana Today recorded it as an own goal off a Korean defender’s stick following a move that Tete started. India won 2-0. China, the defending champions, reached the final by beating Japan 4-2 in a shootout after a goalless 60 minutes.

One goal, ten minutes in

The final on Friday, 2 October was decided early. Telangana Today described the move: Salima Tete passed into the circle, Sakshi found Lalremsiami, and Lalremsiami hit a reverse shot into the roof of the net in the 10th minute. The Week reported that it was her 200th senior international appearance.

China, which Onmanorama describes as the Paris Olympics silver medallists, pressed for the rest of the match. The Week reported that goalkeeper Savita Punia saved a Chinese penalty stroke, and Telangana Today noted a goal-line clearance by Navneet Kaur that stopped a penalty-corner attempt. Reports differ on whether the stroke came in the second quarter or the second half, so this article gives no minute for it. Japan beat South Korea 4-2 in a shootout for bronze, Onmanorama reported.

The result ended a 44-year gap. India’s only earlier Asian Games women’s hockey gold came in 1982 in New Delhi, the year the sport joined the programme, according to Onmanorama and Telangana Today. India reached the finals of 1998 and 2018 and took silver both times, losing to South Korea and then to Japan, Onmanorama reported.

The men’s semi-final: 3-0, then 3-3, then a goal in the last minute

On Thursday, 1 October the men met Pakistan in the semi-final, again at Kakamigahara. India were defending champions and had won all five pool matches, Business Today reported. The midfielder Raj Kumar Pal was ruled out before the match with a fractured left thumb and was replaced by Nilakanta Sharma.

Harmanpreet Singh scored from penalty corners in the 5th and 13th minutes, and Sukhjeet Singh made it 3-0 in the 23rd after a move that Manpreet Singh started, Telangana Today reported. Outlook India reported that Dilpreet Singh received a green card, leaving India with ten players for two minutes.

Pakistan came back. Abu Mahmood scored from a penalty corner in the 30th minute. Hannan Shahid made it 3-2 in the 45th, after what the Associated Press of Pakistan called a defensive error by India, and Waheed Rana, set up by Shahid, levelled at 3-3 in the 49th.

The winner came in the final minute. The Associated Press of Pakistan reported that Abhishek’s shot deflected off Pakistan’s Sufyan Khan and beat the goalkeeper. India won 4-3. Pakistan’s hockey federation president, Mohyuddin Ahmed Wani, said, “Coming back from 3-0 down to level the match 3-3 shows the true spirit and potential of Pakistan hockey.” Pakistan went on to take bronze with a 5-3 win over South Korea on 3 October, UNI and ThePrint reported.

Outlook India noted that it was the first time since 1998 that both Indian teams had reached the Asian Games hockey finals in the same edition.

Five goals against Malaysia

Malaysia had beaten South Korea 2-1 in the other semi-final. The final on Saturday, 3 October is also listed as a 5-1 full-time result on Hockey India’s international tournaments page, which gives the start as 15:30 IST.

ThePrint described an attacking start from India, with play mostly in the Malaysian half in the first quarter. Harmanpreet opened the scoring in the 11th minute with a drag-flick from a penalty corner. Malaysia equalised about three minutes later through Shello Silverius, a field goal. The scoring then ran as follows, with minutes from The Week, the New Straits Times, UNI and ThePrint:

• 23rd minute: Jugraj Singh, a drag-flick from a penalty corner, 2-1.
• 42nd minute: Hardik Singh, the vice-captain, from a penalty stroke, 3-1.
• 54th minute: Shilanand Lakra, from close range after a run by Abhishek, 4-1.
• 57th minute: Harmanpreet, a second penalty-corner drag-flick after a video referral, 5-1.

OneIndia places Hardik Singh’s stroke at the end of the second quarter. The four outlets that gave a minute all put it at 42.

This was India’s fifth Asian Games men’s hockey gold, after 1966, 1998, 2014 and 2023, as Organiser and UNI list them, and the first time India had defended the title. ThePrint noted that India are also the reigning Olympic bronze medallists, a result covered in our piece on the Paris 2024 bronze.

Malaysia had lost the 2010 final to Pakistan and the 2018 final to Japan on penalties after leading 5-2, the New Straits Times noted, so the silver was another near miss. Faizal Saari, a Malaysian forward, said: “We knew that India would be the favourites and we had studied their game.” He told the paper Malaysia had done well in the first two quarters. A win would have given Malaysia an automatic place at the Los Angeles Olympics.

What the golds earned

The International Hockey Federation’s qualification system for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, in the version dated 4 June 2026, lists the 20th Asian Games men’s and women’s hockey competitions as the continental qualifier for Asia. The highest-placed team that has not already qualified as host or through the Pro League takes the quota place. India’s winners therefore skip the Olympic qualification tournaments planned for early 2028, as Business Today, ThePrint and UNI all report. The place is confirmed as of 29 October 2026.

For the women it is a return to the Olympics after Paris 2024, where India did not qualify, Business Today reported. The men qualified for Paris by winning the 2023 Asian Games and now have a place for Los Angeles by winning this one.

The Prime Minister’s office posted on 3 October, as UNI reported: “The 2026 Asian Games have been truly special for Indian Hockey!”