Bengaluru, Aug 2 — Malaysia's U-21 men's hockey team has arrived here for an eight-match exposure tour, where they will take on the Indian junior team in five matches and the SAI team in three matches at the SAI Netaji Subhas Southern Centre.
The tour will see the Malaysia U-21 team play five matches against the Indian junior team and three matches against the SAI team.
The exposure series is designed to provide both teams with high-quality competitive opportunities while strengthening bilateral sporting ties and it forms an important part of both teams' preparations for upcoming international competitions.
The Indian Junior team will face Malaysia on August 7 (4:00 PM), August 8 (6:00 PM), August 10 (10:00 AM), August 12 (2:00 PM), and August 13 (2:00 PM).
In addition, the Malaysian team will take on the SAI Team on August 3 (2:00 PM), August 5 (4:00 PM), and August 15 (6:00 PM).
Speaking ahead of the series, Indian Junior men's coach Frederic Soyez said, "These matches will serve as important preparation for the Asia Cup. They are part of the continuity of the work we started during our tour in Belgium, where we already saw significant progress throughout the matches we played there. We hope this series against Malaysia will allow us to continue building on that progress by reinforcing the work we put in during our time in Belgium, as well as the improvements made over this past week of training."
The exposure tour follows the Indian Junior Men's Team's productive training and competition phase in Belgium and forms a key part of their preparations for the upcoming Junior Asia Cup.
The series is expected to provide the players with valuable international match experience and help the coaching staff assess combinations and strategies ahead of the continental tournament.