Nagoya: Everything that glitters was, indeed, gold for the Indian contingent at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games 2026 on a fabulous Friday.
A historic gold medal won by the women’s hockey team proved to be the icing on the cake as it was a record-equalling sixth top-of-the-podium finish of the day for Indians.
India edged past a fighting China 1-0 to end a 44-year-old gold-medal drought for the Indian women’s team. Their only previous gold came in the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi, when women’s hockey was introduced in the quadrennial continental Games.
With a day’s competition to go, India are in fifth place with 16 gold, 25 silver and 35 bronze medals. India will hope to add at least two more gold medals on Saturday — India face Malaysia in Men’s Hockey final and Jasprit Bumrah & Co. come up against Pakistan in the Cricket final.
The Asian Games triumph helped India qualify for Women’s Hockey event in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
India struck in the 10th minute, Mizoram’s Lalremsiami pulling off a stunning strike. Skipper Salima Tete turned over the ball to Sakshi Rana, who squared it for Lalremsiami to unleash a reverse hit from an acute angle which rocketed to the high part of the net, much to the bewilderment of the Chinese goalkeeper.
It was arguably the goal of the tournament, and came on a day when Lalremsiami was playing his 200th international match.
Fabulous goal by Lalremsiami !!❤️#IndiaWvsChinaW #asiangames2026 #Hockey pic.twitter.com/mrCtVbzL3G
— रोहन सिंघल (@rohan__Singhal) October 2, 2026
𝗔 𝟮𝟬𝟬𝗧𝗛 𝗖𝗔𝗣 𝗜𝗡 𝗔𝗦𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗚𝗔𝗠𝗘𝗦 𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗟! 🇮🇳❤️
From representing India as a young player to becoming one of the team’s experienced campaigners, Lalremsiami has had a memorable journey in the national jersey. Today, she adds another landmark chapter as she takes… pic.twitter.com/09MCczV0ZT
— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) October 2, 2026
Indian goalkeeper Savita Punia was the other star of the team, stopping a penalty stroke to deny China an equaliser.
China came all out in the second half, especially the final quarter, but every Indian player defended stoutly to hold their citadel.
The celebrations flowed.. from the pitch to the dressing room.
𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗠𝗣𝗜𝗢𝗡, 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗠𝗣𝗜𝗢𝗡! 🥇🇮🇳
Everybody knows say the Indian Women’s Team are CHAMPIONS! 😎🏆
The gold is ours, and the celebrations are only getting started! 💃🏑🔥#HockeyIndia #IndiaKaGame #AsianGames2026 #AichiNagoya2026 pic.twitter.com/bwjLi9EhA6
— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) October 2, 2026
