HULUNBUIR: Defending champions India kicked off their Asian Hockey Champions Trophy 2024 campaign with a dominant 3-0 victory over China at the Moqi Hockey Training Base here on Sunday.
Sukhjeet Singh opened the scoring in the first quarter to give the defending champions an early lead.
China posed no threat to the Indian side as Uttam Singh and Abhishek scored in the second and third quarters, respectively to seal the victory.
India will next face Japan on September 9 before facing Malaysia, South Korea and Pakistan on September 11, 12 and 14 respectively.
Earlier today, Malaysia came from behind to draw 2-2 against Pakistan in their Asian Hockey Champions Trophy 2024 opener.
The Green Shirts started the game strongly as they took the lead in the second quarter, thanks to a goal by Sufyan Khan.
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In the third quarter, Nadeem Ahmed extended their lead with another goal, before Malaysia made a comeback with a goal from the penalty corner.
Pakistan were cruising towards victory with a 2-1 lead, however, Aiman Rozemi’s late goal helped Malaysia level the scores in the dying minutes of the game.
Meanwhile, in the opening game of the tournament, South Korea and Japan settled for a 5-5 stalemate in the opening game of the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy 2024.
The ongoing tournament is the 8th edition of the Asian Champions Trophy. Pakistan have won the tournament in 2012 and 2013, while India have won in 2011, 2016 and 2023.
The 2018 edition saw Pakistan and India jointly sharing the trophy as the final was forfeited due to persistent rain.
Defending champions India won the prestigious tournament last year by defeating Malaysia 4–3 in the final.
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