Bhubaneswar: The Men’s Asian Champions Trophy 2021 begins on December 14 in Dhaka, marking the first time the Indian men’s hockey team will compete since their historic Olympic bronze-medal winning campaign. India will face Korea in their opener. Skipper Manpreet Singh and Vice-Captain Harmanpreet Singh will lead the reigning champions in their bid to reclaim the trophy for the fourth time.
Since its inception in 2011, India has won this prestigious tournament three times, the most recent being in 2016 in Kuantan, Malaysia, and 2018 in Muscat, Oman.
“Korea is a good team and are very capable of slowing down our attack. In this same venue during the Asia Cup in 2017, we had drawn (1-1) against them in the league stage. Hence, it’s important we don’t get complacent against them and ensure our basics are right when we play them tomorrow,” said skipper Manpreet while stressing the importance of getting off to a solid start.
Speaking about the importance of the tournament for Team India, Manpreet said, “The tournament is quite an important one for us as it is our first tournament after the Tokyo Olympics. The new cycle has started for us. If we start well, then our confidence levels will go high,” he said.
Manpreet stated of the team’s fitness levels prior to the tournament’s start,”We are in pretty good shape. We focused a lot on our fitness at the recent camp in Bhubaneswar. We are looking forward to see how the other Asian teams have shaped up over these past two years. The tournament will be a good test for our squad,” he signed off.
India’s first match will be against Korea on December 14, followed by a match against Bangladesh on December 15. On the 17th of December, they will play archrival Pakistan, and on the 19th of December, they will face Asian Games Champions Japan.
On December 21, the Semi-Finals will be held, followed by the Final on December 22.
The last edition of this tournament, held in Muscat, Oman, saw India and Pakistan share the title when the final was cancelled due to heavy rains.
