Asian Champions Trophy Hockey: India look to continue winning run against China

India will look to build on their strong start to the Asian Champions Trophy when they face China in their second round-robin match on Thursday. The five-time champions began their title defence with a big win over Bangladesh and will be keen to maintain their momentum against a young Chinese side.India, who recently won their second successive Asian Games gold medal to secure direct qualification for the Los Angeles Olympics, dominated Bangladesh in their opening match. Bangladesh replaced Pakistan in the tournament after the latter refused to travel to India, citing security reasons.The match was largely played in Bangladesh's half, with India controlling the contest. While Bangladesh were not expected to pose a major challenge, India's ability to score from both field play and penalty corners was an encouraging sign.The Harmanpreet Singh-led side scored eight field goals and five goals from set pieces against Bangladesh on Tuesday.Mandeep makes a strong statementVeteran forward Mandeep Singh was among the standout performers, scoring a hat-trick. His return to form comes at an important time, with national selectors expected to assess the players after the tournament.Mandeep was reportedly among four senior players who could be phased out after the ACT. The other three were Jarmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas and Nilakanta Sharma.Nilakanta announced on Tuesday that the tournament would be his last at the international level. However, Mandeep and Jarmanpreet are keen to continue playing.Apart from Mandeep's three goals, captain Harmanpreet, Dilpreet Singh and vice-captain Hardik Singh scored twice each. Shilanand Lakra, Nilakanta and Jugraj Singh also got on the scoresheet.India chief coach Craig Fulton was pleased with Mandeep's performance."He (Mandeep) was good, he did full of running and was nice and sharp, which was important," he said.Fulton wants India to improve after the breakDespite the convincing result, Fulton felt India needed to perform better in the third quarter, after the teams changed ends."We wanted a fast start, which we got in the first quarter. We wanted to play some fast-flowing hockey, which we did. But the third quarter wasn't that good, and that remains a problem. But I am glad we finished strongly," he pointed out.India had to manage without midfielder Manpreet Singh, who has been ruled out of the tournament because of a calf muscle injury. Hardik, Vivek Sagar Prasad and Nilakanta took charge of the midfield against Bangladesh and combined well with the forwards.Mandeep was a major threat in attack, with Abhishek, Dilpreet, Shilanand and Sukhjeet Singh supporting him.At the back, Harmanpreet, Amit Rohidas, Jugraj and Sanjay will continue to shoulder responsibility, while Suraj Karkera and Krishan Bahadur Pathak are the goalkeeping options.China present a different challengeIndia will face a less familiar opponent in China, who pushed Asian Games silver medallists Malaysia hard before going down 4-5 in their opening match.China have brought an entirely new squad for the tournament, with their young players showing promise against Malaysia. Their lack of recent exposure against India, however, makes them a difficult team to assess.Fulton admitted that India had limited information about their opponents."This Chinese team is unknown to us, as they have come here with a completely new group, not the one that played at the Asian Games. We don't know much about them and haven't seen them play. We will have to analyse video footage of their match to get a fair idea about them," Fulton said.India will aim to carry their attacking form into Thursday's match while addressing the concerns raised by their coach. China, meanwhile, will look to build on their close contest against Malaysia and challenge the defending champions.Other Asian Champions Trophy matches on ThursdayMalaysia will face South Korea, while Japan will take on Bangladesh in the other matches scheduled for Thursday.MatchStart timeMalaysia vs South Korea2.30 pmJapan vs Bangladesh4.45 pmIndia vs China7 pmIndia squadGoalkeepers: Suraj Karkera, Krishan Bahadur PathakDefenders: Sanjay, Harmanpreet Singh (captain), Amit Rohidas, Jugraj Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Amandeep LakraMidfielders: Rajinder Singh, Aditya Arjun Lalage, Nilakanta Sharma, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar PrasadForwards: Shilanand Lakra, Abhishek, Sukhjeet Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Mandeep SinghGet the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.