Chennai: The Pakistan hockey team arrived in India Tuesday via the Attari-Wagah border to participate in the Asian Champions Trophy starting here from Thursday.
The highly-anticipated match between arch-rivals India and Pakistan will take place August 9.
The Pakistan team is flying into Chennai later tonight after entering Amritsar by road.
Meanwhile, the Harmanpreet Singh-led Indian team too landed in the city Tuesday morning.
The Indian team is scheduled to train at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium at Egmore, the venue for the tournament, Wednesday before its opening match against China Thursday.
Pakistan, too, will train on the same day.
The Asian Hockey Champions Trophy was first started as a women’s teams competition in 2010.
After the success of the women’s Asian Champions Trophy, the men’s competition was held in 2011 with six top teams in the continent.
Till 2013, the ACT was an annual affair. However, from 2016 onwards, the tournament was staged every two years.
The 2020 edition was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
India and Pakistan have won the tournament thrice, sharing the trophy in 2018.
South Korea are the defending champions having beaten Japan in the final of the last edition in 2021.
Pakistan squad: Muhammad Umar Bhatta (capt), Akmal Hussain, Abdullah Ishtiaq Khan, Muhammad Abdullah, Muhammad Sufyan Khan, Ehtsham Aslam, Osama Bashir, Aqeel Ahmed, Arshad Liaquat, Muhammad Imad, Abdul Hanan Shahid, Zakaria Hayat, Rana Abdul Waheed Ashraf (vc), Roman, Muhammad Murtaza Yaqoob, Muhammad Shahzaib Khan, Afraz, Abdul Rahman, while the standby includes Ali Raza, Muhammad Baqir, Muhammad Nadeem Khan, Abdul Wahab, Waqar Ali, Muhammad Arsalan, and Abdul Qayyum.
PTI
