India won the Hero Asian Champions Trophy for a record-extending sixth time on Thursday, November 5, defeating Japan 4-1 in the gold-medal match at the Olympian Balbir Singh Senior International Hockey Stadium in Mohali, according to the tournament record maintained from FIH data. The win completed a hat-trick of titles — 2023, 2024 and now 2026 — which Inshorts reported makes India the first team to win three editions in a row.

Source: Wikipedia (FIH tournament data)

Japan struck first, Kazumasa Matsumoto scoring a field goal in the 3rd minute, and India trailed until the 42nd minute, when Shilanand Lakra equalised from a penalty corner. The final quarter then decided the title: Dilpreet Singh scored a field goal in the 48th minute, Jugraj Singh converted a penalty corner in the 53rd, and Sukhjeet Singh added a field goal a minute later to make it 4-1, the FIH-based match record shows. Inshorts likewise reported that Lakra equalised in the 42nd minute and that India scored three more goals in the final quarter to claim their sixth crown.

Source: Inshorts (final report)

4-1Final score, India v Japan, Mohali, November 5
6th titleIndia's Asian Champions Trophy crowns — a tournament record
3 in a rowTitles in 2023, 2024 and 2026 — the first hat-trick by any team
10 goalsCaptain Harmanpreet Singh, the tournament's top scorer

This was a different match from India's 4-1 league-stage win over the same opponents in Jalandhar on October 30 — different scorers, a different venue, and the title itself at stake. India had reached the final by thrashing South Korea 8-1 in the semi-final on November 4, while Japan edged Malaysia 5-3 in a shootout after a goalless semi-final. In Thursday's bronze-medal match, Malaysia beat South Korea 5-2, the tournament record shows.

Source: Wikipedia (FIH tournament data)

India, coached by Craig Fulton, finished the 27 October–5 November tournament — the first Asian Champions Trophy hosted by Punjab, across Jalandhar and Mohali — unbeaten with seven wins from seven matches. Captain Harmanpreet Singh ended as the tournament's top scorer with 10 goals; across the event, 107 goals were scored in 20 matches, according to the FIH-based statistics.

Source: Wikipedia (FIH tournament data)

What happens next: the title extends India's run as Asia's dominant men's hockey side at home, and attention turns to the team's build-up towards the next major assignments, with the Mohali crowd having seen India lift the trophy on Punjab soil for the first time.

Source: Inshorts (final report)