Indian men’s hockey campaign begins with clash with Uzbekistan, but focus remains on gold

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Hangzhou. The Indian men’s hockey team will begin its campaign for an Asian Games gold medal and a berth in the Olympic Games in Paris next year with a lightweight match against Uzbekistan in Hangzhou on Sunday.

India are ranked third in the FIH World Rankings while Uzbekistan is ranked 66th so the Indians will be looking to score as many goals as possible in Sunday’s match as that will increase their goal difference in the final analysis.

Along with the gold medal, the Asian Games winner will also get a direct entry into the Paris Olympic Games next year. Winning the title and Olympic quota here means teams will not have to go through qualifying tournaments to secure their spots.

India, Japan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Singapore and Uzbekistan have been placed in Pool A. Korea, Malaysia, China, Oman, Thailand and Indonesia will compete in Pool B.

The highest-ranked team in the field here, on paper, India are expected to reach the semi-finals without any trouble. But the team led by Harmanpreet Singh and coached by Craig Fulton will face a tough challenge from defending champions Japan and arch rivals Pakistan.

In recent times, India have faced a tough challenge against Japan, with the Land of the Rising Sun holding them to a 1-1 draw at the Asian Champions Trophy 2023 in Chennai a few weeks ago, although they defeated them in the semi-finals. Were successful in defeating 5-0.

Although India has dominated Pakistan in recent times, the neighboring country is known to give its best performances in the Asian Games as they are the most successful countries in the Asian Games.

Despite the recent clash between the two neighbours, hockey fans here will still be looking forward to the India vs Pakistan clash at the Asian Games on September 30.

India and Pakistan have dominated men’s hockey at the Asian Games and have met in the finals nine times.

While India will begin their campaign against Uzbekistan on Sunday, Pakistan will open against Singapore in the match later in the day.

India, ranked third in the FIH World Rankings after a stellar performance in the Asian Champions Trophy, is eyeing a fourth gold medal in the Asian Games.

The Indian men’s team, ranked third in the International Hockey Federation (FIH) world rankings, is eyeing its fourth Asian Games gold medal, having won the title in 1966, 1988 and 2014.

After winning a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games – their first medal in four decades, India will be looking to do well at the Paris Olympic Games to prove that their success in the Japanese capital was no fluke and that they have indeed recovered from Are. They suffered a decades-long slump since the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.

Pakistan is the most successful men’s team at the Asian Games with eight gold medals but won its last title in Guangzhou in 2010. Korea is the second most successful team with 4 gold medals while Japan is the only other country to win an Asian Games gold in men’s hockey.

Japan won the men’s and women’s competitions at Jakarta 2018 and will look to repeat their performance in Hangzhou.

Although the chances of this happening this time are less, but in the game no one knows what the result will be until the final whistle.
(IANS)

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