September 30 will be a big day at the Asian Games. India and Pakistan, hockey heavyweights, will meet for a 16th time in the history of the competition. It was announced on Tuesday that the two rivals are in the same group, Group A.
India will start their campaign at the Gongshu Canal Sports Park Stadium on September 24 against Uzbekistan. The other teams in Group A are Japan, Bangladesh and Singapore. Group B includes South Korea, Malaysia, China, Oman, Thailand and Indonesia.
The Indian women' side are in Pool A too, along with Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Malaysia. Japan, China, Thailand, Kazakhstan and Indonesia make up Group B.
The Indian women’s team will start its campaign against Singapore on September 27.
The men's final will be played on October 6, while the women's will be held a day later.
India-Pakistan is one of the richest rivalries in hockey. Going into Wednesday’s Asian Champions Trophy (ACT) encounter between the two sides, Pakistan lead the head to head 82-64 with 32 draws. But India have held the upper hand in the rivalry since 2016.
In the Asian Games, the two nations have met each other 15 times, with Pakistan leading the head to head 8-4. Three matches ended as draws. Such has been the hold of India and Pakistan over continental hockey that they played seven consecutive Asian Games finals between 1958-1982. They also met in the 1990 final.
Pakistan’s record against India in Asian Games finals is excellent. They won in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982 and 1990 and only lost in 1966.
The first time that India and Pakistan played each other as separate nations was in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics final.
India went into the match having won five successive Olympic gold medals. Pakistan had reached the top four in two consecutive Games but were yet to win a medal.
India won that first encounter 1-0, thanks to a goal by Randhir Singh Gentle.
And now, the rivalry continues.
