The Indian males’s hockey workforce will look to press the restart button after a profitable Olympic marketing campaign and defend its Asian Champions Trophy title when it open its marketing campaign towards hosts China in Hulunbuir, China on Sunday. After bagging back-to-back Olympic bronze medals, India will begin as favourites to defend their ACT title towards high hockey enjoying nations of Asia within the type of China, Japan, Pakistan, Korea and Malaysia. Final yr, India gained the title at house, making them the one workforce to bag 4 titles within the historical past of the match.
Again from a brief break after the Paris Olympics, India skipper Harmanpreet Singh is eager on persevering with their dominance within the continental championships.
“The Asian Champions Trophy final yr gave us the suitable momentum going into the Asian Video games and adopted it up with the Olympic Video games triumph of standing on the rostrum but once more. This time too, we wish to start the recent Olympic cycle by successful this match,” Harmanpreet mentioned ahed of their match opener.
“Whereas we now have 10 members from the Olympic facet enjoying on this match, we now have a number of children attempting to make their affect within the workforce.
“When it comes to recreation point-of-view, our attacking and penalty corners are our forte however we might be seeking to play a structured defence, notably towards groups like Japan, Malaysia and Pakistan. This is a vital match for us by way of world rating factors and we’re prepared for the problem,” he added.
After China, India will tackle Japan of their second match on September 9, adopted by video games towards final yr’s runners-up Malaysia on September 11, Korea on September 12 and arch-rivals Pakistan on September 14.
The semifinal and closing are scheduled for September 16 and 17.
India’s schedule for Males’s Asian Champions Trophy 2024:
vs China – September 8 – 3:30pm
vs Japan – September 9 – 1:15pm
vs Malaysia – September 11 – 1:15pm
vs South Korea – September 12 – 1:15pm
vs Pakistan – September 14 – 1:15pm
India Squad:
Goalkeepers – Krishan Bahadur Pathak, Suraj Karkera
Defenders – Jarmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Harmanpreet Singh (C), Jugraj Singh, Sanjay, Sumit
Midfielders – Raj Kumar Pal, Nilakanta Sharma, Vivek Sagar Prasad (VC), Manpreet Singh, Mohammed Raheel Mouseen
Forwards – Abhishek, Sukhjeet Singh, Araijeet Singh Hundal, Uttam Singh, Gurjot Singh
With PTI Inputs
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