How Pakistan thriller prepared India for hockey final vs Malaysia

India's victory over Pakistan in a tense semifinal gave the men's hockey team the confidence and momentum to produce a commanding performance against Malaysia in the Asian Games final, according to head coach Craig Fulton. The result secured India back-to-back Asian Games gold medals and also sealed their place at the 2028 Olympics.Harmanpreet Singh led from the front with two goals as India brushed aside Malaysia 5-1 in the final, successfully defending their Asian Games title. However, they were given an almighty scare in the semi-final as Pakistan came back from three goals down to level the game 3-3 before Abhishek got his side over the line."We played a great game. We almost needed that semifinal (win) to get into this mindset," Fulton said after the final, as quoted by PTI.Fulton said that the team had an honest debrief after the Pakistan game and the aim was to focus on tempo and play without fear. "This game was good because we really debriefed honestly after the semifinal. We just had to focus on ourselves and our basic game plan but do it at tempo and have no fear. Suddenly, it started to click and off we went again. So it was great," said Fulton.The Pakistan thriller saw the defence make some silly errors, allowing the arch-rivals to make a comeback into the contest. Fulton admitted that the occasion may have gotten to his players a bit. "We just had a good debrief. We were just honest with the way we played and I think the occasion got to us a little bit.""Because if we didn't get to four and five goals and then you make one or two mistakes and then Pakistan get their tail up and they can play and they can score goals," said Fulton."I'm glad we found a way to win that game because that was the difference and I think that helped us in this final."'ASIAN GAMES WAS MAIN GOAL FOR 2026'India's win in the final against Malaysia meant that they secured direct qualification for the LA Olympics in 2028. This comes on the back of a poor World Cup campaign, where India finished in 8th spot.Fulton said that the main aim for 2026 was to win the Asian Games and secure the Olympic berth."That was the main goal of 2026. Had we won the World Cup we still would have had to come here and play. Obviously the World Cup didn't go the way we wanted it to. I'm glad we dominated in Asia and this was important for us," said Fulton.The Indian team will be back in action towards the end of the month with the start of the Asian Champions Trophy 2026 in Punjab.- Ends