Malaysia lose 5-1 to India in the Asian Games hockey final, missing out on gold and an automatic place at the LA 2028 Olympics
KAKAMIGAHARA: National men’s hockey squad forward Faizal Saari admitted that India are in a league of their own after Malaysia were crushed 5-1 in the final of the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium here today.
Faizal said the national squad had done their best to stop India, but failed to maintain their momentum after putting up a fierce fight in the first half.
India opened the scoring through a penalty corner by Harmanpreet Singh in the 11th minute, before Shello Silverius equalised three minutes later with a field goal.
However, India regained control of the game with Jugraj Singh putting them ahead in the 23rd minute via a penalty corner, before Hardik Singh scored another goal in the 42nd minute.
Shilanand Lakra then widened the gap in the 54th minute before Harmanpreet completed India’s victory with a goal from a penalty corner in the 57th minute.
Faizal said the national squad had expected India to be the clear favourites and specific preparations were made to counter the strength of the eighth-ranked team in the world.
“We knew India is the favourite team and we had studied their play. We tried our best to contain them. We tried to neutralise their speed and it worked in the first half. I think we played well in the first and second quarters, but we couldn’t maintain that momentum until the end of the match,” he said.
India, ranked eighth in the world, is a higher-ranked team compared to Malaysia at 12th in the world.
A victory over India would not only have allowed Malaysia to win the gold medal, but also secured an automatic slot to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games (LA28), which is one of the national squad’s main targets.
The defeat sees Malaysia once again missing the opportunity to end the wait for a men’s hockey gold medal at the Asian Games, after losing 0-2 to Pakistan in the final of the 2010 edition and falling to Japan via a penalty shootout in 2018 after squandering a 5-2 lead.
