The Indian junior hockey team, who won the bronze medal in the Sultan of Johor Cup, left for Oman on Friday 22nd November to participate in the Junior Asia Cup to be held in Muscat, the capital of Oman. Indian hockey team’s legendary goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, who was part of the bronze medal winning team at the Paris Olympics, is responsible for guiding the team. Team India won the title for a record fourth time after defeating arch-rivals Pakistan 2-1 in the final of the tournament held last year, while this time it will be a huge responsibility to defend the title.
Team India has been placed in Pool-A
The Junior Asia Cup is starting from November 26 with the final match to be played on December 4. The Indian team has been placed in Pool-A where they will play their first match against Thailand on November 27. After this, they will play next 2 matches against Japan and Chinese Taipei team on 28th and 30th November, while the last match of group stage will be played by Indian team against Korean team on 1st December. If we talk about Pool-B, it includes teams from Pakistan, Oman, China, Bangladesh and Malaysia. The top two finishers from both groups will book their place in the semi-finals.
The Indian captain is confident of winning the title again
On the preparations for the Junior Asia Cup before leaving for Oman, Aamir Ali, who is captaining the Indian team in this tournament, said that we are preparing hard and ready to face the challenges ahead. We all understand the importance of this tournament and our focus is to give our best from the first match so that we can easily secure our place in the finals. Let us tell you that till now India is the most successful team of the tournament by winning the title in 2004, 2008, 2015 and 2024.
(PTI Inputs)
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