India take on Malaysia in Asia Cup women hockey

Hong Kong, Sep 1 (UNI) A determined India led by star sriker Mamta Kharab will begin their title defence against Malaysia in the sixth Asia Cup women's hockey tournament here tomorrow.

India are placed in Pool A and apart from Malaysia other teams in this pool are China, Singapore and Thailand.

India, who are currently ranked 13th by the FIH, are strongly placed to make it to the semis from this pool as, barring China which is higher ranked at fifth, the other three teams are ranked much lower.

Pool B consists of title contenders Japan and Korea along with Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei.

India face Thailand on September 3 followed by the match against Singapore on September 5 and China on September 6.

India, however, suffered a minor setback as they lost to New Zealand 0-2 in their warm up match.

For the Kiwis, the goals were scored by Jaimee Claxton and Honor Dillon.

UNI