India on Saturday beat Malaysia 5-1 for a gold medal in the final match of men's hockey at the Asian Games 2026 at Japan's Aichi-Nagoya, climbing up the rankings to fourth place.
The first quarter of the match was extremely fast-paced, with India taking the lead in the 11th minute with a drag-flick by Harmanpreet Singh from a penalty corner.
However, Malaysia quickly responded, with Sheilo Silverius finding the back of the net just three minutes later to equalise the score.
After Jugraj Singh's stellar strike in the 23rd minute to restore India’s lead to 2-1, Hardik Singh took things one step forward at the 42-minute mark, converting a penalty stroke to give India a better edge.
This intensified the match as Malaysia tried its best to stop India from defending their Asian Games hockey crown. It even blocked India from scoring two penalties, but Shilanand Lakra still fired a goal to widen the lead in the last quarter.
Yet, Team India charged on, with Harmanpreet's drag-flick turning into his second goal of the match at the end of the last quarter, ending Malaysia's hopes for an Asian Games gold this year. He is now the first Indian captain to lead a hockey team to two consecutive gold medals.
India's hockey wins have also given them their third double gold in both men's and women's team events, after kabaddi and cricket.
This takes India's medal tally past 80—21 gold, 26 silver and 36 bronze—and into the fourth place, pulling Uzbekistan down to fifth. The latter has 21 gold, 25 silver, and 24 bronze medals, putting its total at 70.
In women's wrestling, Antim Panghal won a silver in the 53kg category after losing 9-1 to Japan’s Moe Kiyooka in the final.
Though she managed to score her opening point of the bout after trailing 2-0, Kiyooka soon retaliated with a takedown, followed by a late four-point move to prevent Antim from getting the gold.
Saturday was a better day for men's wrestling, with Deepak Punia's hard-fought 2-1 win against Mongolia’s Gankhuyag Ganbaatar for the bronze medal in the 97kg category, and Aman Sehrawat striking gold after defeating North Korea’s Han Chong Song 11-7 in the thrilling final of the 57kg category.
