Industry Odisha Bureau, Oct 03: India meet Pakistan in the Asian Games men’s cricket final. Malaysia stand between the hockey team and an LA 2028 Olympic quota. Archers and five wrestlers also chase medals.
Few days at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games will carry this much for India. Saturday brings two team finals, several Olympic quota chances and a crowded medal programme. The men’s cricket team plays for gold in the morning. The hockey title is decided in the afternoon. Between them sit archers, wrestlers and golfers, each with a podium in sight.
Pakistan in the Cricket Final
India face Pakistan in the men’s cricket gold medal match at 10am IST. The final will be played at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin. India arrive as defending champions. They reached the final with a convincing semifinal win over Sri Lanka. One more victory would complete the defence of their Asian Games title.
Hockey’s Double Prize
The later final may carry wider consequences. India’s men meet Malaysia for the hockey title at 3:30pm IST. The Asian Games gold medal is only part of the reward. The winner also earns a direct quota for the LA 2028 Olympics. For both sides, the match is a final and a qualifier in one.
Archers Within Reach of LA 2028
Individual recurve archery offers another path to an Olympic quota. Reaching the final secures an LA 2028 quota for the athlete’s National Olympic Committee.
Kumkum Mohod opens India’s day against South Korea’s Kang Chae-young at 5:30am IST. In the men’s draw, Dhiraj Bommadevara meets Uzbekistan’s Amirkhon Sadikov at 9:30am. Neeraj Chauhan follows against Bhutan’s Lam Dorji at 10:15am. Each needs two more wins to reach a final.
Five Wrestlers, Five Medal Routes
Wrestling adds depth after Sujeet Kalkal won men’s 65kg gold on Friday. Olympic medallist Aman Sehrawat leads the challenge in men’s freestyle 57kg. Sagar Jaglan competes at 74kg and Deepak Punia at 97kg.
World Championships medallist Antim Panghal enters the women’s 53kg event. Manisha Bhanwala wrestles in women’s 57kg. Opening rounds start at 7:23am IST. If they progress, medal bouts run from 2:37pm to 4:09pm IST. Sehrawat’s potential medal bout comes first, Bhanwala’s last.
A Lead to Protect
In golf, Pranavi Urs takes a three-shot lead into the women’s final round. Aditi Ashok knows how fragile such leads can be. She surrendered a seven-shot final-round advantage at Hangzhou and settled for silver in 2022. Urs, Ashok and Diksha Dagar also contest the women’s team event. Yuvraj Sandhu, Veer Ahlawat and Saptak Talwar play the men’s competitions.
Elsewhere on the Programme
Two taekwondo athletes also chase medals. Kashish Malik faces South Korea’s Kim Yu-jin in women’s -57kg. Jyoti Yadav meets Thailand’s Kanpanluck Chuenchooklin in women’s +67kg. Their medal contests fall in the afternoon, if they progress.
The women’s rugby sevens side meets Singapore in a 5th-8th place qualifier. The men’s volleyball team faces Thailand for fifth place. In sailing, Mahi Verma races the girls’ dinghy and Katya Coelho women’s windsurfing.
Where India Stand
India enter the penultimate day fifth in the Asian Games medal tally. They have 76 medals: 16 gold, 25 silver and 35 bronze. China lead with 316 medals, ahead of Japan, South Korea and Uzbekistan. Two finals, two Olympic quota routes and many individual chances now fill one Saturday. By evening, the shape of India’s campaign will be much clearer.
