Hockey: Confident India heads for Salalah to play in Asia Cup for Junior Men

India starts one of  favourites to win the men’s Junior Asia Cup Salalah in Oman starting on May 23. Top four teams from the Salalah tournament will qualify for the FIH Junior Hockey Men’s World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, in December this year.

In all, 10 teams will be on display at Salalah. They include India, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Pakistan and Thailand in pool A while the hosts Oman, Bangladesh, Korea, Malaysia and Uzbekistan have been placed in pool B.

Indian team led by Uttam Singh with Boby Singh Dhami  as his deputy will be riding high on confidence following its outstanding victory at the 10th Sultan of Johor Cup. Reflecting the team’s excitement ahead of the tournament, Uttam Singh said, “We have been looking forward to this tournament especially after working so hard over the past few months. With the seniors also camping at SAI, Bengaluru, we were able to play some high intensity matches against it which has helped us in our preparations.”

“Also, winning the Sultan of Johor Cup last year has certainly boosted our confidence and we are now excited to play against some of the top teams in Asia,” he added.

He further emphasized that the team has a good mix of experienced players which will give it an edge over the other teams. “Quite a few of us in the squad have gained good international exposure over the past three to four years with some of us also making our senior team debut. The experiences from these matches will hold us in good stead and also help us guide the new players in the squad in crunch situations,” Uttam said.

From May 23  to June 1, the best young Asian men’s hockey teams will compete in the Men’s Junior Asia Cup Salalah 2023, with three spots up for grabs in the upcoming FIH Junior Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023, to be played in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The ten participating teams have been split into two pools, with Pool A comprising Chinese Taipei, India, Japan, Pakistan and Thailand. In Pool B hosts Oman will be joined by Bangladesh, Korea, Malaysia and Uzbekistan.

Each team in the pool stage will play the other four teams in their pool once.

The top two teams in both pools will qualify for the semi-finals, while the teams in third and fourth positions will compete for the 5-8 place classification. The teams finishing in the fifth place in both pools will go head-to-head to avoid finishing in the tenth place.

The losing semi-finalists will play in the bronze medal match, with the two finalists and the bronze medallists qualifying for the FIH Junior Hockey World Cup 2023. Malaysia, as hosts, have already qualified for the World Cup, so if Malaysia enter the semi-finals of the Junior Asia Cup, all the other three teams making it to the semi-finals will gain entry into the World Cup as well.

The FIH Junior Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 will be played in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from December  5 to 16. Malaysia has qualified as the hosts of the competition. Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands and Spain have qualified from Europe as the teams that were classified in the top-5 at the EuroHockey Junior Championship 2022. Australia and New Zealand have also qualified through the Oceania Junior World Cup Qualifiers 2022. South Africa and Egypt are the qualifiers from Africa finishing as the top two teams at the Junior Africa Cup 2023. Argentina, Canada and Chile are the three qualifiers from Pan America. The three top teams from Asia will complete the full set of sixteen teams that will compete for the title at the FIH Junior Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023.

With an eye on the title, an upbeat Indian Junior Men’s Hockey Team left for the highly anticipated Men’s Junior Asia Cup 2023 in Salalah, Oman today from the KempeGowda International Airport, Bengaluru. India has been grouped in pool A along with nemesis Pakistan, Japan, Thailand and Chinese Taipei, while Korea, Malaysia, Oman, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan will form pool B of the tournament which is scheduled to take place from  May  23 to June 1.