Pakistan-India clash on Oct 15

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan are to play India for early honours in Pool A of the Asia Cup on October 15 in Dhaka.

Pakistan are aiming to become the 14th team to qualify for next year’s World Cup. The Asia Cup starts from October 11 with Pakistan requiring nothing less than the title to make it directly to the World Cup to be held in India next year.

Twelve teams have already qualified for the World Cup. The 13th team will be decided at the end of European Hockey Championship that is under way in Holland these days. Any team apart from India and Malaysia (who have already qualified) winning the Asia Cup will qualify directly for the World Cup.

In case India or Malaysia win the Asia Cup, the 14th team will be decided on the basis of world ranking. Pakistan lost their previous two matches against India by huge margins of 7-1 and 6-1. Never before in the history, had India defeated Pakistan with such margins.

Pakistan start their Asia Cup campaign against hosts Bangladesh on October 11. Their second match is against Japan on October 13. There will be Super Four matches on October 19 and October 21 before the final to be played on October 22.

This will be the first time that the Asia Cup will have a Super Four format. Meanwhile, the second phase of the seniors training camp gets under way at the Abdul Sattar Edhi Stadium in Karachi.

“All the selected players for the second phase are participating in the training that will continue till August 29,” said one of the coaches. “The training will resume in the second week of September. We will be having final trials in the third week of September to finalise the team for the Asia Cup,” he said.