Home Sport Other

Defending champions India leave for Asia Cup hockey

The Indian men's hockey team, led by Olympic bronze medallist Birendra Lakra, on Friday left for Jakarta to defend the Asia Cup title.

Published: 20th May 2022 05:41 PM  |   Last Updated: 20th May 2022 05:41 PM   |  A+A A-

Indian Hockey star Birendra Lakra

Indian Hockey star Birendra Lakra (Photo | AP)

By PTI

BENGALURU: The Indian men's hockey team, led by Olympic bronze medallist Birendra Lakra, on Friday left for Jakarta to defend the Asia Cup title.

The Indian team will be up against Japan, Pakistan and hosts Indonesia in Pool A, while Malaysia, Korea, Oman and Bangladesh are grouped in Pool B.

India will kick off their campaign against Pakistan on Monday.

"The team is definitely excited. The Asia Cup is a very prestigious tournament and we will have quite a few players who will be experiencing this tournament for the first time so naturally the mood is quite upbeat in the team," Birendra said in a Hockey India release.

"Our camp in SAI Bengaluru was quite tough and very fruitful. While we got to know more about each player's strengths, and improved our on-field communication, Sardar (Coach) was also very particular about our fitness.

Reflecting his thoughts on his team's prospects this year, Lakra said, "We just want to take it one match at a time, definitely there will be a lot of tense nerves ahead of the first match against Pakistan but we will focus on our own game and get on from there.

India had defeated Malaysia in the final to lift the title in the previous edition at Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2017.

Now we are on Telegram too. Follow us for updates
TAGS
Asia Cup Hockey
India Matters

Comments

Disclaimer : We respect your thoughts and views! But we need to be judicious while moderating your comments. All the comments will be moderated by the newindianexpress.com editorial. Abstain from posting comments that are obscene, defamatory or inflammatory, and do not indulge in personal attacks. Try to avoid outside hyperlinks inside the comment. Help us delete comments that do not follow these guidelines.

The views expressed in comments published on newindianexpress.com are those of the comment writers alone. They do not represent the views or opinions of newindianexpress.com or its staff, nor do they represent the views or opinions of The New Indian Express Group, or any entity of, or affiliated with, The New Indian Express Group. newindianexpress.com reserves the right to take any or all comments down at any time.