The India Malaysia hockey final is at 3:30 pm IST on Saturday at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium, the last team match of India’s hockey campaign at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. India are the defending champions. The winner also takes a quota for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, which is why the final is about more than the medal table.
What the India Malaysia hockey final is worth
Olympics.com listed the men’s final as the quota match in hockey on India’s 3 October schedule. A win would also open a piece of history the women’s team has already set up. India beat China 1-0 in Friday’s women’s final, Lalremsiami scoring in the 10th minute, to end a 44-year wait for women’s gold. If the men win in Gifu, it would be the first Asian Games in which India’s men’s and women’s teams both leave with gold.
Malaysia are in the final on their own run, and India cannot treat the afternoon as a procession. The men have been asked for a cleaner performance than earlier knockout nights. The venue is Gifu, not the cricket ground at Nisshin, and the clock is the evening session in Japan, mid-afternoon at home.
Where it sits in Saturday’s medal day
The India Malaysia hockey final is the late headline after a morning already given to the cricket final against Pakistan and to individual medal matches in archery and wrestling. Going into Saturday, India Today put India’s tally at 76 medals: 16 gold, 25 silver and 35 bronze, fifth on the table behind China, Japan, South Korea and Uzbekistan. Hockey is one of the few sports that can still add a gold and an Olympic place on the same whistle.
Nothing in that tally is a prediction. The match is this afternoon. The quota goes to the winner, not to the defending champion by default.
Next on TrendDesh: Asian Games final day brings archery, wrestling and golf medal chances
Today’s News 3 Oct 2026 · 11 stories
1Drishyam 3 box office: Ajay Devgn film nets ₹66.75 crore on opening dayOct 3, 2026
2India oil imports from the Gulf rise as Russian crude eases in SeptemberOct 3, 2026
3Supreme Court tightens services for motorists with unpaid traffic finesOct 3, 2026
4Asian Games final day brings archery, wrestling and golf medal chancesOct 3, 2026
5India Malaysia hockey final in Gifu carries gold and an LA 2028 placeOct 3, 2026 · Reading now
6India Pakistan cricket final in Nisshin will decide Asian Games goldOct 3, 2026- 7IMD says monsoon withdrawal will push further across north and central IndiaOct 3, 2026
8Sensex eight-week fall is the longest weekly slide in 25 yearsOct 3, 2026
9President Murmu gives assent to the Gujarat and Assam UCC billsOct 3, 2026- 10Retired judges open an inquiry into the SIR voter list revisionOct 3, 2026
11Election Commission starts a Form 6 voter list check for names dropped in the SIROct 3, 2026
Drishyam 3 Day-1: Ajay Devgn film crosses ₹60 crore net, tops Pathaan opener
Drishyam: The Conclusion opened on 2 Oct to a career-best Ajay Devgn start, with India net collections past ₹62 crore by 9…
Rajasthan stays dry on 2 Oct: no rain alert for Jaipur, Bharatpur, Dausa
Meteorological updates on 2 Oct kept Jaipur, Bharatpur and Dausa under dry conditions with no rain alert, while broader state notes flagged…
CM Bhajanlal flags ₹41,000-crore water push; Dhanawati reservoir tender moves
Rajasthan CM Bhajanlal Sharma on 2 Oct highlighted about ₹41,000 crore in water projects, including Yamuna allocation works and a ₹1,622-crore Dhanawati…
Rajasthan logs 10.92 crore tourist visits in H1 2026; Sikar leads on faith footfall
Rajasthan recorded 10.92 crore tourist visits in January–June 2026, with Sikar topping domestic arrivals on Khatu Shyamji traffic and Jaipur leading foreign…
Jaipur: family protests second day over nursing student Prakash Khinchi’s death
Family members of nursing student Prakash Khinchi continued a second-day protest in Jaipur on 2 Oct, alleging murder after he was found…
Jaipur police arrest two in ₹100-crore investment fraud; Mercedes seized
