Asian Champions Trophy: Defending champs India face Korea, Pakistan take on hosts China in semis

Moqi, Sep 15 (IANS) The battle lines are drawn for the penultimate fight to win the Asian Champions Trophy as the top four teams India, Pakistan, China and Korea respectively prepare for the semifinals to be held on Monday, at the picturesque Moqi Hockey Training Base. Defending Champions India 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 fifth and sixth 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 counterattack fast and skillfully,” expressed India captain Harmanpreet Singh.

Speaking about the previous encounter against Pakistan, the ace drag-flicker 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 does against China,” added the ace drag-flicker who scored a double in India’s win against Pakistan.

Building hopes of an India vs Pakistan finale, Pakistan captain Ammad Butt emphasised 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 draw 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.

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