Bengaluru, May 22 (Language) Indian men’s hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh said that his team’s focus will be on the Asian Games during the European tour of Pro League matches starting from May 26. The Asian Games is an Olympic qualifying event for hockey.
The team left for London on Monday for the first leg of the European tour, where they will face Olympic champions Belgium (May 26 and June 2) and hosts Great Britain (May 27 and June 3).
The team will then travel to Eindhoven for their matches against the Netherlands (June 7 and 10) and Argentina (June 8 and 11).
India top the table with 19 points from eight matches in the nine-team pro-league tournament. Great Britain also have the same number of points but are second in the table on goal difference.
Harmanpreet said that these matches will play an important role in India’s preparation for the Asian Games to be held in September. The Asian Games gold medal winning team will automatically qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Harmanpreet said before the team left for UK, “We are moving towards the last stage of the Pro League season and our matches will be very important. We are still in a strong position in the table and we will try to get more points in the remaining matches.”
The Indian captain said, “We are excited about this tour as it also gives us a great opportunity to play against good teams. These matches will be really important for us as we prepare for the crucial Asian Games later this year.”
India went unbeaten against reigning world champions Germany and Australia in this season’s Pro League, helping them climb to the top of the points table.
This will be the team’s first tour under new boss Craig Fulton.
Harmanpreet said, “We have gone through a rigorous training session at the National Coaching Camp at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Bangalore campus. Our preparations have been really good. We had done well in Rourkela in our previous matches and it was a confidence booster. In such a situation, we would like to repeat that performance.