From Muhammad Afiff Md Adnan
KAKAMIGAHARA, Oct 3 (Bernama) -- The long wait for the Malaysian men's hockey squad to return to the Olympic stage remains a distant dream after a 1-5 defeat to India in the final of the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium, tonight.
The defeat sees Malaysia once again failing to utilise the Asian Games stage to win the title, which offers an automatic qualification ticket to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games (LA28), after a similar opportunity was also missed at the 2018 edition in Jakarta-Palembang.
India, as the defending champions, started fiercely when captain Harmanpreet Singh opened the scoring via a penalty corner in the 11th minute but Malaysia bounced back to equalise three minutes later through Shello Silverius' fierce strike from inside the D-box to make it 1-1.
Both teams then increased the game's intensity before Jugraj Singh put India ahead again with a goal in the 23rd minute.
Entering the third quarter, India continued to press and earned two penalty corners, one of which resulted in a penalty stroke and Hardik Singh did not waste the opportunity, converting the penalty stroke in the 42nd minute to widen India's lead to 3-1.
India continued to dominate the game in the final quarter as Shilanand Lakra added a goal in the 54th minute, before Harmanpreet completed his glorious night with his second goal three minutes later to secure a 5-1 victory and India's fifth title.
For the record, Malaysia has never won a men's hockey gold medal at the Asian Games, with the country's best achievements being the silver medal at the 2010 edition in Guangzhou after losing to Pakistan and the 2018 edition in Jakarta-Palembang after bowing to Japan.
The defeat means Malaysia must go through another route in their quest to hunt for the LA28 Olympic ticket.
The last time the Malaysian men's hockey squad competed at the Olympic stage was during the Rio 2016 edition in Brazil.
-- BERNAMA
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