India take on Japan in Pool A opener of Hockey Asia Cup 2017 at the Maulana Bhashani National Hockey Stadium in Dhaka on Wednesday, October 11.
Indian hockey team are heading into a new era after Sjoerd Marijne replaced Roelant Oltmans in September after the latter's four-year stint with the senior men's side. With Hockey India not known for giving long rope to its coaches, the newly-appointed Dutchman will be looking to start his tenure on a good note. (Also read: Full fixtures and schedule)
India start as favourites
Marijane's men start the eight-team tournament as favourites. Being the highest-ranked team (6) in the tournament, India will be looking to assert their dominance by winning their third title. Notably, the "Men in Blue" finished runners-up in 2013, after losing the final to South Korea in Ipoh.
India have headed to Dhaka with an 18-member squad that seems to have the right mix of youth and experience.
Veteran midfielder Sardar Singh, along with Akashdeep Singh, Satbir Singh and SV Sunil have made a comeback into the side, which will be skippered by Manpreet Singh. Junior World Cup star Gurjant Singh, who made an immediate impact after making his debut for the senior team on Europe Tour in August, has been retained.
Skipper not willing to take Japan lightly
Meanwhile, Manpreet is confident that India can dominate the rest in the continental tournament. However, the 25-year-old is not willing to take any opposition lightly, including their opening-day opponents, Japan, who are ranked 11 rungs below India at 17 in FIH rankings.
Notably, India defeated Japan 4-3 at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in May. However, the four-time semi-finalists went on to stun world champions 3-2 in the six-team tournament.
"We are aware that we go into this tournament as the highest-ranked team and we will aim to keep up the No.1 status," Manpreet was quoted as saying by "Press Trust of India".
He added: "We have seen how they [Japan] play and they are definitely one of the fastest improving sides in Asia. We can never take Japan to be an easy team."
When does the match start and how to watch it live
The Pool A opener between India and Japan will be played from 3pm local time, 2:30pm IST
Live streaming and TV coverage
India: TV: Star Sports 2/HD; Live streaming: Hotstar
Malaysia: TV: Astro Arena/HD ; Live streaming: Astro Go
Pakistan: TV: PTV; Live streaming: PTV Sports Live
Japan: TV: TV Tokyo
Squads
India: Akash Chikte, Suraj Karkera, ,Dipsan Tirkey, Kothajit Singh, Surender Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar, SK Uthappa, Sardar Singh, Manpreet Singh (captain), Chinglensana Singh, Sumit, S.V. Sunil (vice-captain), Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar, Gurjant Singh, Satbir Singh
Japan: Koji Yamasaki, Shota Yamada, Miyu Tanimitsu, Genki Mitani, Seren Tanaka, Hiromasa Ochiai, Kazua Murata, Suguru Hoshi, Kenta Tanaka, Kenji Kitazato, Heita Yoshihara, Manabu Yamashita, Kaito Tanaka, Kota Watanabe, Tusbasa Yamamizu, Masaki Ohashi, Yoshikawa, Takashi, Sugur Shimmoto
