Amritsar (Punjab) [India], September 8 : After clinching the Men's Asia Cup with a comfortable 4-1 win over defending champions South Korea at the Rajgir Hockey Stadium on Sunday, Indian Hockey team skipper Harmanpreet Singh hailed the crowd at Rajgir for supporting the team throughout the tournament.
With this win, India has ended the eight-year-long wait to regain supremacy on the continent. With this win, India has qualified for the FIH Men's Hockey World Cup 2026 in the Netherlands and Belgium.
The last time India won the Hockey World Cup was in 1975, and in the previous World Cup, they lost to New Zealand in the crossovers.
While speaking to ANI, Indian hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh said, "We have qualified for the World Cup with this tournament. The support of the crowd at Rajgir and the arrangements there were great. Thanks to the Bihar government for taking this initiative."
Man-of-the-match in the final, Dilpreet Singh attributed the team's success to their strategy of playing as a cohesive unit from the start of the tournament, emphasising that their teamwork paid off in the final against S.Korea
"We were trying to play as a team right from day one. There were so many 'Man of the Match' in every match. Our strategy and structure stayed the same throughout," Dilpreet Singh told ANI.
Indian hockey player Hardik Singh expressed delight at qualifying for the World Cup and said that now our efforts will be to perform well in the World Cup next year.
"We received a grand welcome here. It feels great that we have qualified for the World Cup, which was our goal for the Asia Cup. Now our efforts will be to perform well in the World Cup," Hardik Singh told ANI.
The last time they won the Asia Cup was in 2017, in Dhaka. Goals were scored by Dilpreet Singh (28',45'), Sukhjeet Singh (1') and Amit Rohidas (50'). The 4-1 scoreline hardly affected India's determination to lift the title. They held on to the lead in the dying minutes to end the eight-year-long wait.
Following the Indian Men's Hockey Team's historic win at the Asia Cup Hockey, India announced INR 3 lakh each to players and INR 1.5 lakh to the support staff.
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