New Delhi: The prism of their target may have the Asian Champions Trophy at its centre, but the Indian men's hockey team will have the Junior World Cup at the back of their mind when they step on the Kakamigahara turf in Japan on Saturday.
The junior Indian team set Ipoh alight last month by winning the Sultan of Johor Cup, and as many as 13 from that squad have been included in the senior squad, which meant seniors like Sardar Singh, VR Raghunath, PR Sreejesh, Rupinderpal Singh, SV Sunil and others had to be rested. But it's a tactical as well as a logical move.
Hockey India (HI) has eyes firmly set on the FIH Junior Men's World Cup that India will host next month at New Delhi. And there's nothing better than giving the junior players an opportunity to get their gear-boxes in order at a senior tournament.
Manpreet, who captained the junior team during the Johor Cup, has been given the honours to lead the senior team. Though HI have appointed Terry Walsh as its new senior-team coach, junior team's chief coach Gregg Clark has been asked to mentor the boys in Japan, which is again understandable keeping the Junior World Cup in mind.
Kothajit Singh has been named Manpreet's deputy. Defender Gurjinder Singh will also mark his international return after a mysterious left forearm injury. And if Gurjinder's forearms exhibit the needed strength, he could address India's penalty corner woes, which was the low point of the Johor Cup campaign.
"We are testing out some new combinations. It's all part of the process to try and make sure that come December 6 we are in the best place as a team," Clarke said before leaving for Japan. "We need to better our [penalty corner] conversion rate. Gurjinder Singh is in the team; he wasn't in Johor. He is very effective on penalty corners. So the tournament will be a test for him," he added.
India, Pakistan and Malaysia have occupied the top three spots in the first two editions of the tournament, and it's not expected to change at the six-team tournament in Kakamigahara, where the top two teams at the end of a league phase will contest the final. Hosts Japan, China and Oman can at best hope for improvement against Asia's top three.
India and Pakistan played the finals in 2011 and 2012, with India winning the inaugural event and Pakistan foiling India's title defence in 2012. Malaysia finished third on both the occasions.
Pakistan, who finished fourth in the Hockey 9s tournament in Perth recently, have trained hard to defend their title. Added to the Hockey 9s squad, which is largely made up of juniors, are the experienced Fareed Ahmed, Rizwan Senior and Rashid Mehmood after their stints in the Dutch league.
Malaysia, however, are taking this tournament as an opportunity to find players for the senior World Cup training squad, which coach Paul Revington confirmed. "Players in the current Malaysian team need to prove their worth to be included into the World Cup training squad that we will name in January. So this is a perfect opportunity for them to show that they deserve a place in the World Cup training squad," he added.
The women's event will run simultaneously, contested between India, Japan, Malaysia and China. The Indian team, returning from Scotland, will be led by Ritu Rani. "We played China, who are a top team, four weeks ago in Scotland. This tournament is an opportunity. I would like to see the girls go there and beat them again," coach Neil Hawgood said.
India Fixtures (Men)
India vs China: November 2 (1500 IST)
India vs Japan: November 3 (1500 IST)
India vs Oman: November 5 (1100 IST)
India vs Pakistan: November 7 (0900 IST)
India vs Malaysia: November 8 (1100 IST)
India Fixtures (Women)
India vs China: November 2 (0900 IST)
India vs Malaysia: November 4 (1230 IST)
India vs Japan: November 7 (1500 IST)
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