Early LA 2028 Qualification Gives India More Preparation Time, Says Manpreet Singh After Asiad Gold

Kakamigahara, October 4, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)

India’s veteran midfielder Manpreet Singh has said that securing an early berth for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics will give the men’s hockey team valuable time to prepare and address areas that need improvement after successfully defending its Asian Games gold medal.

India booked direct qualification for LA 2028 with a commanding 5-1 victory over Malaysia in the men’s hockey final at the Gifu Prefectural Green Stadium in Kakamigahara on Saturday.

Manpreet, who became the only Indian hockey player to win three Asian Games gold medals, said the team could now focus on its preparations without having to go through the Olympic qualifying tournament.

“The Asian Games was an important tournament for us. We have directly qualified for LA (Olympics). So, we don’t have to play the qualifier round, and we can work on ourselves and what we need to work on. Overall, we had a very good performance in all the Asian Games,” Manpreet said after the final.

India had also secured direct qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympics by winning the Asian Games gold medal in Hangzhou in 2023. The additional preparation time helped the team prepare for the Games, where it won a bronze medal, repeating its podium finish from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, held in 2021.

India was the only team to win a hockey medal at both the Tokyo and Paris Olympics, while the other medallists changed between the two editions.

The Asian Games triumph also provides a boost to the men’s team following a disappointing campaign at the World Cup in August, where India finished eighth and failed to reach the semi-finals.

India’s women’s hockey team also secured direct qualification for LA 2028 by winning the Asian Games gold. The Salima Tete-led side defeated reigning Olympic silver medallists China 1-0 in the final.

It was the first time that both Indian men’s and women’s hockey teams won gold medals at the same Asian Games. For the women, it was only their second gold at the continental event, following their maiden triumph in 1982.