Before leaving for the 28th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup-2015, starting in Malaysia, Indian men’s hockey team captain Manpreet Singh and his team are keen on this first tournament of the year. Starting from March 23 in Ipoh, Malaysia, India has to play its first match with Asian champions Japan. Both the teams had played face-to-face before last year’s Asian Champions Trophy.
Captain Manpreet said before leaving, “This is the first tournament of this season and, naturally, we are very eager to start its positive. Good performance in this will help us in the FIH Men’s Series Finals in Bhubaneswar. ”
In this prestigious tournament, hosts of Malaysia, Canada, Korea, South Africa and Asian Games champions Japan are participating in addition to India.
He said, “We have worked hard at camp for tournaments. Practice in hot weather in the camp at noon will help us in coordination with the conditions in Ipoh. ”
They said, “We will be playing Asian Champions in Japan in our first match of the tournament and we have to do our best to defeat them.” India will open their second match in the tournament on March 24 from Korea and the third match on March 26 in the Asian Games silver Medal winner is to play from Malaysia.
Manpreet said, “Of course we are a highly ranked team in the tournament but we can not be very excited. Instead of thinking about the final, we have to think about each match and focus on it. Every match is important and we have to ensure that we win all our matches. “
Manpreet believes that the world was a good tournament for the team to learn. He said that for tournaments many such players have been given the opportunity to handle themselves under pressure.
The captain said, “We have tested our mistakes in the camp and have also tried to develop some new combinations in the team, which can help us improve our game. We are confident of the possibility of our victory. ”
