Asian Games hockey: India grouped with Pakistan
Defending champions Japan are also in India’s Pool A; the women’s team, runners-up at the 2018 Jakarta Games, are in Pool A with South Korea
The Indian men's hockey team will open their Hangzhou Asian Games campaign against Uzbekistan on September 24 while the women's team will start against Singapore on September 27.
India men, who won bronze in the 2018 Jakarta Games, are in Pool A with reigning champions Japan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Singapore and Uzbekistan. South Korea, Malaysia, China, Oman, Thailand and Indonesia are in Pool B.
The schedule was jointly announced by the Games organising committee and Asian Hockey Federation on Tuesday after approval by the international federation, FIH.
“We are placed along with some strong teams, including Japan, who won gold at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. But we will treat all teams on a par and will not be taking any competition lightly,” India skipper Harmanpreet Singh said on the eve of the game against Pakistan at the Asian Champions Trophy here.
“We are already getting a chance to compete with some of these nations here. We will look forward to using this experience to our advantage. Our coaches have instilled in us that we need to be prepared for all our rivals. We will study all our opponents for the Asian Games, re-watch all videos to learn about their strengths and weaknesses and prepare accordingly.”
The winning team in men and women will get a direct berth for the Paris Olympics.
The Indian women's team that won silver at Jakarta 2018 is in Pool A with South Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore. Reigning champions Japan, China, Thailand, Kazakhstan and Indonesia are in Pool B.
“We are in a pool with some strong teams, but we are confident that the work we have done over the past year at the camps and training sessions will help us achieve good results in the competition,” skipper Savita Punia said.
“The Asian Games is an important event, especially with a chance to earn a direct Olympic qualification (for the winning team). All the players are unified by the common goal to perform their best, and if we can do that we are in with a good chance to finish on the podium irrespective of which teams we face.”
The Hangzhou Asian Games will be held from September 23 to October 8.
