We want to start well here, says Fulton upon arrival in Rajgir

The Indian men’s hockey team arrived in Patna on Monday for the prestigious Asia Cup, to be held in Rajgir from later this week, with one clear purpose and that is to win the tournament and earn the World Cup berth.During the last edition held in Jakarta, a young Indian side — with as many as 15 debutants — had competed in the event and finished third. However, this time India’s full-strength side, led by captain Harmanpreet Singh, will participate in the competition and look to finish on top of the podium in front of the home crowd.To achieve that, they have trained hard and also played friendly matches against Australia in Perth earlier this month.

Speaking about it, India chief coach Craig Fulton said, “The team’s preparations have been solid for this tournament. Our approach will be similar to that of the Paris Olympics where we began with good wins in the pool stage. So we want to start well here, take it game-by-game and build on our momentum.

”Although Fulton is confident of winning, he doesn’t want to take any team lightly. After all, it has been eight years since India last won the title when they beat Malaysia 2-1 in the 2017 final in Dhaka.

As far as this edition is concerned, India have been grouped in Pool A with Japan, China and Kazakhstan and will play their opening game against China.Meanwhile, both Fulton and Harmanpreet sounded quite excited playing in Rajgir, which will be hosting its second international hockey event in less that twelve months after the Women’s Asian Champions Trophy that was held in November last year.“It is great that international hockey is being hosted here and we want to inspire the people of this region with our game, and create more fans for the sport,” Fulton stated.As for Harmanpreet, he said, “We have never played in Bihar and it’s exciting to see that Rajgir is already hosting its second international hockey tournament within a span of one year.”Besides India, China — a two-time Asia Cup bronze medallist — arrived on Monday while defending champions South Korea reached Sunday night.