Asian Games Hockey

Guangzhou, Nov 13: India and Pakistan are all set for an explosive game, while on the other hand South Korea and China will be looking to win the hat-trick titles in Asian Games hockey. As there will be direct ticket to London Olympics 2012 who win the tournament, both men’s and women’s hockey team are quite geared up to be the winning team, and so there will be intense competition at Aoti Hockey Centre starting from Saturday. The rest of the teams will have to pass through very difficult and tough system of qualifications, for which the perfect example was of India when they failed to make it in the Beijing Olympics 2008 for the first time in history.

In the last Asiad Games, India were unable to win a medal as they drew the league match against South Korea by 1-1, where they needed to win that game in order to reach the semi-finals. The South Koreans carried out their better performance, as they won successive gold medal, by defeating the surprising team reaching the finals, China by 3-1, when China knocked out the Pakistan in semi-finals. “We didn’t want the same performance happening again as that was in Doha. It is very essential to win the title here, but we will take it match by match. The form that we are having from past year, certainly can win us this tournament.” said the Indian coach Harendra Singh.

India was the best Asian team in the last Commonwealth Games in New Delhi under the Spanish Coach Jose Brasa, when they were positioned second behind the World Champions Australia. Their best win in Commonwealth Games was, with the European Champions England, when they scored the last two goals in just before the 10 minutes of closing session, equalising 3-3, before winning the penalty shootout. India and Pakistan are placed in the same group and will meet on November 20 in Asian Games.

Tags: Aoti Hockey Centre, Asian Games, Hockey, India, Indian Sports, London Olympics 2012, Pakistan, Sports, Sports India