India’s women leave for Aichi-Nagoya with Asian Games gold as the Olympic door

The Indian women’s hockey team left Bengaluru on 8 September for the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya. Captain Salima Tete and coach Sjoerd Marijne go with a fifth-place finish at the 2026 World Cup behind them, the side’s best result at that tournament since 1974, and with a narrower target in front: gold in Japan, which would carry a direct quota to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

Under the FIH rule for LA28, the highest-placed eligible team in the women’s hockey competition at these Asian Games earns the continental place, provided it has not already qualified another way. India has not. China, the usual continental favourite, will be in the other half of the draw. Japan play at home. A gold medal is the clean route. A lower podium finish only helps if every side above India has already booked its Olympic ticket elsewhere.

India sit in Pool B with Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Uzbekistan. The first match is against Uzbekistan on 20 September, then Indonesia on 21 September, Thailand on 23 September, Japan on 25 September and Singapore on 27 September. Knockouts start on 30 September. The final is on 2 October at Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium in Kakamigahara. The Games themselves run from 19 September to 4 October.

The 20-player squad mixes the core that won the FIH Nations Cup and earned promotion back to the Pro League with players who held their place through the World Cup. Savita Punia, who captained the bronze-medal side at Hangzhou 2023 and later received the Padma Shri, is one of two goalkeepers, with Bichu Devi Kharibam. Defenders include Ishika Chaudhary, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, Lalthantluangi, Jyoti and Shilpi Dabas. Midfield lists Nikki Pradhan, Sakshi Rana, Sunelita Toppo, Tete, Neha and Deepika Soreng. The forward line includes Lalremsiami Hmarzote, Rutuja Pisal, Navneet Kaur, Deepika, Ishika, Baljeet Kaur and Beauty Dungdung.

Tete, speaking before departure, kept the sentence short. “Our goal is very clear. We want to fight for the gold medal and earn direct qualification for the Los Angeles Olympics.” Marijne returned to the bench after an earlier spell with the same group. The Dutch coach’s brief is conversion of penalty corners and game management against Japan on 25 September, the pool match most likely to decide who leads the group.

India last won Asian Games gold in 1982. Bronze at Hangzhou was the recent high. The World Cup fifth place in the Netherlands changed the dressing-room arithmetic. Players who used to treat a quarter-final as a ceiling now treat it as a floor. That change does not move Japan or China. It does change how India can play the first three pool games, which on paper should be wins, without spending the legs needed for 25 September and the last four.

The Indian Olympic Association held a send-off for the wider contingent on the same day. Hockey is one of the few team sports in that group with a qualification rule this direct. A gold in Gifu is a plane ticket to Los Angeles. Anything less sends the team back into the FIH Olympic qualifier maze in 2027. That is the fact the squad took on the aircraft.