Asian Champions Trophy: Indian Men's Hockey squad to kickstart their campaign on December 14

Indian men's hockey team will kickstart their campaign at the upcoming Asian Champions Trophy in Dhaka on December 14. The defending champions departed for Dhaka on Friday (December 10).

India will step onto the field to defend their title at the prestigious Continental event. The Asian Champions Trophy is slated to be held from December 14 to 22.

The tournament, which was originally scheduled to be held in 2020, was postponed several times due to the prevailing COVID-19 outbreak.

Manpreet Singh will lead the Indian side, while drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh has been named vice-captain.

The defending Champions India begin their campaign on the opening day against Korea. In this edition, all the participating nations will compete in the single-pool tournament against Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan and hosts Bangladesh.

Manpreet Singh leads the men's team. He will look to continue the historic 2021 Tokyo Olympics momentum during their first international outing after their euphoric performance in Tokyo.

"This is our first outing after the Tokyo Olympics so naturally there is a lot of excitement among the players. We have had a good training camp in Bhubaneswar and I feel since the weather here is quite similar to that of Dhaka, we won't take long to acclimatize," said Captain Manpreet Singh in a Hockey India release.

Indian men's Hockey team for Asian Champions Trophy

The Indian Hockey Squad are ecstatic ahead of the Asian Champions Trophy. In the absence of a few of the Indian hockey greats like PR Sreejesh, the youngsters will get a chance to exhibit their performance. Manpreet said:

"With nearly 10 players who were part of the Tokyo Olympic squad being rested, this is a fantastic opportunity for the players who had been waiting on the sidelines to get a chance to perform in a major international tournament. This will be a good platform for them to showcase their talent and temperament."

"It will be a good tournament not just in terms of competition but also to understand about other team's capabilities. We assess the progress of other Asian countries ahead of the all-important Asian Games and Asia Cup next year,' the ace mid-fielder added." said Manpeet.

Goalkeepers: Krishan Bahadur Pathak, Suraj Karkera

Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh (VC), Gurinder Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Dipsan Tirkey, Varun Kumar, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Mandeep Mor

Midfielders: Hardik Singh, Manpreet Singh (C), Jaskaran Singh, Sumit, Rajkumar Pal, Akashdeep Singh, Shamsher Singh

Forwards: Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Dilpreet Singh, Gursahibjit Singh, Shilanand Lakra

Asian Champions Trophy: Team India schedule

India vs Korea: December 14

India vs Bangladesh: December 15

India vs Pakistan: December 17

India vs Malaysia: December 18

India vs Japan: December 19