Abhishek Mishra in Rajgir
The excitement around the stadium was palpable throughout the Asia Cup. The spirited crowd arrived hours early, raising the decibel levels even four hours before India’s matches. They were cheering the teams playing in the classification games at the Rajgir Hockey Stadium, inside Bihar Sports University.
The stadium in the outskirts of Rajgir city started witnessing a build-up around 2 pm despite the scorching heat and humidity. It felt like 50°C during the day matches. The locals kept the excitement high in every match and didn’t leave the stands when a heavy downpour delayed the India-South Korea match by almost an hour.
After a dominating victory over Malaysia and a rest day before the last match of the Super 4 stage, Harmanpreet Singh and his men are all set for tonight’s face-off against China once again. A win or draw will ensure India’s spot in the summit clash and winning the Asia Cup means sealing a direct berth for the World Cup in 2026.
The encounters between the two countries have been drawing excitement since the final of the Asian Champions Trophy in 2024, which ended in a thriller that India clinched 1-0. Their most recent meeting in the pool stage of this Asia Cup a week back was another nail-biter which India won 4-3.
An exciting match is expected today as well. This tournament has seen China capitalising on penalty-corners with a higher success rate than the rest of the teams. For India, it has been a problem in the Super 4 stage as star drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh failed to score a single goal.
India and China have faced each other 25 times. India dominate the head-to-head record by winning 19 matches. China won three and there ended in draws.
India have always been ahead of China, but recent encounters reflect China’s rise at the Asian level especially after the appointment of Australia’s Anthony Farry and his deputy, the hard taskmaster Michel van den Heuvel. For the Asia Cup, former India coach Roelant Oltmans has also been brought in the role of assistant coach.
The match before the summit clash is going to be important and exciting. India currently lead the chart with four points. China are second with three.
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