Ipoh: The Indian men's hockey team is all set to lock horn with Japan in their opening encounter of the 28th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup here on Saturday.
Despite being without the guidance of a coach and a series of injuries plaguing its players, the Indian team is upbeat and confident of a show good.
skipper Manpreet Singh said on the eve of their opening match, said, “Japan, Korea and hosts Malaysia will be the teams to watch out for. They are travelling with full squads and they will pose a stiff challenge for us.
"The youngsters will need to step up their game and I believe having fresh faces can be an advantage as the possibility of the opponents knowing much about the newcomers is less."
Manpreet further added , "Youngsters have always used the platform to come up with memorable performances here and though the forwardline barring Mandeep Singh has about 12 caps between each other, we are hopeful they will soak up the pressure early on and deliver,"
