Hockey Asian Champions Trophy: With the Hockey Asian Champions Trophy set to get underway in Chennai on Thursday, several visiting teams have expressed disappointment over the scheduling of the matches. The matchday schedule has raised a lot of eyebrows as apart from the hosts India, other teams will be playing matches at 4.30 PM under hot and humid conditions.
Also Read: Pakistan and China land in Chennai ahead of Hockey Asian Champions Trophy 2023
In the round-robin stage at the Hockey Asian Champions Trophy, every matchday is set to feature three matches. As per the schedule, the first match of the day is scheduled to start at 4.00 PM. While the next two matches will begin at 6.15 PM and 8.30 PM respectively.
With India being the hosts, all the matches of the Men in Blue is scheduled at 8.30 PM. India will not play any of their matches early in the day during the course of the Hockey Asian Champions Trophy. This uneven distribution in the schedule has been questioned by South Korea’s head coach Seok Kyo Shin.
“Only India is playing at 8.30 pm with cooler conditions. I don’t understand that. Is it because India is the host? Mixed timings for everyone would have been better,” he stated as reported by the Indian Express.
Meanwhile to make matters worse, South Korea will play three of their five games at 4.30 PM. “Weather is hard. We are playing all our first three matches at 4 pm and I ask why only Korea has this schedule? I don’t like that.” he further added.
Weather in Chennai
Despite the end of summer, Chennai’s weather still remains hot and humid. According to Accu Weather the weather is set to remain the same during the coming days. Especially in the afternoon, temperature is estimated to remain between 38 degrees to 35 degrees Celcius.
South Korea is scheduled to play three successive matches in the 4 pm heat. Meanwhile Japan is the only other team to plays three matches at 4 PM but with a break. Japan too is said to have echoed a similar statement like Korea over the match schedule.
Teams question Hockey Asian Champions Trophy Schedule
Teams have also questioned the schedule of the tournament itself with less than a week to go for the Asian Games. With Asian Games being an Olympic qualification event, the Hockey Asian Champions Trophy just weeks ahead of the event has hampered the preparations of several teams.
“To organise a tournament 4-5 weeks before a major event – an Olympic qualifying event- I am curious to knwo the reason behind it,” said Malaysian coach Arul Antoni.
Despite the concerns, the Hockey Asian Champions Trophy will kickstart on 3rd August 2023. Defending champions South Korea will face Japan in the opening match. Malaysia will then face Pakistan at 6.15 PM. Hosts Indian meanwhile will face China in the last match of the night.
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