Indian men’s hockey team captain Manpreet Singh said that the upcoming Asian Champions Trophy fringe in Dhaka will be an ideal platform for players to showcase their talent and claim in the first team.
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The tournament, originally scheduled to be held last year, has been postponed several times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and will now be played from December 14 to 22.
This will be India’s first outing since the team’s historic Olympic bronze medal-winning campaign earlier this year. The Manpreet Singh-led side will be without eight players from the Tokyo Games squad, including veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, who has been rested.
“With around 10 players who were part of the Tokyo Olympic squad, this is a great opportunity for players who have been waiting to get a chance to perform in a major international tournament. It will be a good platform for them to showcase their talent and flair.”
defending champion India Japan will begin their campaign against Korea before locking horns against Malaysia, Pakistan and hosts Bangladesh in a single-pool tournament for the top honours.
“This is our first outing after the Tokyo Olympics so naturally there is a lot of excitement among the players. We have set up a good training camp in Bhubaneswar and I think since the weather here is similar to Dhaka, it will not take us long to acclimatise.”
“It will be a good tournament not only in terms of competition but also to understand about the capabilities of the other team. We assess the progress of other Asian countries ahead of the all-important Asian Games and Asia Cup next year.
After Korea, India will play Bangladesh on December 15, followed by arch-rivals Pakistan on December 17, Malaysia on December 18 and Japan on December 19.
The top four teams from the pool stages will advance to the semi-finals to be played on 21 December followed by the title clash on 22 December.
In the previous edition of the event held in Muscat in 2018, India had jointly won the title with Pakistan as the final was called off due to incessant rain.
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