Olympic medallist India gear up for Asian Champions Trophy

The Paris Olympics bronze medallist Indian team is all set to defend its title in the Hero Asian Champions Trophy starting here on September 8. While India go into the competition, commencing at the Moki Hockey Training Base, as one of the strong contenders for defending, event hosts China, Japan, Pakistan, Korea, and Malaysia have come to the tournament hoping to perform well.

India was the champion of the Champions Trophy title last year on home ground and with this, it emerged as the only team to win four titles in tournament history. Team skipper Harmanpreet Singh will look to carry forward India's dominance in this continental championship also this time around.

He said, "Last year's Asian Champions Trophy gave us the right start going into the Asian Games and after that, we got the victory to reach the podium again in the Olympic Games. This time too, we want to start the Olympic cycle afresh by winning this tournament. Though we have ten members of our Olympic squad playing in this tournament, we have some young players who are trying to make their mark in the team.”

From a game point of view, our attack and penalty corners are our strengths but we would like to play a structured defense, especially against teams like Japan, Malaysia, and Pakistan. This is an important tournament for us in terms of world ranking points and we are up for the challenge, Harmanpreet said.

India will begin their campaign with the opening match against hosts China followed by their second match against Japan on September 9. After a day's rest, India will take on last year's runners-up Malaysia on September 11 and will play Korea on September 12. After a day's break, India will take on opponents Pakistan on the 14th while the semi-finals and final will be held on September 16 and 17 respectively.