Nagoya: What should have been a cruise for turned into a nerve-wracker in the Asian Games 2026 men’s hockey semifinal on Thursday.
India had the last laugh again over Pakistan, thanks to an Abhishek Yadav goal with just 49 seconds left for a possible penalty stroke shootout, thereby setting up a 4-3 win.
In the gold-medal clash on October 3, India will face Malaysia, who edged out South Korea 2-1 in the second semifinal.
India’s thrilling victory extended its unbeaten streak over Pakistan to 21 matches (19 won, 2 drawn).
Had Harmanpreet Singh’s men lost on Thursday, they would have only themselves to blame.
Up 2-0 in the first quarter, thanks to a penalty-corner brace from skipper Harmanpreet, and adding a third in the 23rd minute through a Sukhbeer Singh field goal, India may have taken the Pakistanis for granted.
The green brigade saw the chance and mounted a big comeback. After wasting several penalty corners, Pakistan broke through moments before the end of second quarter as captain Abu Mahmood beat goalkeeper Mohith HS.
India conceded the second goal in the closing moments of the third quarter, when they were one man down. Hannan Shahid tapped home in the 45th minute following a scramble in front of the Indian goal.
The final quarter turned into a frantic battle. Pakistan completed their stupendous comeback in the 49th minute when Waheed Ashraf Rana found the net to make it 3-3.
Just when it seemed the tense semifinal will go into a penalty shootout, Abhishek pushed the ball towards goal from the edge of the circle. It took a deflection off Sufiyan’s stick and found the backboard, sending the Indian camp into wild celebrations.
India, Pakistan set up cricket final
Earlier in the day, the Indian men’s cricket team set up a blockbuster gold-medal clash with Pakistan.
The sun was out after days of incessant rain, and Shreyas Iyer made the most of it, outplaying Sri Lanka by 124 runs in the semifinal. Ishan Kishan’s unbeaten 80 (46 balls, 4×4, 5×6) on a tricky pitch set up a good total of 169/7.
The bowlers, led by Jasprit Bumrah, then revelled in helpful conditions to skittle out the inexperienced Sri Lankan team for 45.
Pakistan saw off Bangladesh’s challenge by 6 wickets in the other semifinal.