Bengaluru, Oct 14 (IANS) The Indian junior men’s hockey team left for Malaysia, in the late hours of Monday, to participate in the 12th edition of the Sultan of Johor Cup to be played at Ipoh. India will face off against hosts Malaysia, Japan, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand in the competition that will begin on October 19 and end on October 26.

Newly-appointed Head Coach, PR Sreejesh will take charge of the team in Malaysia with Amir Ali serving as captain and Rohit named as his deputy, the Hockey India informed in a release on Monday.

India will begin their campaign against Japan on October 19, followed by a clash with Great Britain on Oct 20. After a day’s rest, India will face hosts Malaysia on Oct 22, followed by a match with Australia on the next day.

In the last group stage match, on October 25, India will take on New Zealand and hope to finish among the top two teams in the pool to advance to the Final on October 26.

Captain Amir Ali expressed his optimism ahead of the tournament. “The team has been training well under the new Head Coach PR Sreejesh and we are excited to play our first tournament with him. We failed to defend our title the last time after losing to Germany but we are better prepared this time and ready to face any team in the competition.”

Vice-captain Rohit echoed his thoughts saying, “We have been training rigorously the last few days to be in the best shape ahead of the Sultan of Johor Cup. We have a few new faces in the team this time and they are eager to show their potential on the pitch. We have the Men’s Junior Asia Cup Muscat 2024 also coming up in November and all the players are pushing each other to raise their level ahead of a busy period for us.”

The Sultan of Johor Cup is one of the most prestigious annual hockey tournaments for junior players in the World with most of the top nations participating in the event. India along with Great Britain is the most successful nation in this event that started 13 years ago in 2011 with three titles each. India won the gold medal in 2013, 2014 and 2022 while GBR emerged as winners in 2015, 2018 and 2019. India has also finished runner-up on four occasions.