Asian Champions Trophy: Defending Champions India leave for men's event in Dhaka

Bhubaneswar, Dec 10 (IANS) Indian Men's Hockey Team left for Dhaka on Friday to defend their title at the Asian Champions Trophy to begin from December 14. This will be India's first international outing after their bronze medal-winning performance at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Captain Manpreet Singh expressed the team's excitement ahead of the prestigious continental championship. "This is our first outing after the Tokyo Olympics so naturally there is a lot of excitement among the players. We have had a good training camp in Bhubaneswar and I feel since the weather here is quite similar to that of Dhaka, we won't take long to acclimatize," he said.

"With only eight players from the Tokyo Olympic squad making the team for the Asian Champions Trophy and the rest of stalwarts including PR Sreejesh being rested for this tournament, this will be a great opportunity for youngsters in the team to perform," said the captain.

"With nearly ten players who were part of the Tokyo Olympic squad being rested, this is a fantastic opportunity for the players who had been waiting on the sidelines to get a chance to perform in a major international tournament. This will be a good platform for them to showcase their talent and temperament," stated the star midfielder.

Talking about the competition, Manpreet said, "It will be a good tournament not just in terms of competition but also to understand other team's capabilities. We assess the progress of other Asian countries ahead of the all-important Asian Games and Asia Cup next year."

India will play their opening match against Korea on December 14, followed by a match against hosts Bangladesh on December 15. Their third match will be against arch-rivals Pakistan on December 17 and on December 18 India will take on Malaysia followed by their match against Japan on December 19.

The semi-finals will be played on December 21 followed by the final on December 22. In the previous edition of this event held in Muscat, Oman, India had jointly lifted the title along with Pakistan as the Final was called off due to incessant rains.