Skipper Harmanpreet urges caution in India's Asia Cup approach

Indiarsquos first chance to qualify for the Menrsquos Hockey World Cup next year went abegging in the FIH Pro League But the reigning Asian Games champions are favourites by a distance in the Asia Cup that begins here on Friday and ensures the titlewinners a ticket to the 2026 World CupThe hosts threetime winners of the Asia Cup last won the continental showpiece in 2017 and would be looking to displace defending champions South Korea in the eightteam competition that was hit by Pakistanrsquos withdrawal amid political tensions between the two countries World No 7 India begin their campaign against China a team that gave them a stiff challenge in the last Asian Champions Trophy finalIndia skipper Harmanpreet Singh speaks about his teamrsquos recent Australia trip their preparation for the Asia Cup and challenges up aheadExcerpts from an interviewCan you pick who Indiarsquos major challengers could be at this Asia CupItrsquos not easy at all because itrsquos a major tournament for us and of course as you know in the Asian Champions Trophy final we beat China by just a 10 scoreline This reflects that nothing is going to come easy So neither should we think that way or approach the tournament that wayIndia players during a training session on the eve of their Asia Cup opening match against China at Rajgir Bihar on Thursday PicPTIIndia lost the first chance to qualify for the World Cup through the FIH Pro League losing seven of the eight matches in Europe How has the team recovered from that setbackIt was tough to accept those defeats But honestly it was some some small silly mistakes that led to us conceding those goals at the Pro League It was irritating because we were playing well but still losing Our biggest learning has been how to maintain our defensive structure throughout a match The pressure is not just on the goalkeepers we outfield players have a responsibility too In the last month we have worked a lot on our defenceTherersquos a lot of talk about goalkeeping becoming Indiarsquos weak area since PR Sreejesh retired Would you agree with thisThe Olympics is the only tournament where we play with just one goalkeeper throughout Otherwise Krishan Pathak and Suraj Karkera have been with the team for the last seveneight years and have shared goalkeeping duties with Sreejesh especially Pathak He has the experience and confidence The team too have a lot of confidence in him there is no doubt that Sree bhai was one of the best goalkeeper but the experience that he has shared with both Karkera and Pathak surely countsIndia toured Australia for four matches just before the Asia Cup How was that experience for the teamOn the Australian tour our understanding and coordination has grown They are a team that play mantoman like most Asian teams For the first two matches we mixed up all the 24 players on the tour to give everyone a go But in the last two matches only the Asia Cup squad played We won one and lost the otherWhat are the gains from that Australia tourThe motive of the tour was that when a team like Australia play mantoman we need to manage and stay tough Aspects like strong receiving and passing time are very important We won a lot of oneonone battles there in defence which is a big step forwardThere has been talk about finding fresh faces as some seniors are on the other side of 30 Your thoughtsI think every player knows how much hard work hersquos putting in and how much hersquos still capable of Age doesnrsquot matter if you are fit performing well and if the team is benefitting from it All the players are in good shape and fit So we shouldnrsquot think on those lines at the moment Our focus right now is to perform well at the Asia Cup and do well in the Asian Games and the World Cup next yearGroupsPool A India China Japan KazakhstanPool B Malaysia South Korea Chinese Taipei BangladeshIndiarsquos group games vs China Friday August 29 1500 vs Japan Sunday August 31 1500 vs Kazakhstan Monday Sept 1 1930Last five Asia Cup final results2022South Korea 21 Malaysia2017India 21 Malaysia2013South Korea 43 India2009South Korea 10 Pakistan2007India 72 South Korea