India face Pakistan in hockey fil today

By our Sports Reporter

GUWAHATI, Feb 11: The Indian Men hockey team will look to regain their glory at the Mohammad Tayabulla Hockey Stadium pitch tomorrow when they will  face arch rival Pakistan in the title clash of the 12th south Asian Games. The high voltage match will kick off at 8 PM.

It is for the second time two sides facing each other in the 12th editions of the Games. In the first encounter, which was a group league match,  Pakistan defeated India by 2–1.

Pakistan are taking part in the competition as a defending champion The side are looking favourite this time too as, on paper, Pakistan are much balanced then the host. India, fielding a second string team in the Games with a lot of junior players in it, have been struggling to find their form as a unit. They have to make a vast improvement to their game tomorrow if they want to stop Pakistan from winning their third title on the trot in the Games.

Meanwhile although India’s performance in men’s hockey is not so impressive till date in the competition but still a full house is expecting tomorrow as all the tickets of the game has sold out well before the start of the hockey event. The crowd capacity at the Mohammad Tayabulla Hockey stadium is nearly 3000 which is not sufficient for this type of high voltage match. One top official of Assam Hockey Association, who is also the part of Hockey India, today informed the media that high level security arrangement has been made around the stadium so that no untoward incidents happened before and during the game.

The bronze medal deciding match will be held tomorrow before the fil between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.