Hockey Asian Champions Trophy review: India continues resurgence after Paris Olympics heroics

In 2023, roughly six months after a forgettable ninth-place finish at the World Cup, the Indian men’s hockey team had its first major test at the Asian Champions Trophy in Chennai under Craig Fulton, the successor of coach Graham Reid. The Men in Blue did have a few hiccups, including a two-goal deficit in the final against Malaysia at one point, but managed to clinch the title in front of the home crowd.

The successful title defence at the 2024 edition, held in Moqi, China, from September 8 to 17, is the latest achievement, signifying the team’s consistent growth under Fulton in the last year.

Post the tournament in Chennai, the side won a gold medal at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, one of the qualifying events for the Paris Olympics. Last month, at the Summer Games, the Indian team clinched its second straight bronze medal. 

It was the only Asian outfit amongst the 12 participants and turned out to be the only side that did not lose its place on the podium from Tokyo 2020. It also gives perspective to the increased gap between the tricolour nation and other Asian nations in terms of efficient and high-quality hockey.

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Showing no signs of a potential hangover, the Indian team has begun the new Olympic cycle in an emphatic fashion.

For the Asian Champions Trophy, coach Fulton retained 10 players and three reserves — goalkeeper Krishan Bahadur Pathak, defender Jugraj Singh, and midfielder Nilakanta Sharma — from the squad that competed in Paris. He chose to rest five players: Hardik Singh, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Upadhyay, Shamsher Singh, and Gurjant Singh. Additionally, a change was necessitated by the retirement of veteran goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh. The remaining spots in the squad were filled by Suraj Karkera, Mohd. Raheel Mouseen, Araijeet Singh Hundal, Uttam Singh, Gurjot Singh, and Amir Ali, all of whom had been training at a camp while the Olympics were underway.

Performing like a well-oiled unit, India brushed aside China 3-0, Japan 5-1 and Malaysia 8-1 in its first three league-stage games.

It was Korea that made the Indians sweat for the first time. Quick goals from Araijeet and skipper Harmanpreet Singh made it seem like another one-sided contest was on the cards before the Koreans pulled one back at the stroke of half-time. Harmanpreet restored the two-goal lead in the 43rd minute, but overall, it was a brave effort from Korea as it saw the ball as much as the Indians in terms of possession and also earned more Penalty Corners (PCs).

The game against Korea was the perfect appetiser for India’s last round-robin match against arch-rival Pakistan, which would decide the league-stage topper.

Pakistan’s preparation for the tournament had taken a hit when Roelant Oltmans refused to accept another short-term assignment from its national federation. Olympian Tahir Zaman had to be urgently appointed as the new coach, just four days before the team’s opening match against Malaysia.

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However, the Men in Green, one of the youngest squads, played way better than their last two outings against India — an embarrassing 2-10 loss at the Asian Games and 0-4 defeat at the previous Asian Champions Trophy in Chennai. Here, it even took the lead courtesy of Ahmed Nadeem’s strike in the eighth minute. India was guilty of wasting a lot of chances, but Harmanpreet’s brace proved enough for a 2-1 win. A glimpse of how fierce the rivalry is came in the final quarter. Tempers flared when Waheed Ashraf Rana hit Jugraj in the face with his elbow, leading to an inaudible verbal exchange between the players of the two teams. The umpires were forced to separate the two groups. Rana received a 10-minute yellow card for ‘serious misconduct.’

Compared to the league stage, India had a much easier outing against Korea in the semifinals — a 4-1 victory featuring a hattrick from Harmanpreet. Host China, the lowest-ranked team in the tournament, had already shocked Pakistan 2-0 in the penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw in the first semifinal. 

In the summit clash, China tried to frustrate India with a low block, and the tactic proved to be largely successful. However, in the 51st minute, Harmanpreet made his way into the shooting circle with an incisive run on the left flank and moved along the baseline before finding Jugraj in front of the goalmouth, who slotted the ball into the bottom-right corner. The goal sealed India’s fifth title, the most by any nation. Pakistan, with three, is second.

The 1-0 scoreline does not reveal the extent to which the Indians dominated the final, barring the rare counter-attacks from the host.

While ace drag-flicker Harmanpreet led from the front with seven goals, coach Fulton would have been pleased with the fact that he was well supported by Uttam (4), Raj Kumar Pal (3), Araijeet (3) and Sukhjeet (3) in the scoring department. In Hardik’s absence, Abhishek Nain stepped in as the injector during the PC routines. India earned 29 PCs — the second-lowest amongst the six teams — but it had a conversion rate of 27.59 per cent, only behind Korea, which was the most successful team at 36.67 per cent.

Krishan and Suraj, who had been Sreejesh’s understudy till now, conceded a total of just five goals amidst the quarterly rotation throughout the tournament.

Fulton could have considered resting more members from the Paris squad and introducing fresh faces, even if it meant risking a few losses. Beating lower-ranked teams does little to improve ranking points. More importantly, giving young players international experience at the start of the new Olympic cycle is crucial, as tougher challenges such as the new season of the FIH Pro League, the Asia Cup in 2025 and the World Cup in 2026 await India.