ACT will be great platform for fringe players: Manpreet

Bhubaneswar, December 10

The upcoming Asian Champions Trophy in Dhaka will be a perfect platform for the fringe players to showcase their talent and stake a claim in the first team, said Indian men’s hockey team captain Manpreet Singh.

The tournament, originally scheduled to be held last year, has been postponed multiple times due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and will now be played from December 14 to 22.

This will be India’s first outing after the team’s historic Olympics bronze medal winning campaign earlier this year. They will be without eight players from the Tokyo Games squad, including the likes of veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh who has been rested.

“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,” said Manpreet before leaving for Dhaka today.

Defending champions India would begin their campaign on the opening day against South Korea before locking horns against Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan and hosts Bangladesh in the single-pool tournament.

“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 acclimatise,” the skipper said.

“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 midfielder added.

The top four teams from the pool stage will progress to the semifinals. In the previous edition in Muscat in 2018, India had jointly lifted the trophy along with Pakistan as the final was called off due to incessant rains. — PTI

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Shooting Nationals: Divyansh shoots to the top, claims air rifle titles

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