Asia Cup Hockey: Confident India face stern Pakistan test
October 14, 2017 14:33 ISTAfter beating Japan 5-1 in their opening match, Manpreet Singh-led India mauled minnows Bangladesh 7-0 on Friday.
After beating Japan 5-1 in their opening match, Manpreet Singh-led India mauled minnows Bangladesh 7-0 on Friday.
Ranked 6th in the world, Indians were no match for their less-fancied rivals as they controlled the proceedings from start to finish en route their emphatic win.
India's win against Japan was a winning debut for Sjoerd Marijne as the national coach.
SV Sunil (3'), Lalit Upadhyay (22'), Ramandeep Singh (33'), Harmanpreet Singh (35', 48') were the goal-scorers for India as they beat Japan in the opening game of Asia Cup 2017.
The Asia Cup will be the beginning of new phase in Indian hockey as it would be newly-appointed coach Sjoerd Marijne's first test post the sacking of Roelant Oltmans.
India will go into the tournament as top ranked team and will take on Japan, Bangladesh and Pakistan in their Pool A matches to qualify for the Super 4s stage.
India have been placed in Pool A in the Asia Cup and will open their campaign against Japan on October 11 before taking on hosts Bangladesh on October 13 followed mouth-watering clash against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 15.
Harendra, who guided India to the Junior World Cup title in Lucknow last year, did not shy away and took the challenge.
John further said the appointment was made quickly for the stability of the team ahead of Asia Cup, which is scheduled for next month.
Marijne was associated with women's national team before being appointed as the chief coach of the men's team.
Pakistan have been placed in Pool A alongside India, Japan and hosts Bangladesh.
Two other key players, who were dropped for the Europe tour, forwards S V Sunil and Akashdeep Singh also made a return to the Indian Hockey team.
The squad will also see the return of seasoned pros like former skipper Sardar Singh, Sunil, Akashdeep Singh and Satbir Singh.
Goals from Ireen van den Assem (12th, 45th minute) and Imke Hoek (57th minute) were enough for the hosts to register the win against the visitors as Navdeep (47th minute) was the lone player to be on target for India.
The Indian team fought back into the match in the dying stages as Vandana Katariya (54th minute) scored with just a few minutes left to full time and equalise the scores at 2-2.
Former India player Harendra is all set to take over as the coach of the India women's senior team for the first time in his career.
World Cup-winning junior coach Harendra Singh has been appointed as the High Performance Specialist Coach for the India women's team.
Besides India, World League champions Australia and Germany, Pool B also features seventh placed England, who are the reigning bronze medallist in the Euro Hockey Nations Championship.
Harendra was associated with the senior men's team as national coach from 2009 to 2011.
Taking a cue from the BCCI, the HI advertised for the position for the first time in its website.
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