Asian Cricket Council (ACC) president Mohsin Naqvi will not attend the Asian Games gold medal match between India and Pakistan in Nisshin, Japan, on Saturday.The ACC confirmed that Naqvi will miss the final at Korogi Park because of “prior commitments”. India and Pakistan will meet for the gold medal after Sri Lanka and Bangladesh play the bronze-medal match.“ACC president, Mohsin Naqvi, will miss Finals Day at Asian Games 2026 due to prior commitments, but sends his very best wishes to all four teams ahead of the Gold and Bronze Medal Matches,” the official media handle of ACC posted on its ‘X’ handle.Naqvi is the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and also Pakistan’s interior minister.Indian men’s and women’s cricket teams have refused to receive their Asia Cup trophies from Naqvi. The teams had also expressed their support for the armed forces involved in ‘Operation Sindoor’, after innocent civilians were killed in the Pahalgam terror attack last year.“Wishing all the participants the very best ahead of gold and bronze medal matches at the Asian Games 2026. Commitments will keep me away from Nagoya. But I will be looking forward to some thrilling action,” Naqvi was quoted as saying in the ACC post.The BCCI has maintained that Indian teams will not receive trophies from Naqvi. The Pakistan interior minister, meanwhile, has said that if India wants the Asia Cup trophies, they will have to collect them from him.During the 2025 men’s Asia Cup and this year’s women’s edition, Indian teams did not accept the trophy from Naqvi.There had also been questions over what would happen if Naqvi, as the head of the continental cricket body, had to present medals at the Asian Games ceremony. His absence from the final means the Olympic Council of Asia, local organisers and the Indian Olympic Association will not have to deal with that situation.
