Is this the most inexperienced Asian Champions Trophy ever?

Action from the China v Pakistan match yesterday, where as many as 28 of the 36 players on view had played less than 20 internationals. Pic/Hockey India

Success in modern hockey is achieved when a team have the perfect balance of youth and experience. Some of the world's best teams like Belgium, Australia and even India, have done well based on this composition.

Serious dearth of experience

However, there is a serious dearth of experience in the seventh edition of the Asia Cup here. As if the poor rankings of some of the teams like China (World No. 25), Japan (19) and Pakistan (17) were not a good enough indicator that the quality of hockey may not be of the highest standards, the inexperience factor means there are glitches galore.

The first three days of action with each of the teams having played thrice, has seen a poor exhibition in some of the basic aspects of the game like hitting, trapping and scooping from most of the teams besides India. Then, the more complex aspects like 3D dribbling, instant switchovers and off-balance deflections, which are prerequisites in competitive games at the highest level, are almost absent here. But then, it's almost unfair to expect top-level hockey in a tournament where, except Team India, almost half the players have played less than 20 international matches.

China top the list with as many as 16 of their 20-member squad having played less than 20 matches. Pakistan are second with 14 from a list of 18, while Korea have nine from 24, Malaysia have five from 20 and Japan have five from 19. That's a whopping 49 ‘boys' among 101 ‘men'. The fact that there are 13 debutants (seven from China and three each from Korea and Pakistan) is also noteworthy.

We are here to learn: China coach

China's head coach Haiqin Weng is honest in his admission that his team are here to learn. "We have come here with a learning attitude this time. We have come to gain experience. We will try our best to challenge the other teams. We don't know if we have it in us to match the skills of some of the other teams here, but we will push hard and give our best," he said.

Saqlain Muhammad, Pakistan's coach and a skilled midfielder in his heyday, stressed on their national hockey board's strategy to work with a young team and admitted that results won't be key here. "We have a good young team, probably too young, some might say, but they will play their hearts out. The same team will be persisted with for the Asian Games [Sept 23 to Oct 8 in Hangzhou, China]," he said. At least two former India players, who did not wish to come on record, told mid-day that the level of hockey on view at this tournament is "far from the best."