India face Pakistan in Asian Games hockey semifinal with Olympic place on the line

India will meet Pakistan in the Asian Games men's hockey semifinal on Thursday at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium in Aichi-Nagoya, with the winner advancing to the gold-medal match and securing a direct berth to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The match renews a long-running rivalry; India have not lost to Pakistan since the 2016 South Asian Games final and enter as the defending champions. Conditions are expected to improve, with Kakamigahara forecast to be sunny after persistent rain earlier in the week, and India chief coach Craig Fulton underlined the moment’s intensity: “In tournament hockey, all roads lead to this point. Semifinals are games of consequence, so it's exciting,” he said.

Pakistan reached the last four after topping most of Pool B but were denied first place by a 4-5 loss to Malaysia, a defeat that left them second and matched them with India in the semis. Their earlier pool results were wins over Thailand (9-0), Uzbekistan (5-1), China (3-0) and Oman (7-2), and drag-flick specialist Sufiyan Khan leads the tournament scoring chart with 11 goals.

India progressed through Pool A with five wins from five matches, scoring 49 goals and conceding four, beginning with 13-1 over Indonesia and 16-1 over Sri Lanka, then an 8-2 victory against South Korea, a 2-0 win over hosts Japan and a 10-0 result against Bangladesh. Dilpreet Singh has nine goals and sits joint second on the scoring list, while Abhishek and captain Harmanpreet Singh have eight each; Harmanpreet’s drag-flicks remain a major weapon from penalty corners.

India will be without midfielder Raj Kumar Pal after he suffered a left thumb fracture in the final pool match; travelling reserve Nilakanta Sharma has been added to the squad as his replacement. On the selection Fulton said: “It's just unfortunate for Raj. At the same time, we have great experience that's coming in. Nilakanta has been at the Olympics, World Cup. So, it's a nice addition in terms of an experienced player coming in at an important time,” Fulton said.

Both sides will pay particular attention to set pieces, with Pakistan’s Sufiyan Khan and India’s Harmanpreet Singh likely to be pivotal from penalty corners; observers expect that conceding such opportunities could significantly affect the outcome.

The winning team will progress to the gold-medal match and claim the Asian Games’ direct qualification slot for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics; the tournament’s other semifinal pairs Malaysia against South Korea.