Asian Champions Trophy will be great platform for fringe players, says India captain Manpreet Singh

The
tournament,
originally
scheduled
to
be
held
last
year,
has
been
postponed
multiple
times
due
to
the
COVID-19
pandemic,
and
will
now
be
played
from
December
14
to
22.

This
will
be
India’s
first
outing
after
the
team’s
historic
Olympics
bronze
medal
winning
campaign
earlier
this
year.

The
Manpreet
Singh-led
side
will
be
without
eight
players
from
the
Tokyo
Games
squad,
including
the
likes
of
veteran
goalkeeper
PR
Sreejesh
who
has
been
rested.

“With
nearly
10
players
who
were
part
of
the
Tokyo
Olympic
squad
being
rested,
this
is
a
fantastic
opportunity
for
the
players
who
had
been
waiting
on
the
sidelines
to
get
a
chance
to
perform
in
a
major
international
tournament.

“This
will
be
a
good
platform
for
them
to
showcase
their
talent
and
temperament,”
said
Manpeet
before
leaving
for
Dhaka
on
Friday
(December
10).

Defending
champions
India
would
begin
their
campaign
on
the
opening
day
against
Korea
before
locking
horns
against
Japan,
Malaysia,
Pakistan
and
hosts
Bangladesh
in
the
single-pool
tournament
for
top
honours.

“This
is
our
first
outing
after
the
Tokyo
Olympics
so
naturally
there
is
a
lot
of
excitement
among
the
players.
We
have
had
a
good
training
camp
in
Bhubaneswar
and
I
feel
since
the
weather
here
is
quite
similar
to
that
of
Dhaka,
we
won’t
take
long
to
acclimatise,”
the
skipper
said.

“It
will
be
a
good
tournament
not
just
in
terms
of
competition
but
also
to
understand
about
other
team’s
capabilities.
We
assess
the
progress
of
other
Asian
countries
ahead
of
the
all-important
Asian
Games
and
Asia
Cup
next
year,”
the
ace
mid-fielder
added.

After
Korea,
India
will
play
Bangladesh
on
December
15,
followed
by
matches
against
arch-rivals
Pakistan
on
December
17,
Malaysia
on
December
18
and
Japan
on
December
19.

The
top-four
teams
from
the
pool
stages
will
progress
to
the
semi-finals
to
be
played
on
December
21
followed
by
the
title
clash
on
December
22.

In
the
previous
edition
of
the
event
held
in
Muscat
in
2018,
India
had
jointly
lifted
the
title
along
with
Pakistan
as
the
final
was
called
off
due
to
incessant
rains.