Pakistan is taking on arch-rivals India in the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy 2024 match at the Moqi Training Base, Hulunbuir, China today.
During the match today, Pakistan secured an early lead. However, India soon came back to score consecutive goals.
Currently, India are leading with 2-1 with the national side striving to close the lead.
The Green Shirts, ranked 16th globally, are currently placed at the second spot in the tournament after winning two of the four matches they’ve played so far where they scored eleven goals and conceded five in return — the other matches were drawn against Malaysia and South Korea.
Meanwhile, India, currently ranked fifth in the world, top the points table with 12 points after winning all of their four matches.
The neighbouring country has won the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy four times — one more than Pakistan’s three titles.
Speaking to The News, Pakistan’s High Performance coach Tahir Zaman — who only joined the national team in China only a day ahead of start of the tournament — said that the Men in Green will adopt a tactical approach against arch-rivals rather than going “all out”.
“We would prefer playing a tactical game rather making an all-out effort to win against India,” he said, adding that he hopes to take on the neighbours against in the tournament’s final.
“The boys have shown immense strength and coordination during the last two matches that we won. The team has shown signs of improvement and hopefully things will be much better in the semis where Korea could be our opponents,” Zaman said while commenting on the national side’s performance.
Earlier in the tournament, the national side secured their first win (2-1) against Japan followed by an impressive 5-1 victory over China to book their place in the semi-finals.
With South Korea and Malaysia taking on each other and China locking horns with Japan, the round matches will culminate today meaning that the other two semi-finalists will also be decided.
The semi-finals will be played on September 17.
