Aichi-Nagoya [Japan], October 3 (ANI): India’s T20I males’s crew captain Shreyas Iyer congratulated the Indian girls’s hockey crew after they clinched the gold medal on the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan on Friday.
The Indian girls’s hockey crew produced a historic efficiency, defeating reigning Asian champions China 1-0 to clinch the gold medal and finish a 44-year anticipate an Asian Games. The gold medal additionally brings a big reward for the Indian crew, because the victory secures direct qualification for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
In an X submit following India’s hockey gold, Iyer hailed the crew’s achievement as a proud second for Indian sport and seemed forward to their participation on the LA Olympics.
“Congratulations to the Indian Women’s Hockey Team on winning gold at the Asian Games. A proud moment for Indian sport. Next stop, LA 2028,” he mentioned in an X submit.
Ranked No. 8 on the earth, India surprised World No. 4 China in a fiercely contested closing, with Lalremsiami scoring the decisive purpose within the tenth minute by means of a discipline purpose. The triumph marks India’s first girls’s hockey medal on the Asian Games since 1982, when the crew final stood on the rostrum.Â
This marked India’s 76th medal on the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, with 16 golds, 25 silver medals and 35 bronze medals.
The achievement comes after a tough Olympic cycle for the Indian girls’s hockey crew, which narrowly missed out on qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympics following its spectacular fourth-place end on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
India’s marketing campaign was additionally highlighted by a prolific goalscoring effort. Deepika completed because the event’s prime goalscorer with 21 objectives, adopted by teammate Navneet Kaur with 10 objectives, whereas China’s Jiaqi Zhong scored 9.
Notably, Iyer himself may have an opportunity to clinch a gold medal because the Indian cricket crew will face arch-rivals Pakistan within the Asian Games 2026 cricket closing at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin on Saturday.
Led by Iyer, India stormed into the ultimate with a commanding 124-run victory over Sri Lanka within the semi-final on Thursday. Their quarter-final towards Afghanistan was washed out.
India enter the ultimate because the defending Asian Games males’s cricket champions, having received the gold medal on the Hangzhou 2023 Games. (ANI)