Mohsin Naqvi unlikely to attend Asian Games Final

The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President, Mohsin Naqvi, will not be attending the Asian Games in Japan. The news comes before the men's gold-medal match that India and Pakistan are supposed to play at Aichi-Nagoya 2026 on Saturday.

The ACC announced in a statement on Friday that "ACC president Mr. Mohsin Naqvi will miss Finals Day at Aichi-Nagoya 2026." "But before the Gold and Bronze Medal matches, he sends his best wishes to all four teams."

Before the big finale, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are scheduled to meet in the bronze-medal play-off.

“Wishing all participants the very best ahead of the Gold and Bronze Medal matches at the Asian Games 2026. Despite the fact that commitments will keep him away from Nagoya, Naqvi, who is also the Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), was quoted as saying in an ACC post.

Japan was not going to repeat the recent Women's Asian Cup controversy in which the Indian women's team refused to take the trophy from him. Who presents the medals is a joint decision of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games and Asian Para Games Organizing Committee (AINAGOC), and the local organisers are unlikely to make a decision that could put the Indian camp in an awkward position

Because of the close diplomatic ties that exist between India and Japan, it was unlikely that the Japanese authorities would permit a circumstance that could lead to complications for the Indian team. In addition, India played Japan in a bilateral match on September 22 as part of the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. This was an unprecedented event in world cricket, considering that India are the world champions and Japan is an Associate nation ranked 41st.