India defeats Malaysia in Asian Hockey Games final and secures ticket to Los Angeles 2028 Olympics

India has another good piece of news at the Asian Games: following an impressive success by the women's team, the mixed team in archery also won a gold medal, creating history.

In the mixed archery final against South Korea, India's dominance was evident from the start. The pair Chikita Taniparty and Sahil Rajesh Jadhav hit the ten ring on every arrow in the first two sets. Thanks to brilliant play in the first half of the match, India gained a confident two-point lead, leading 80-78 against Korea.

In the semi-final of the team tournament, the pair Chikita Taniparty and Sahil (Rajesh) Jadhav played a tense match against Thailand. The Indian pair demonstrated incredible composure in this fierce battle and defeated Thailand by a very narrow margin—156-155, securing their place in the final.

The Indian archers displayed aggressive play from the beginning of the competition. After taking the lead with a score of 39-37 in the first round, the pair continued to show excellent shots even under pressure. Although the Thai team tried to make a comeback, Chikita and Sahil secured India's victory with flawless shots in the closing moments.

The quarterfinals of the men's cricket tournament at the Asian Games 2026 in Nagoya have been fully determined. After the match in Group A was cancelled due to rain on September 26 (Saturday), Nepal and Afghanistan advanced to the next round, while the host country Japan was eliminated from the tournament.

Malaysia and Hong Kong advanced to the next stage from Group B. In the last match of Group A, Nepal and Japan faced each other. This match took place at Korogi Sports Park in Nishin city. Nepal, having lost the toss, started with bat, scoring a strong total of 149/4 in 15 overs. Sandeep Jora and Lokesh Bam helped the team reach a good position, but then it started raining. Due to the continuous rain, Japan's innings did not begin, and the match ended without a winner.

This result brought direct benefits to Nepal and Afghanistan. Earlier, Nepal achieved a major surprise in Group A by defeating Afghanistan. For Japan, this match was the last chance to remain in the tournament, but the rain dashed its hopes.

In Group B, the match between Malaysia and Oman was also cancelled due to rain, and no balls were bowled. As a result of this match, Malaysia and Hong Kong qualified for the quarterfinals, and Oman's campaign ended.

Following the completion of the preliminary round matches, the full quarterfinal schedule was announced. India will face Afghanistan on September 28 (Monday) at 10:00 AM. On the same day, at 5:30 AM Indian time, Pakistan and Hong Kong will meet. The third quarterfinal match will feature Sri Lanka against Nepal, and in the fourth quarterfinal, Malaysia will play against Bangladesh. Both of these matches will take place on September 29 (Tuesday).

The romance of women's cricket at the 2026 Asian Games has reached its peak as the Indian and Sri Lankan teams will meet again for the gold medal. These two teams have previously faced each other in the Asian Games final.

India won the last time. The defending champion demonstrated outstanding play in the tournament. In the quarter-finals, India achieved their goal in just 5 overs, restricting Japan to only 57 runs. In the semi-finals, the team scored an impressive 195 runs against Bangladesh, which was eliminated with 81 points. Thus, the Indian players intend to continue playing strongly against Sri Lanka, aiming to win gold.

The Indian team secured a dominant victory with a score of 114 runs, and now they are ready to face Sri Lanka in the gold medal match.

For their part, the Sri Lankan team also showed excellent play. They advanced to the final by defeating Malaysia in the quarter-finals by a margin of 86 runs and Pakistan in the semi-finals by 8 wickets. Sri Lanka's captain and star all-rounder, Chamari Atapattu, is in great form and could be the biggest threat to India. Besides Atapattu, Hasini Perera and Kavisha Dilhari played well. Sri Lanka understands that to beat India, they need to put pressure on the Indian batsmen early in the game.

The foundation of the Indian team's attack is Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma, who consistently score runs. In bowling, Dipti Sharma and Shri Charani successfully use their spin bowling to dismiss batsmen. Nevertheless, slight instability in the middle order of the Indian team is a concern. Middle-order players, with the exception of captain Harmanpreet Kaur, failed to show the expected level of play, which requires improvement before the final.

Looking at head-to-head statistics, India had an advantage in T20 cricket. Out of 31 matches between the two teams, India won 25. Furthermore, this month both teams met in the Women's Asian Cup final, where the Indian team won convincingly by a margin of 72 runs.