Asian Games 2026: India to face Pakistan in men's volleyball quarter-finals on Oct 1 at 6:30 AM IST

India will play Pakistan in the men's volleyball quarter-finals at the Asian Games 2026 on Thursday, October 1, with the match scheduled for 6:30 AM IST. The fixture was confirmed as part of the tournament's quarter-final draw.

The pairing was fixed on Tuesday and all four quarter-finals are scheduled for Thursday. India topped Pool C with three wins from three matches. Pakistan finished second in Pool A after a 3-0 defeat to hosts Japan, and Japan will now face Qatar in another quarter-final.

India opened their pool campaign with 3-0 wins over Vietnam and Hong Kong China before their final pool match against Qatar. Against Qatar they lost the first two sets 26-28 and 25-27, then recovered to win 25-23, 25-20 and 24-22; the match lasted 167 minutes. Qatar reached match point first at 14-13 in the deciding set and India saved nine match points in total. A point was replayed in that match after a review found infringements on both sides of the net.

Jerome Vinith scored 27 points in the Qatar match, all from spikes. Amit Singh Balwan contributed 24 points and Joel Benjamin Jebaraj had 17.

Pakistan beat Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in Pool A before losing 27-29, 20-25, 22-25 to Japan. In that match Pakistan led the opening set by five points but their reception faltered and Japan came back to win.

Pakistan enter the quarter-final with a higher ranking, No. 39, compared to India's No. 49. Pakistan also have recent wins over India at major Games, including a 3-1 victory at the 2018 Jakarta Games and a 3-0 result at Hangzhou 2022; India remain unbeaten in Aichi-Nagoya during this tournament.

India and Pakistan will meet on Thursday, 1 October, at 6:30 AM IST; the winner will advance to the semi-finals and the loser will be eliminated from the competition.