READ ALSO: NEW DELHI: Fifteen titles of men's hockey at the Asian Games before 2018 were shared between three teams: Pakistan (8), South Korea (4) and India (3). None of them made the final in Jakarta . It has to be considered good for the health of hockey in the continent. But for defending champions India, who have leaped far ahead of the rest in Asia, not playing the gold-medal match is nothing short of a disaster.The 6-7 sudden-death defeat to Malaysia in the semi-final was like somebody putting a dagger in the heart and then twisting it. Heads hanging, players down on knees - the pain was visibly excruciating. But it was a result of India's own folly.None could explain it better, and in depth, than coach Harendra Singh. "We committed errors, and it was not because the opponent forced us into those; these were unforced errors," the coach said. "It's unpardonable, a suicide. "In simpler terms, India panicked when they had victory in sight leading 2-1. At 58:13 minutes, Malaysia earned a penalty corner. Harendra explains how. "We should not have conceded the equaliser in first place," he said. "The ball was outside the circle, somebody should have stepped up, showed character and tackled it outside. If you let it in (the circle), panic can set in. "We threw our sticks (while tackling). We are just going back, going back. Should have tackled outside the circle," Harendra reiterated.At 58:19 minutes, Malaysia converted that penalty corner.The shootout began on a controversial note. A blocking foul was given against Manpreet Singh, and it appeared a harsh call. Manpreet asked for a referral but the video umpire upheld the on-field decision. India never recovered from that, mentally. "There was no blocking at all. Before the umpire blew the whistle, he should have seen where the ball was. It was at (Manpreet's) right foot, not left, and right foot is always visible to the goalkeeper," the coach explained the technicalities.India now play for bronze on Saturday against Pakistan, who were stunned by Japan 0-1 in the other semi-final. "We must go back with a medal now, even if it's a consolation. Recovery from such defeats is very important, coming out of the rooms and having team meetings. We need to pick ourselves mentally now, whatever happened was one bad dream," he sighed.India had gone to Jakarta with a target to get the Tokyo 2020 ticket by defending their gold. But now they have to go through the pain of qualification math. "It was (as continental winners) the easiest way to get the boarding card for Tokyo. We were determined to do that, but I think we paid the price for making silly errors," he admitted.The women, on the other hand, had made it to the final against Japan but finished on the wrong side of the result losing 1-2 and settled for a silver medal, which is only their second overall in Asiad and first since 1998.<doc-sep>JAKARTA: India and Pakistan will fight it out on the hockey field at the Asian Games here, but at stake would be a bronze medal, not gold.Both India and Pakistan were expected to reach the final after dominating the league stage, but crashed out suffering embarrassing losses against Malaysia and Japan respectively. This will be Japan’s maiden final at the Games while Malaysia will be going for gold for the second time having settled for silver in Guangzhou in 2010.India had scored 76 goals and conceded three to win all their league matches quite comfortably. Pakistan too had an all-win record in the pool stage with 45 goals and one against. Interestingly, India had beaten Japan 8-0 there while Pakistan had tamed Malaysia 4-1.This would be for the second time in the history of the Games that either India or Pakistan would not be there in the final – the only time this happened before was in the 2006 Doha Asiad where South Korea played China.The semifinal losses have left the arch-rivals lick their wounds and they would be seeking to salvage some pride by winning the bronze, having already missed qualifying for 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Both the teams would do well to forget their disappointment and put up a better fight in the bronze medal match.Despite taking the lead twice, India failed to take themselves home against a tenacious Malaysia and had only themselves to blame for the loss. Coach Harendra Singh had said that the team failed to defend stoutly when they were leading 2-1 with just two minutes to the final hooter. “We have to leave behind the loss in the semifinals. We must lift ourselves and be ready for the next match. There is a medal at stake, even though it’s a bronze medal,” Harendra said.Pakistan were also left seeking answers for their woes on the hockey turf against Japan after their 0-1 loss. Pakistan are eight-time champions at the Asian Games, while India have won the gold thrice.