Sodala police on 2 Oct said two accused in a roughly ₹100-crore property-and-crypto investment fraud were arrested, with a ₹1.25-crore Mercedes and…
Asian Games finals preview: India vs Pakistan cricket; hockey men face Malaysia
On 2 Oct, India prepared for Saturday’s blockbuster finals — men’s cricket gold against Pakistan and men’s hockey gold against unbeaten Malaysia…
Sujeet Kalkal’s stunning 10–9 comeback wins Asian Games wrestling gold
Sujeet Kalkal overturned a 9–2 deficit to beat Tajikistan’s Abdulmazhid Kudiev 10–9 for men’s freestyle 65kg gold on 2 Oct, after earlier…
Asian Games Day 13: India smash six golds, surge into top five on tally
India’s best day at Aichi-Nagoya brought six golds on 2 Oct — hockey, boxing, archery, wrestling — lifting the contingent into the…
Lovlina Borgohain wins Asian Games boxing gold; India bag three ring titles
Olympic medallist Lovlina Borgohain won women’s 75kg gold on 2 Oct, joining Mary Kom in an exclusive club as India completed a…
India women beat China 1–0 for Asian Games hockey gold, book LA 2028 spot
India’s women ended a 44-year wait for Asian Games hockey gold on 2 Oct, beating China 1–0 through Lalremsiami’s strike and Savita’s…
Education Minister reviews exam security, CBT plan amid possible NEET-UG shift
Union Education Minister Pralhad Joshi on 2 Oct reviewed national exam security and computer-based testing infrastructure as the government weighs a possible…
Indian private payloads reach orbit on SpaceX Falcon 9 from private space firms
Multiple Indian private-sector payloads — including from Dhruva Space, SatLeo Labs, TakeMe2Space and EON Space — reached orbit on 2 Oct aboard…
India eyes closing 114-Rafale fighter deal by financial year-end: Defence Secy
The Defence Secretary said on 2 Oct that India expects to conclude procurement of 114 additional Rafale fighters by the financial year-end,…
Apple Pay in India: Axis credit cards only for now; no UPI, RuPay or debit
Two days after launch, Apple Pay works in India only with Axis Bank Visa and Mastercard credit cards — with no UPI,…
SC refuses interim stay on UPI MDR; asks Centre and RBI to explain levy
The Supreme Court on 2 Oct refused an interim stay on proposed MDR for eligible UPI transactions and sought detailed replies from…
Jantar Mantar protest: about 1,100 detained as Opposition targets CEC over SIR
Delhi Police detained roughly 1,100 protesters at Jantar Mantar on 2 Oct, including AAP’s Atishi and Sanjay Singh, as Opposition parties demanded…
India’s 2026 monsoon weakest since 2015; farmers and shopowners count the cost
India’s southwest monsoon ended about 12.6% below average in 2026 — the weakest since 2015 — raising risks for farm output, rural…
Gandhi Jayanti holiday: Banks, markets shut; UPI and ATMs stay open
On 2 Oct Gandhi Jayanti, bank branches, schools and equity markets stayed closed across India, while digital banking, UPI and ATMs remained…
Shastri Jayanti: Modi, Murmu honour ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ legacy at Vijay Ghat
On 2 Oct, PM Modi and President Murmu paid tributes to Lal Bahadur Shastri on his birth anniversary, recalling simplicity, national service…
Gandhi Jayanti 2026: Murmu, Modi lead tributes on 157th birth anniversary
President Murmu and PM Modi led Gandhi Jayanti tributes on 2 Oct, marking Mahatma Gandhi’s 157th birth anniversary and the UN International…
Drishyam 3 advance bookings race toward ₹50 crore Day-1; release on 2 Oct
Ajay Devgn’s Drishyam: The Conclusion logged strong 1 Oct advances — about ₹19.7 crore for Day 1 alone and ₹36–38 crore for…
Fire guts Jaipur garment factory in Mansarovar RIICO; state stays dry
A readymade garment factory fire in Jaipur’s Mansarovar RIICO area on 1 Oct was controlled after two and a half hours with…
CM Bhajanlal launches ₹1,277 crore Shekhawati projects, pushes Yamuna water
Rajasthan CM Bhajanlal Sharma on 1 Oct launched 83 projects worth about ₹1,277 crore across Sikar, Churu and Jhunjhunu and pitched the…