Asian Games 2018 India Vs Indonesia Preview Telecast Date Start Time And Where To Watch Online

Renowned hockey statistician BG Joshi has confirmed for Sportskeeda that the Indian men have played against Indonesia only once - that was way back in the Ahmedabad Invitational tournament in 1962.

The Indonesian hockey team has qualified for the competition by virtue of being hosts just as they did in 1962 when Jakarta hosted the Games for the first time. Back then, India who ended up as the silver-medalists were placed in Group A while the Indonesians were in Group B. The hosts lost all their matches and had to settle for the wooden spoon.

A couple of months ago, the Indians impressed with a gutsy and clinical show in the Champions Trophy at Breda to offset a rather lackluster performance in the Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast earlier.

The quality of the opposition in Jakarta is by no means as menacing as either Gold Coast or Breda, but the challenge for Harendra Singh’s side is that there is no margin for error as nothing less than a gold medal will suffice to ensure direct qualification for the Tokyo Olympics.

Sreejesh’s boys start off as overwhelming favorites to regain the title they had last won at Incheon in 2014 and will be looking to also improve India’s overall record at the Asian Games. The subcontinental giants who once ruled world hockey continue to be dominant in their own continent but India’s statistics vis-a-vis their traditional rivals tell a rather sorry tale.

The Indian men have won only 3 gold medals in the history of the competition while South Korea has won 4 and the formidable Pakistanis hold the record with a massive haul of 8 gold medals.

A golden opportunity presents itself for the Indians to assert their dominance ahead of the World Cup which begins in just over three month’s time. Harendra Singh’s fifth-ranked team is way ahead of the field with Malaysia ranked twelfth and Pakistan ranked thirteenth making up the top three at Jakarta.

The Indians find themselves in Pool A alongside Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and hosts Indonesia and should end as pool toppers if they play to their potential.

Harendra’s boys will be looking to score as many goals as they possibly can should goal difference or goals scored assume significance later. Rupinder Pal Singh is making a comeback after being rested for the Champions Trophy and is expected to use his drag-flicking skills to good effect after an encouraging performing against New Zealand in the Test series earlier.

Here is how you can catch all the action

Event: Asian Games 2018

Venue: Jakarta, Indonesia

Date: 20 August 2018

Time: 6:30 pm Indian Standard Time (IST)

Telecast: Sony ESPN, Sony Ten 2, Ten 2 HD, Sony ESPN HD

Live Streaming: Sony Liv

Live Updates: Sportskeeda

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title: “Asian Games 2018 India Vs Indonesia Preview Telecast Date Start Time And Where To Watch Online” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-24” author: “Julie Morgan”

India is now the highest-ranked team in the competition post the ranking revisions done by the FIH and will look to justify the same by topping their pool ahead of the Koreans who have slipped behind. Performances at London have tilted the scales a wee bit, and the Indian eves currently occupy the ninth place in the world rankings followed closely by Korea and China who are ranked tenth and eleventh respectively.

Rani Rampal and co. will also be eager to improve upon their bronze-medal winning performance at the last edition of the competition at Incheon and hopefully go all the way this time around.

A highly experienced bunch of eleven players from the Incheon Games will be in action, and coach Sjoerd Marijne and the girls are emphatic that the ultimate aim is a gold medal which would ensure them a ticket to Tokyo 2020.

At the Asian Games in 2014, the Indians failed to get past South Korea in the semifinals, and had also lost to China in the pool stages, but have made giant strides since then. At the Asian Champions Trophy in Singapore in 2016, the Golden Girls stormed past South Korea and Malaysia in the group stages and beat China in the final to record a historic win.

A year later, the Indians reaffirmed their continental supremacy by thrashing China in the pool stages and beating them again in the finals via a shootout to win the Asia Cup.

At the Asian Champions Trophy earlier this year, the Indians veered past Japan, Malaysia, and China with ridiculous ease but seemed to hit a roadblock against hosts South Korea. A drawn pool match and a loss in the final dented India’s pride especially since they had beaten the Koreans in a preparatory series before the Commonwealth Games.

The Indian coaching staff and the girls are adamant, however, that Korea can be beaten and attributed their loss to a bad performance on the day. For now, though, Sjoerd Marijne’s chargers have Indonesia in their sights, and barring any major surprises should be able to pick up full points without breaking a sweat.

The Indonesian girls have never played the Asian Games before and their match against the Indians will be their first ever in the history of the competition. As a matter of fact, the hosts have not been part of the Asia Cup or the Asian Champions Trophy either and will start off as a largely unknown entity.

The pitch at London did pose a few problems for the Indian girls but coach Sjoerd Marijne reckons that there will no such issues at Jakarta.

Here is how you can catch up with all the action.