<doc-sep>The Indian men's hockey team will face arch-rivals Pakistan for an Asian Games 2018 bronze medal on Saturday at GBK-Hockey Field. India started their Asiad campaign strongly by registering big wins over their opponents. En route to the semifinal, India had beaten Indonesia 17-0, Hong Kong 26-0, Japan 8-0, Korea 5-3 and Sri Lanka 20-0. However, the Indian men's hockey team, who were the favourites to win an Asian Games gold, could not cross the Malaysian hurdle, losing the semifinal 6-7 in a shoot-out. Pakistan, on the other hand, topped Pool B with a total of 15 points. In the group stage, Pakistan beat Thailand 10-0, Oman 10-0, Kazakhstan 16-0, Malaysia 4-1 and Bangladesh 5-0. However, in the semifinals, Pakistan lost 0-1 to Japan. In the 2014 Asian Games, India had beaten Pakistan 4-2 in a shoot-out to win an Asiad Gold in hockey after 16 years. Prior to that, India defeated Pakistan in 1966 Asian Games to win the coveted gold medal. India had beaten South Korea to win gold in Asian Games 1998. In their last meeting at the Champions Trophy Hockey tournament in Breda, the Netherlands, India thrashed Pakistan 4-0. In that match, Ramandeep Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Upadhyay scored for India. While, India finished runners-up in the tournament, losing 1-3 to world champions Australia on penalties, Pakistan were last. Before the Champions Trophy, India met Pakistan at the Commonwealth Games 2018, Gold Coast. The match that ended in a 2-2 draw, saw Dilpreet Singh and Harmanpreet Singh score for India while Muhammad Irfan and Mubashar Ali were on the scoresheet for Pakistan. While India reached the semifinals of the tournament, Pakistan had to play Canada for the 7th-8th classification match. India lost to New Zealand 2-3 in the semifinals and then went on to lose the bronze medal match 1-2 to England, thus finishing fourth. Promoted Pakistan are the most successful men's hockey team in the history of the Asian Games, having won eight gold medals. India, on the other hand, have won three golds, finishing second a whopping nine times. With both teams scoring more than 40 goals at the 2018 Games, this might turn out to be an exciting encounter.<doc-sep>Asian Games 2018 India vs Japan Women’s Hockey Final Highlights: India lost to Japan. (Source: File) Asian Games 2018 India vs Japan Women’s Hockey Final Highlights: India lost to Japan. (Source: File) Asian Games 2018 India vs Japan Women’s Hockey Final Highlights: India finished second best to Japan in the gold medal match of women’s hockey at the 18th Asian Games. India went down 1-2 after the two were locked at 1-1 at half time. Japan took the lead in the first quarter courtesy Shimizu before Neha Goyal drew parity in the second quarter. Motomi put Japan ahead at the close of third quarter and shut shop in the final 15 minutes to win their first Asian Games gold medal. The silver is India’s best finish since 1998 but the 36-year wait for gold continues.<doc-sep>
India and Pakistan find themselves in a place where neither wanted to be. They face each other in the bronze medal men's hockey match at the 2018 Asian Games on Saturday. The scene could not be further from what happened just four years ago, when the two sides had met in the final at Incheon and that too after a gap of 24 years. It was India who prevailed walked away with the gold after a nail-biting shootout. Pakistan has the most number of gold medals in Asiad history with eight, whereas India have three gold medals, and the two neighbouring countries have a total 14 medals. Defending champions India were handed a heartbreaking 6-7 loss by Malaysia in sudden death after an exhausting shoot-off with the game finishing at 2-2 in regulation time. India's failure to secure their place in the final meant that Malaysia had denied them a direct entry into the 2020 Olympics. READ - Defending champions India's gold medal hopes end Pakistan on the other hand lost 1-0 to Japan. India, who had scored a record 76 goals in the group stage, were left stunned after SV Sunil missed his attempt in the sudden death. Only Akashdeep and Harmanpreet scored in the first five shots of the shoot-off while Manpreet Singh, Dilpreet Singh and Sunil faltered. Interestingly, India had defeated Japan in their group phase match 8-0, whereas Pakistan beat Malaysia 4-1 in the same round. ASIAN GAMES 2018 FULL COVERAGE | MEDALS Goalkeeper PR Sreejesh kept India in the game as he only let in two goals from Muhammad Ashari and Fitri Saari. Tengku Ahmad, Faizal Saari and Muhammad Azuan missed the target for Malaysia. In sudden death, Malaysia's all five attempts were successful while India scored the first four before Sunil cracked under pressure. Earlier on Friday, the Indian women's hockey team failed to break the 36-year-old gold jinx after losing to Japan 1-2 in the final. READ - India take silver after losing to Japan In the other match of the day, Malaysia and Japan will be fighting for their first gold medal in men's hockey. Japan will look to become only the second country to win both the men's and women's gold medal, after the Republic of Korea had achieved the feat back in 1986 and 1994. (With inputs from PTI)