Indian Men’s Hockey Team. (AFP)
Defending Champions India will take on Korea in the second semifinal on Monday after Pakistan take on hosts China in the first semifinal of the day.
The battle lines are drawn for the penultimate fight to win the Hero Asian Champions Trophy as top four teams – India, Pakistan, China and Korea respectively prepare for the Semifinals to be held tomorrow at the picturesque Moqi Hockey Training Base set inside the China Daur Ethnic Park, Hulunbuir.
Defending Champions India will take on Korea in the second semifinal while Pakistan will face off against hosts China in the first semifinal of the day. In the opening match on Monday, Malaysia will play Japan for the 5th and 6th place.
India have been the only unbeaten team in the tournament, having convincingly defeated China 3-0, Japan 5-1, Malaysia 8-1, Korea 3-1 and Pakistan 2-1, the reigning Asian Games Gold medallists and Asian Champions Trophy title holders are upbeat ahead of the semifinal against Korea.
“We came into this tournament with very little rest or preparations after our Olympic campaign. Despite that, I am happy with how the team has done to progress into the semifinal stage. We had a good training session on Sunday evening and the mood in the team is quite upbeat. Korea is a tough team, they defend very well and can counter attack fast and skillfully,” expressed India captain Harmanpreet Singh.
Speaking about the previous encounter against Pakistan, the ace dragflicer said it is good the youngsters have shaken off the nerves of playing against Pakistan.
“I think there was a bit of nerves in the match against Pakistan. After their goal, there was a bit of panic especially with some of the youngsters in the squad playing against them for the first time. While the focus tomorrow will be on ourselves, it will be interesting to watch how Pakistan do against China,” added the skipper who scored a double in India’s win against Pakistan.
Korea, on the other hand, will come into the match with confidence from a brilliant outing against Malaysia where they scored on the final hooter to draw 3-3 and push Malaysia out of contention. They have, so far only lost (1-3) to India in the tournament. They began with a high scoring 5-5 draw against Japan, drew 2-2 against Pakistan, beat China 3-2, and drew 3-3 against Malaysia.
Building hopes of an India-Pakistan finale, Pakistan Captain Ammad Butt emphasized his team will go all out against China. However, beating China who will have immense home crowd support will need a disciplined performance by Pakistan. With as many as eight players in the Chinese National Team from Molidawa, the match promises to be house-full and exciting particularly with China riding on the confidence from a big win against Japan in their last round-robin league encounter on Saturday.
“We will go all out against China on Monday. We did well against them in the league stage and know their strengths and weaknesses. It also helps that we arrived for this tournament very early and played quite a few matches against China. We look forward to a good game and if we win, there is nothing better than an India-Pakistan final,” expressed Butt.
Inspired by their newly-appointed Head Coach Tahir Zaman, Pakistan only got better with each match in the tournament. They began with back-to-back 2-2 draws against Malaysia and Korea. They managed a 2-1 win against Japan, a 5-1 win against China and lost 1-2 to India – making it their only loss in the tournament.
China, on the other hand, began with a 0-3 loss to India but had mixed results in their campaign with a 4-2 win against Malaysia, lost 2-3 to Korea, lost to Pakistan 1-5 but sneaked into the semis with 0-2 win against Japan.
