Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], August 2 (ANI): Pakistan’s Men’s Hockey Coach Sheikh Shahnaz arrived at Chennai together with his staff on Tuesday to take part within the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy 2023 the place he stated that the Pakistan staff are all the time excited to play in India.
The arrival of India’s neighbouring nations Pakistan and China in Chennai on Tuesday night time energised town’s ambiance forward of the Hero Asian Champions Trophy Chennai 2023. While the China Men’s Hockey Team straight flew to the host metropolis, Pakistan Men’s Hockey Team entered India by the Attari-Wagah border in Amritsar, from the place they took a flight to Chennai by way of Bengaluru. Talking concerning the preparations for the event and enjoying in India, Pakistan’s Coach Sheikh Shahnaz stated as quoted by Hockey India, “We are always excited to play in India and it definitely adds to the pressure, but good quality players know how to perform and deliver under pressure, hence, we are hopeful of a good show on and off the field.” The Asian Champions Trophy Chennai 2023 is about to be performed from August third to August twelfth. The event guarantees intense battles as six teams- India, Pakistan, Korea, China, Malaysia, and Japan will lock horns with one another, as per Hockey India’s launch. Pakistan, who’ve received the Asian Champions Trophy title thrice, are essentially the most profitable staff within the historical past of the event alongside India, and they’ll now be aiming to win the elusive trophy for the document fourth time.
Pakistan will open their marketing campaign in opposition to Malaysia on third August.
“We are here to play positive hockey and I believe that India and Pakistan should play more and more matches against each other as it will help both teams to take their respective games to the next level. Also, the Asian Champions Trophy will serve as a good precursor to Hangzhou Asian Games as wewill be playing against the same teams in China, so this tournament will help us identify strengths and weaknesses of our opponents,” he added earlier than stating, “We are hopeful of at least playing the final of the tournament.” Also, commenting on grouping quite a few younger gamers with a few skilled campaigners in his staff, Shahnaz stated,”Nowadays, you have to take a chance by adding young players to the team. It has now become a crucial aspect of modern hockey. The younger players not only have better fitness levels but also bring new energy, commitment, flair, and skills to a team and they can easily adapt to the ever-changing hockey environment. So, I believe the mixture of youngsters with some experienced players in the team is more effective in modern hockey.” Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Captain Umar Bhutta stated, “Many of the young players in our team recently played in the Junior Asia Cup. So, for them, this tournament will be familiar to a certain extent and they won’t find it very difficult to get accustomed to the conditions here and play in such high-level tournamentsas I think that a sportsman is habitual to soak pressure and perform in crunch situations.” “Also, I have some wonderful memories of playing in India when I last came to this country five years ago to participate in the 2018 World Cup. This time as well, I have come here with the hope of giving our best as a team and gaining as much experience as we can. Moreover, it’s a crucial tournament for us in regards to the upcoming Asian Games as we will be able to try different team combinations and fine-tune our strategies in this competition, which will ultimately help us improve as a team,” he added. On the opposite hand, China are eyeing to clinch the Asian Champions Trophy for the primary time. They will play their opening recreation of the Hero Asian Champions Trophy Chennai 2023 on third August in opposition to the hosts India.
In anticipation of the upcoming event, China’s Coach Haiqin Weng offered insights into their preparations, stating, “We have prepared very well for the tournament and we are excited to play in India. People here are very nice and we are eager to play in the Asian Champions Trophy here. Further talking about the weather and playing conditions in Chennai, Haiqin said,”The climate could be very sizzling right here, nonetheless, the turf the place the event will likely be performed is fairly much like the one which now we have in China, in order that will likely be an added benefit for us.” (ANI)