India is geared up to start their campaign in the Asian Champions Trophy men's hockey tournament and reclaim the trophy from defending champions Pakistan. Overwhelming favourites to win the tournament, India will be playing their first match against Japan on the opening day in Malaysia on Thursday.
The top six Asian men’s teams – India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Korea, Japan and China – will be participating in the tournament which will be hosted by Kuantan from 20 October to 30 October.
India-Pakistan Clash Post Surgical Strikes
For the first time since India conducted surgical strikes across the border, India and Pakistan will have a face-off again – on the hockey pitch.
The entire nation will be watching as India, ranked number six in the world, take on defending champions Pakistan on 23 October. Way ahead of the other teams competing in the tournament, the Indian players are aware that nothing less than the title will be deemed as a positive result.
Pakistan on the other hand will be eager to avenge their loss at the Incheon Asiad title encounter. However, they will be missing their captain Mohammad Irfan who failed to make it to Kuantan, after he was unable to retrieve his passport from another embassy.
Only Asians at the Rio Olympics
By virtue of their Asian Games gold medal, India were the only Asian team to feature in the 2016 Rio Olympics, and their preliminary pool victory over eventual Olympic gold medalists Argentina was the spotlight for the PR Sreejesh-led side.
India are eager to prove that injury-caused absence of their playmaker Manpreet Singh and livewire right-winger S V Sunil has not blunted their strike-power. Also missing from the squad is seasoned defender VR Raghunath.
The Asians Champions Trophy had lost importance due to its inconsequentiality and two editions of the annual event were not conducted in 2014 and 2015. However with International Hockey Federation's (FIH) decision to include it in the qualification system for future Olympics and World Cups, all six nations are looking to put their best foot forward this year.
Fielding their best-available squad that was marred by a spate of injuries, India's billing as the hot favourites could put them under pressure. Twice defending champions Pakistan, who are the best performing team in the Asian Champions Trophy's short history, and former Asian champions South Korea will be eager to pull off a surprise against the higher-ranked opponents.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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