By IANS
Chennai : The Asia Cup hockey tournament gets underway here early Friday but all eyes will on the India-China Pool A tie later in the evening, with the Indian coach saying the home side is shaping up well.
Old rivals Malaysia and Singapore clash in the Pool B tournament opener at 7.30 a.m. at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium in the heart of this southern metropolis.
“Nobody said it would be easy (but) the team is shaping up well and playing cohesively,” coach Joaquim Carvalho said when asked about India’s prospects.
“The Bangalore (coaching) camp was good for us. We are playing faster, passing with intelligence and aiming better. Instead of making tall claims, I can say this much: We will give everyone a good, competitive game,” he added on a note of optimism.
The Bangalore camp, however, had one piece of bad news in the form of injury to penalty corner specialist Sandeep Singh, whose place has been taken by V Raghunath.
In more ways than one, the Indian hockey team has sent the ghosts of last year into the bottles where they belong with its bronze medal finish at the Azlan Shah tournament in May.
The sorry tales of the World Cup and the Asian Games have been forgotten, thanks to Carvalho’s inspiring presence as a father figure. He has systematically been ironing out the creases in the Indian team.
But as Carvalho said, it is going to be tough as India is placed in the tough Pool A, where they have to contend with South Korea and the ever-eager Chinese.
It remains to be seen whether the Chinese team, under the watchful eye of experienced South Korean coach Kim Sang Ryul can repeat the surprises at the Doha Asian Games when they sank the better ranked India and Pakistan to take the silver medal.
The late entry of Pakistan means that there will more than passing interest in the Pool B matches featuring Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Thanks to the pull of TV audiences, India and Pakistan – despite being in different pools – will be playing their matches during prime time.
Pakistan has won the tournament thrice, starting with the inaugural year in 1982 and then in 1985 and 1989. South Korea lifted the cup twice in 1993 and 1999. India has won it only once – at Kuala Lumpur in 2003 – and will most certainly be trying for an encore.
Pool A: India, China, South Korea, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Pool B: Malaysia, Japan, Pakistan, Hong Kong and Singapore.