Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar (Mohali): After the successful conduct of league matches at Jalandhar, the second host city Mohali is now ready for the knockout stage of the first-ever international hockey tournament being played on Punjab soil - the Hero Asian Champions Trophy.
With the 5th position and semi-final matches scheduled for tomorrow, i.e. November 4, the Olympian Balbir Singh Senior Hockey Stadium will mark its presence on the international hockey map. It will be the first time an international hockey match will be played at this stadium.
Owing to the unyielding and untiring efforts of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, the State has not only hosted an international hockey tournament for the first time, but Mohali is also hosting an international hockey match for the first time.
In the league stage at Jalandhar, India finished first, Japan second, Malaysia third, South Korea fourth, China fifth and Bangladesh sixth.
Three knockout stage matches will be played tomorrow, on November 4 - two semi-finals and one classification match. The first match of the day for 5th position between China and Bangladesh will be played at 2 PM. The first semi-final between Japan and Malaysia will be played at 4:30 PM and the second semi-final between India and South Korea at 7:00 PM. All four teams will go all out to reach the final to be held at Mohali itself on November 5. The two losing semi-finalists will play for the Bronze medal.
So far, eight editions of the Champions Trophy have been held, in which India has played the final the most number of times - six times. India has been winner five times, including once as joint winner, and runner-up once. Among the participating teams, after India, Japan has reached the final twice, and South Korea, Malaysia and China once each.
India will be vying to play the final for the seventh time, Japan for the third time, and South Korea, Malaysia and China for the second time. Among the four teams in the race for the trophy, India has won the trophy five times so far, while South Korea has won it once. Japan has been runner-up twice and Malaysia once.
In this edition of the Hockey Asian Champions Trophy, India has so far remained unbeaten, winning all five matches it played. After India, Japan has won three matches and drawn one, Malaysia has won three and South Korea has won two matches. China has drawn two and Bangladesh one. India has scored the highest total of 34 goals. Malaysia has scored 17 goals, South Korea and China 10 each, Japan 9 goals and Bangladesh 2 goals.
Talking about individual records, Indian Captain Harmanpreet Singh is the top scorer with 9 goals. After him, Malaysia's Abu Kamal Azrai has scored five goals, India's Dilpreet Singh and Sukhjeet Singh and China's Benhai Chen have scored four goals each, while India's Mandeep Singh, Abhishek and Jugraj Singh, South Korea's Dan Sun, Japan's Kentaro Fukuda and Malaysia's Azimuddin have scored three goals each.
The Hockey Asian Champions Trophy started on October 27th at the Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium, Jalandhar, and the final will be played on November 5 at the Olympian Balbir Singh Senior Stadium, Mohali.