Gollum Posted August 28, 2025 Posted August 28, 2025 (edited) Winner will qualify to next year's WC. South Korea defending champion (also the most successful team in this competition with 5 titles, India and Pakistan with 3 each). India vs China tomorrow. Japan another tough team in our group, 4th one is Kazakhstan. Other group is straightforward, Malaysia and South Korea will easily qualify. No Pakistan 6 September 2025 17:00 South Korea v Malaysia 6 September 2025 19:30 India v China Third and fourth place 7 September 2025 17:00 Team 3 v Team 4 Final 7 September 2025 19:30 Team 1 v Team 2 Edited September 7, 2025 by Gollum
Gollum Posted August 28, 2025 Author Posted August 28, 2025 (edited) Tomorrow is the inaugural day, on Major Dhyanchand's birthday, National Sports Day. The greatest there ever will be. Asia Hockey Cup 2025 unveils mascot, tiger ‘Chaand’ as tribute to Indian legend Major Dhyanchand Good to see Bihar get some international sports action. Edited August 28, 2025 by Gollum AuxiliA and randomGuy 2
Gollum Posted August 28, 2025 Author Posted August 28, 2025 2026 Men's FIH Hockey WC, current qualification status: Dates Event Location Quotas Qualifier(s) 3 November 2022 Hosts — 2 Belgium Netherlands 6 December 2023 – 30 June 2024 2023–24 FIH Pro League — 1 Australia 30 November 2024 – 29 June 2025 2024–25 FIH Pro League — 1 Spain 24 July – 3 August 2025 2025 Pan American Cup Montevideo 1 Argentina 8–16 August 2025 2025 EuroHockey Championship Mönchengladbach 1 Germany 29 August – 7 September 2025 2025 Asia Cup Rajgir 1 4–7 September 2025 2025 Oceania Cup Darwin 1 New Zealand 11–18 October 2025 2025 Africa Cup of Nations Ismailia 1 28 February–8 March 2026 2026 World Cup Qualifiers TBD 7 Total 16
bharathh Posted August 28, 2025 Posted August 28, 2025 I think India should win this quite easily right? Is there anyone close to India atm?
Gollum Posted August 28, 2025 Author Posted August 28, 2025 53 minutes ago, bharathh said: I think India should win this quite easily right? Is there anyone close to India atm? We finished 3rd in previous Asia Cup, though we had already sealed qualification to the WC being hosts. So weren't that motivated to win and fielded an inexperienced squad. South Korea and Japan have occasionally beaten us in last 10 years. Malaysia gives us some trouble especially in KOs (2018 Asian Games SF upset or the ACT final in 2023 where we bounced back from 1-3 in last quarter). But if we play close to our best, we should win this event comfortably. Teams can park the bus in their half in KOs and make us work hard, look to drag it to shootouts, but that's all.
bharathh Posted August 28, 2025 Posted August 28, 2025 9 minutes ago, Gollum said: We finished 3rd in previous Asia Cup, though we had already sealed qualification to the WC being hosts. So weren't that motivated to win and fielded an inexperienced squad. South Korea and Japan have occasionally beaten us in last 10 years. Malaysia gives us some trouble especially in KOs (2018 Asian Games SF upset or the ACT final in 2023 where we bounced back from 1-3 in last quarter). But if we play close to our best, we should win this event comfortably. Teams can park the bus in their half in KOs and make us work hard, look to drag it to shootouts, but that's all. Just saw the rankings and recent results. Asian Hockey is nowhere compared to the Europeans and the Aussies. How do the Aussies manage to stay at that level?
