The head coach of the Indian hockey team said, will continue to make strategic changes in the Asian Champions Trophy

Chennai. Indian men’s hockey team head coach Craig Fulton said the team will continue with the strategic changes it has adopted recently in the Asian Champions Trophy starting on Thursday. Fulton said India would use the August 3-12 tournament at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium here as a platform to prepare for the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. Fulton said after the Indian team’s arrival here on Tuesday, “We had made some strategic changes in our game in the recent matches and we aim to implement them during the Asian Champions Trophy.”

“We did really well in the recently concluded Four Nations tournament in Spain. In the last 10 days, we faced some really good teams and did well against them. We have started playing the way we want to. India had finished third in the tournament organized to mark 100 years of the Spanish Hockey Federation. India defeated the defending FIH Pro League champions Netherlands 2-1 in the third and fourth place playoff matches. “We will use this tournament (Asian Champions Trophy) as a platform to prepare for the upcoming Asian Games,” Fulton said.

Apart from India, teams from Japan, Korea, Pakistan, China and Malaysia will participate in this tournament. All the six teams will play each other on a round-robin basis and the top four teams will qualify for the semi-finals. India will start its campaign against China on Thursday. Indian team’s vice-captain Hardik Singh said that India will have to maintain activity from start to finish in each match. Hardik said, “We have to maintain control of the game and be active from start to finish. With this we can start the match positively.

He said, “We did really well in Spain, especially in the last two matches, including the win against Netherlands.” Captain Harmanpreet Singh said that the next two months are very important for the Indian team. Harmanpreet said, “The next two months are very important for us. The Asian Champions Trophy will give us an opportunity to play good hockey ahead of the Asian Games. It will be a good experience for the players. We have to execute our strategy and I am sure this tournament will help the players. Teams from India, Malaysia, Japan and Korea have already reached here.

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