Asian Champions Trophy hockey 2023: A renewed hope for China Premium

China’s underdog hockey team aims to create a few upsets in the Asian Champions Trophy.

Seasoned figure: Weibao Ao (in red) is the most senior figure in the team, with 108 caps to his name. He was one of China’s top performers in the 2018 World Cup, receiving plaudits for his performances as first rusher. In the game against France especially, Weibao was instrumental in thwarting France’s penalty corner attempts. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

China enters the 2023 Asian Champions Trophy as the lowest-ranked team among the six participating nations. Its greatest moment in men’s field hockey came during the 2006 Asian Games in Doha where it finished with a silver medal, losing 3-1 to South Korea in the final.

China is currently ranked 24th in the FIH World rankings and last participated in a major multi-nation hockey event during the 2018 World Cup in Bhubaneshwar. China entered that tournament as the lowest-ranked team, seeded 17th, behind South Africa and France.

After finishing third in its group, China qualified for the cross-overs, where it lost against 16th-seeded France by a solitary goal. A tenth-place finish in the tournament, above top-ten-seeded teams like Spain and Ireland was a success for the Chinese men.

China missed out on participation in the 2023 World Cup in India after withdrawing from the 2022 Men’s AHF Cup, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. China, which was initially supposed to host the tournament before it was shifted to Jakarta, hence missed out on a place in the 2022 Asia Cup which is the Asian qualifying tournament for the World Cup.

Asian Champions Trophy record:

Titles: 0

Matches: 24

Won: 8

Drawn: 1

Lost: 15

Goals: 48

The 2023 Asian Champions Trophy will therefore be a comeback tournament for China, which will be hopeful of replicating the performances it managed the last time it played in India. Head Coach Haiqin Weng has opted for a young squad heading into the 2023 Asian Champions Trophy with seven members of the team yet to be capped for the senior men’s national team. Only four of the selected squad of twenty have accumulated more than 10 caps for the national team.

Weibao Ao is the most senior figure in the team, with 108 caps to his name. He was one of China’s top performers in the 2018 World Cup, receiving plaudits for his performances as first rusher. In the game against France especially, Weibao was instrumental in thwarting France’s penalty corner attempts.

Goalkeeper Caiyu Wang is another experienced player who makes the Champions Trophy squad from the 2018 World Cup team, along with Zixiang Guo and Wenhui E.

Among the debutants, Chongcong Chen will be an exciting player to look out for. Chen captained the junior team at the 2019 Junior AHF Cup held in Muscat, a tournament that China won. Chen scored a penalty corner in the opening game against Iran as China went the entire tournament unbeaten.

China will be looking to cause a few upsets in the upcoming Champions Trophy, vying to qualify for the semifinals, as it did in 2012 and 2013. It will open its campaign with a game against Olympic bronze-medallist India on August 3.