Just when the spirited Chinese challenge appeared to be turning into a scare, India captain Harmanpreet Singh stepped up to lead from the front, to get to his hat-trick in a 4-3 win in their opening game of the Men’s Hockey Asia Cup here at the Rajgir Sports Complex on Friday.

China’s army of coaching staff, led by head coach Anthony Farry and his four assistants, including Dutch tactician Michel van den Heuvel and former India coach Roelant Oltmans, are trying to build a team for the future, and this team’s progress should hearten their bosses. The fitness of both teams stood out in the end-to-end encounter, with either side taking turns to attack and execute turnovers.   

‘Lesson learnt’

Harmanpreet later admitted that it was not an easy opening encounter for the World No. 7 hosts against the No. 23 Chinese. “Structure-wise, most teams here play deep and wait for counters. So, we have to watch out. It was a little tough [today], but winning is important. We put up a good fight, but it’s also a good lesson,” said Harmanpreet.