Men’s Asian Champions Trophy: Hockey’s Reigning Olympic Bronze Medalists, Ready To Defend Their Title In China

New Delhi: The celebrated Men’s Asian Champions Trophy will start off on Sunday at the Moqi Hockey Training Base located at the Nierji Dam in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia in China. Reigning Olympic Bronze medalists India start as favourites to defend the title. At the identical time, hosts China, Japan, Pakistan, Korea and Malaysia have arrived with hopes of a grand outing within the marquee tournament.

“The Asian Champions Trophy last year gave us the correct momentum going into the Asian Games and followed it up with the Olympic Games triumph of standing on the rostrum any other time. This time too, we'd prefer to start off the fresh Olympic cycle by winning this tournament,” said skipper Harmanpreet Singh.

“While we have ten members from the Olympic side playing at some point of this tournament, we have about a kids in the hunt for to make their impact on the team. On the subject of game point-of-view, our attacking and penalty corners are our strong point but we may be in a position to be in the hunt for to play a structured defence, especially against teams like Japan, Malaysia and Pakistan. Which is a important tournament for us as regards to world ranking points and we're ready for the challenge,” he added.

India will start off their campaign with the hole match against hosts China followed by their 2nd match on 9th September against Japan. Following a day’s rest, India will take on last year’s runners-up Malaysia on eleventh and play Korea on the twelfth of September. After a day’s break, India will take on nemesis Pakistan on 14th while the Semi-Final and Final shall be held on the sixteenth and seventeenth of September respectively.

“This tournament is one in every of the foremost exciting ones within the Asian Hockey calendar. We get to see the progress the Asian teams are making within the fresh cycle as they may be able to play with a fresh group of players keeping in mind the Asian Games in 2026,” expressed Vivek Sagar Prasad, who has been given the onus as vice-captain within the absence of Hardik Singh.

Having arrived in Moqi, on 4th September, the team is in good condition for title defence. “We arrived here earlier this week and had an grand time on the pitch. The weather is acceptable for us, nevertheless it gets somewhat cold within the evening. The facility is incredible and possibly one in every of the foremost beautiful hockey venues within the world. The joy of hosting the first international tournament here is intensely evident and we're anticipating playing quality matches and entertaining the hockey-loving people of this region,” concluded Vivek Sagar Prasad.
Please to locate hooked up photos and the hooked up schedule of the tournament.

India will play China on Eighth Sept at 1530 hrs IST.
Matches shall be live on Sony Sports Ten 1 SD & HD.