Women’s Hockey Asia Cup 2013 to begin on 21st September in Malaysia

Women’s Hockey Asia Cup 2013 kicks off from 21^st September, 2013 in Malaysia. This will be the 8^th edition of Women’s Asia Cup. Malaysia will be hosting this tournament for the very first time. The matches will be played at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil. This tournament will also determine a qualifier for the World Cup 2014 which will take place in The Hague, Holland.

This Asia Cup will witness the participation of eight nations – India, China, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, and Kazakhstan. These eight teams have been divided into two pools of four teams each. Pool A has India, China, Malaysia, and Hong Kong China. On the other hand, Pool B has Japan, Korea, Chinese Taipei, and Kazakhstan. The tournament will progress from 21 September 2013 to 27 September 2013. A total of 20 matches will be played in this Women’s Hockey Asia Cup, 2013.

The league matches of the tournament will begin from 21^st September. Korea and Kazakhstan will be locking horns in the inaugural match of the tournament. Four matches will be played on each of the match days. 23 September 2013 and 25 September 2013 will be the rest days. The league matches will be played from 21-24 September. Position matches and the knock-out stage will commence from 26 September, 2013.

The top-two teams from each pool will qualify for the knock-out stage whereas the bottom-two teams from each pool will battle for 5^th-8^th position in the table. The semi-final matches will be played on 26 September 2013 and the final encounter will take place on 27 September 2013.

India, China, Japan and especially Korea have a very good record in the previous editions of Women’s Hockey Asia Cup. The hosts, Malaysia, have never made their way to the finals of this tournament.

India will begin their campaign against Hong Kong on 21 September, 2013 under the leadership of Ritu Rani.