India to open campaign against Pakistan instead of Bangladesh

Kuantan (Malaysia), May 9: India will open their title defence campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan in the eighth Asia Cup hockey tournament here tomorrow after the schedule of the event was revised following Sri Lanka's last-minute pull out.
As per the revised schedule, minnows Bangladesh have been shifted from Pool B to Pool A, which means India's pool has only three teams in Pakistan and China.

The Pool B now consists of South Korea, Japan, Malaysia and Bangladesh.

Earlier, India was supposed to play their opening match against Bangladesh today.

Meanwhile, India's coach-in-charge Harendra Singh has brushed aside talks of his wards feeling the heat to play formidable Pakistan in the opening match.

He said the team is oozing with confidence following the Azlan Shah triumph and are eagerly waiting to take the field.

"The boys are eagerly waiting for the match. There is no pressure on us to play Pakistan in the first match. The confidence among the boys is high. PTI