The Indian males’s hockey workforce was positioned in Pool A together with Pakistan for the Hangzhou Asian Games. Aside from these two groups, Japan, Bangladesh, Singapore and Uzbekistan had been additionally positioned in the identical pool. India will face Pakistan within the much-anticipated encounter on September 30. On the opposite hand, the Indian ladies’s hockey workforce had been positioned together with Korea, Malaysia, China, Oman, Thailand and Indonesia in Pool A. The hockey schedule was collectively introduced by the Hangzhou Asian Games organising committee and Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) on Tuesday, after approval from the International Hockey Federation (FIH).

We are positioned together with some robust groups in our pool, together with Japan, who gained the Gold medal on the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. But we are going to deal with all groups at par and won’t be taking any competitors evenly,” Harmanpreet Singh, who is currently leading the team at the ongoing Asian Champions Trophy said in a release.

“We are already getting an opportunity to compete with a few of these nations on the Asian Champions Trophy and we are going to stay up for utilizing this expertise to our benefit sooner or later.

“Our coaches have always instilled in us that we need to be prepared for all our rivals. We will study all our opponents for the Hangzhou Asian Games, re-watch all videos to learn about their strengths and weaknesses and prepare our plans accordingly.” The Group B in males’s part contains South Korea, Malaysia, China, Oman, Thailand and Indonesia, whereas the ladies’s groups in Group B will comprise of Japan, China, Thailand, Kazakhstan and Indonesia.

“Hangzhou Asian Games is an important event, especially with a chance to earn a direct Olympic qualification. All the players are unified by the common goal to perform their best at the Games and if we can do that, then we are in with a good chance to finish at the podium, irrespective of which teams we face in the competition.”

All hockey matches might be performed on the Gongshu Canal Sports Park Stadium in Hangzhou, China. The males’s remaining might be performed on October 6, whereas the ladies’s title conflict might be held the very subsequent day

(With company inputs)