India face Japan in Four Nations tourney opener

Indian players go through their paces during a training session in Tauranga

Bengaluru, January 16: India will look to make a winning start to the new season when they take on Japan on Wednesday (January 17) in the opening match of the Four Nations Invitational Tournament also featuring Belgium and New Zealand.

The first leg of the tournament will be be played in Tauranga and the second in Hamilton. It concludes on January 28.

Have a look at the fixtures from the 2018 Four Nations Invitational Tournament in New Zealand on as four teams lock horns on the opening day on 17th January.#IndiaKaGame pic.twitter.com/L7jWhLxMMW
— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) January 16, 2018

India had an announced the squad led by Manpreet Singh on January 8 which saw the return of experienced goalkeeper PR Sreejesh while there was no place for former captain Sardar Singh.

Sardar left out, Sreejesh back for Kiwi tour Sardar left out, Sreejesh back for Kiwi tour

The Sjoerd Marijne-coached squad trained for four days at the Blake Park in Tauranga to get a feel of the conditions.

Drag flicker Rupinder Pal Singh sounded upbeat about the new season.

"The mood in the team is upbeat. We've clocked some good sessions on the pitch, now we're looking forward to a good start," said Rupinder who will be leading the team's defence along with Birendra Lakra, Surender Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar and Gurinder Singh.

"This being the first tournament of the year, it's important to win some good matches to get the momentum going," he added.

Against Japan, India has a good record as they had begun their successful outing in Asia Cup last year with a 5-1 win against them.

While ensuring India remain unbeaten against Asian teams is one of their goals, Rupinder emphasized on consistent performance especially against teams like Olympic silver medallist Belgium who they play in their second match on January 18.

"We did well against them in the Odisha Men's Hockey World League Final Bhubaneswar 2017 but it's important to come up with consistent performance against a team like Belgium in the lead up to major events this year," he said.

"We must ensure our defence is accurate and it's good to have Sreejesh back in the team. His experience is critical against higher ranked teams."

He further said that matches in New Zealand will help him improve his personal game going into an all-important year.

"Personally, for me I'm looking to build on my performance both in defence and drag flick from the previous event in Bhubaneswar," Rupinder said.

"That was my first tournament after the injury break and matches here against teams like Belgium and New Zealand will help me assess where I need to improve further ahead of major tournaments."

(With Agency inputs)

The match begins at 10.15 am IST.
Mtahc will be live streamed on facebook.com/nzblacksticks

Schedule (All times in IST)

In Tauranga

January 17

India vs Japan (10.15am)

Belgium vs New Zealand (12noon)

January 18

India vs Belgium (10.15am)

New Zealand vs Japan (12noon)

January 20

New Zealand vs India (4.45am)