Gollum Posted August 28, 2025 Author Posted August 28, 2025 (edited) 4 minutes ago, bharathh said: Just saw the rankings and recent results. Asian Hockey is nowhere compared to the Europeans and the Aussies. How do the Aussies manage to stay at that level? Aussies don't win anything major in hockey, at least that has been the trend for last 10 odd years, they are maha chokers, bilateral bullies....remind me of ICT of 2014-23. But yeah, Europeans and Aussies are damn good in most sports, hockey is just a subset. East Asians are also sporting powerhouses but don't do that well in team sports. Edited August 28, 2025 by Gollum
Gollum Posted August 28, 2025 Author Posted August 28, 2025 (edited) India hockey to prioritise 2026 Asian Games over World Cup Hockey India may send a second string team to the WC next year, because only 20 days gap between WC final and Asian Games.....as if we are guaranteed to make the WC final If true, Indian hockey should die. Prioritizing win over these hopeless Asian teams over the second (for some, even first) biggest prize in hockey is cowardice. Edited August 28, 2025 by Gollum
Gollum Posted September 3, 2025 Author Posted September 3, 2025 India has been struggling whole tournament. Barely beat China and Japan, now trailing against the Koreans, 10 min to go. Horrible conversion, and also shows why Sreejesh was always our MVP, meme level keeping by us.
Gollum Posted September 3, 2025 Author Posted September 3, 2025 Mandeep equalizes, 2-2, with 8 min remaining !!!!!
Gollum Posted September 3, 2025 Author Posted September 3, 2025 (edited) Malaysia has been the best team this tournament, tomorrow we face them. And we lose our referral Edited September 3, 2025 by Gollum
randomGuy Posted September 3, 2025 Posted September 3, 2025 30 minutes ago, Gollum said: Mandeep equalizes, 2-2, with 8 min remaining !!!!! Sarpanch (Harmanpreet) looks a bit slow and accuracy is missing somewhat (missed a panelty stroke vs china). I guess india haven't been able to lift themselves up for this tournament. Gollum 1
Gollum Posted September 3, 2025 Author Posted September 3, 2025 2 minutes ago, randomGuy said: Sarpanch (Harmanpreet) looks a bit slow and accuracy is missing somewhat (missed a panelty stroke vs china). I guess india haven't been able to lift themselves up for this tournament. We have been subpar whole year. Anyway I hope we win and seal qualification for the WC here, so that we can play the next Pro League without any distraction, need to make amends there. Lone Wolf and randomGuy 2
Gollum Posted September 3, 2025 Author Posted September 3, 2025 (edited) We also had a rough time for 1.5-2 years, following Tokyo bronze. Recovered our mojo only from August 2023. Need to build momentum from successs, otherwise public will also lose interest.....our people show patience/mercy only for cricket, all other sports are up against it. Edited September 3, 2025 by Gollum
Gollum Posted September 3, 2025 Author Posted September 3, 2025 Krishan Pathak is a poor GK. Better to invest in Suraj Karkera I feel. Could Sreejesh have continued for a couple more years? And my man Abhishek, how many sitters will you miss every game? Sukhjeet another misfiring forward.
Lone Wolf Posted September 3, 2025 Posted September 3, 2025 Watched a bit keeper is indeed very average. The Korean one otoh looked more agile
Gollum Posted September 3, 2025 Author Posted September 3, 2025 This was so beautiful to watch live BacktoCricaddict and randomGuy 2
Gollum Posted September 3, 2025 Author Posted September 3, 2025 51 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said: Watched a bit keeper is indeed very average. The Korean one otoh looked more agile Korean GK was MOTM. Chinese Taipei GK earned lots of praise from the commies, missed that match but to keep Japan down to only 2 goals for a minnow, GK must have been in God mode. Tomorrow is our toughest test. Malaysians crushed Koreans 4-1 and Chinese 2-0, and those buggers always reserve their best for India. Our conversion can't continue to remain this bad, must win encounter for us.
Gollum Posted September 3, 2025 Author Posted September 3, 2025 Rained cats and dogs but turf was ready in no time. Good facilities in Rajgir. I remember a similar spell of rain forcing 2018 ACT final cancellation in Muscat, and lucky Pooks got to share the trophy with us.
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