India’s Harmanpreet Singh said that it will be an ideal tournament for us to see where we stand against the teams we will be competing with in the Asian Games. file | Photo Credit: PTI
Indian men’s hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh on Tuesday said the upcoming Asian Champions Trophy in Chennai will be a “litmus test” for the team ahead of the Asian Games to be held in September-October later this year.
The seventh edition of the Asian Champions Trophy, scheduled to be held from August 3 to 12, will serve as a precursor to the Hangzhou Asian Games in September, where teams will compete for gold and qualify for the Paris Olympic Games.
“For many of us, this will be the first time we will be playing in Chennai. I remember our seniors talking about the 2007 Asia Cup held in Chennai, which was a great tournament for India, a successful defending the title in the campaign,” Singh said in a release.
“It will be an ideal tournament for us to see where we stand against the same teams we compete with in the Asian Games. It will be a litmus test for the team ahead of the Asian Games,” he said.
“It will also give us a good understanding of our opponents and we can prepare well for the Asian Games where we aim to win the gold medal and qualify directly for the Paris 2024 Olympics.”
India won the Asian Champions Trophy in the inaugural edition in 2011 and defeated Pakistan in the final in 2016 to reclaim the title. In the next edition in 2018, India were joint winners with Pakistan after rain affected proceedings in Muscat.
In the previous edition held in Dhaka in 2021, the Indian team finished with the bronze medal.
With Korea and Malaysia doing well in the World Cup 2023 in Bhubaneswar-Rourkela, Harmanpreet said the competition will be intense.
Top Drag Flickr said, “Korea has shown great progress in the past few years. They won the Asia Cup in Jakarta last year and did very well in the World Cup as well.”
“Malaysia are also favorites for the title and they have one of the best in penalty-corner attacks. It will undoubtedly be a tough tournament.”