Malaysia first team to arrive for Hockey Asia Cup

Rajgir, Aug 23 (IANS) Malaysia arrived in Patna, Bihar on Saturday morning for the prestigious Asia Cup Rajgir, Bihar 2025. Malaysia were the finalists in the previous edition held in Jakarta where they lost the title match to Korea 1-2 but this time, the Captain expressed that the team is here to win.

"It is very exciting to be here in Rajgir. We look forward to having a good tournament and we have prepared well. Hosts India will be a tough team to beat because they have played so many top teams in Pro League and have the right experience and exposure in international hockey," expressed the expressed Marhan Jalil.

Further he added that the defending champions Korea will also be a team to watch out for. "Korea will also be a good team to watch out for. We played them earlier this year and they are looking sharp. In all, we look forward to a good tournament and our first aim will be to make it to the Super 4s," Jalil added.

Expressing his delight over a warm welcome, Head Coach Sarjit Kundan said, "Firstly, we are grateful for the warm welcome and we are happy to be here early and get a few warm-up games.

"We are a young team building towards 2028 Olympics and most important for us is the Asian Games next year. I am hopeful they will play well. Before the Nations Cup, we travelled to Australia and Korea. After this we have the Sultan Azlan Shah with all good teams going to be there. In this tournament, we just want to play well. We are ranked No.2 in the event and hopefully we are in the podium."

Malaysia will play the opening match of the tournament on 29th August against Bangladesh. They are grouped in Pool B along with Korea, Bangladesh and Chinese Taipei while Pool A features India, Japan, China and Kazakhstan.

--IANS

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