In the following days the Hero Asia Cup Jakarta 2022 will be held, more specifically between May 23 and June 1, 2022.
It’s the 11th Men’s Asia Cup, first edition was in 1982; India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Pakistan have participated in all editions so far. This year marks 40 years since the first edition, so this Asia Cup has even more relevance and importance.
India and Pakistan are the most successful so far, each having medaled in 9 of their 10 appearances so far.
It is the first Men’s Asia Cup participation for Indonesia who are coming in on a high after winning a bronze medal in last week’s Men’s Asian Games Qualifier (Asian Games have been postponed from September 2022 to 2023, dates TBC) The same happened with Chinese Taipei and Oman in 2013 making their debut.
The event takes place at the stadium that hosted the Asian Games 2018 hockey competitions which saw Japan takes both gold medals.
The tournament starts in spectacular fashion with the classic India v Pakistan clash on Day 1. India and Pakistan have last played each other in the Asian Champions Trophy 2021 which India won 4-3 to claim bronze medal.
First appearance in an official event for Malaysia since the Olympic Qualifiers in November 2019, after they missed the Men’s Asian Champions Trophy last December
The winning team becomes the champion of Asia and qualifies for the FIH Hockey World Cup.
India are the defending champions winning the 2017 edition. South Korea have won the most titles with four. India and Pakistan have both won the tournament three times.
The hosts together with six highest-ranked teams from the previous edition are qualified directly for the tournament, they are joined by the top team from the Men’s AHF Cup or the top two teams if the host is already qualified.
India, the third highest-ranked team in the world, have been placed in the Pool A with Pakistan, Japan and hosts Indonesia and will play Pakistan in the last match in the opening day’s schedule. Pool B includes Malaysia, South Korea, Oman, and Bangladesh in the eight-team competition.
The competition will start with a Pool B encounter between Malaysia and Oman on May 23. The top two teams from each pool will qualify for the Super 4s Pool, the top two teams of which will compete in the final on June 1 while the third and fourth-placed teams will figure in the match for bronze medal.
The Asia Cup is being held after a gap of two years as it was postponed last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The top three teams at the end of the Asia Cup will qualify for next year’s FIH Hockey World Cup, to be held in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. India have already qualified for the World Cup as the hosts.
