Rajinder Singh, however, said he is concerned about the team's field goal scoring abilities.
Pakistan Hockey Federation had sought a loan from the PCB to send the team to Bhubaneswar and clear the outstanding dues of players.
Hockey fraternity including three former captains on Friday expressed shock over the decision to appoint women's team coach Sjoerd Marijne as head coach of the Indian men's side, saying the abrupt move 'defies logic'.
The Indian junior men's hockey team thrashed arch-rivals Pakistan 6-2 in the Asia Cup final on Sunday.
'The Asian Games is the first step towards achieving that goal. We want to have a shot at the podium in 2020 Tokyo and the Asian Games will set the tone for our preparation towards that.'
Former India hockey captain Viren Rasquinha suffered a rude shock during the Times Lit Fest in Mumbai on Sunday when socialite Suhel Seth questioned Rasquinha's presence on the sports panel of the lit festival.
With three wins and a draw, India are currently leading the six-team league table with 10 points and a goal difference of eight.
Hockey India appointed former Olympic gold-medallist V Baskaran as a coach of the men's national team on Wednesday and he will work under the recently-appointed chief coach Terry Walsh.
'Indian hockey will lose out on one of its most important nurseries of good hockey talent.'
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Senior India hockey player Birendra Lakra was on Tuesday accused of involvement in the murder of his childhood friend Anand Toppo by the father of the deceased.
The arrival of India's neighbouring nations Pakistan and China in Chennai on Tuesday night energised the city's atmosphere ahead of the Hero Asian Champions Trophy Chennai 2023.
The age-old malady of inconsistency remained unaddressed but Indian hockey did take baby steps towards global success in 2017, a year which reaffirmed the nation's continental supremacy in the sport.
Veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh on Monday said the Indian men's hockey side's main focus is qualifying for the Paris Olympics by winning the Asian Games this year besides giving opportunities to youngsters.
Hockey greats Vasudevan Baskaran, M M Somaya and Mervyn Fernandis relive India's gold medal-winning campaign at the Moscow Olympics in 1980.
Rani Rampal led the team to historic victories in the Women's Asia Cup in 2017, silver at the 2018 Asian Games and played a critical role in the FIH Olympic Qualifiers in 2019 by scoring the deciding goal that helped India qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
Hockey India president Narinder Batra on Monday ruled out Pakistani players participation in future editions of Hockey India League saying they will not be considered until they apologise for their 'unacceptable behaviour' during last year's Champions Trophy.
It was touted as the year which could herald a change in the fortunes Indian hockey, but 2018 turned out to be yet another saga of missed opportunities for the sport.
Defending champions India hammered the Netherlands 4-1 to top Pool D in the Junior World Cup hockey tournament.
Hockey India appointed the legendary Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans on Thursday as its high performance director. He will oversee the affairs of the senior and junior national teams.
An inexperienced Indian men's hockey team fought hard before going down to arch-rivals Pakistan 4-5 and slumping to their third defeat in the Asian Champions Trophy at Kakamigahara, Japan on Thursday.
Hockey is struggling to survive in the country because of lack of sponsors owing to the national team's poor show at the international stage.
The other Indian shuttlers who participated in the singles events of the Super 1000 tournament have already left Thailand while the doubles players will fly out on Monday.
Former India hockey coach Harendra Singh finds himself on a different turf in the country's battle to contain the COVID-19 pandemic -- supervising arrangements for Indian evacuees from coronavirus-struck nations as Air India's General Manager.
India's hopes of making it to the quarter-finals of the Junior Hockey World Cup were dashed after they were held 3-3 by Korea in their must-win third and final Group C match, at the Dhyan Chand stadium, in Delhi, on Tuesday. A brilliant hat-trick by Seungju You saw the Koreans rally from 1-3 down and snatch a place in the last eight stage.
India will host Malaysia in September in a five-Test series. The junior team will be fielded in two of the matches.
The ICC's decision to award six points to Pakistan after the Indian women's team was deemed to have forfeited each of the three matches of the ICC Women's Championship was a result of non-communication from the BCCI about the team's participation. A well-informed source told PTI that there were multiple e-mail communication from ICC, but there was no response to any of the e-mails to provide reasons for not playing the series against Pakistan, which was scheduled to be held between 1 August and 31 October.
India's junior men's hockey team drew 1-1 against Canberra Lakers in their Pool B game of the AHL in Perth on Sunday.
The Pakistan Hockey Federation has threatened to pull out of next year's World Cup in India unless assured of "easy procurement" of visas and "top security" for its players at the event.
India's dream run in the Women's Junior Hockey World Cup ended as they lost 0-3 to defending champions the Netherlands scored in the second semi-final in Monchengladbach, Germany, on Friday.
The Government of India is set to appoint Hockey India's Director High Performance Roelant Oltmans as Chief Coordinator and High Performance Director for Indian Hockey.
'The way we are playing now, if we continue to play the same hockey, no one can stop us from standing on the podium in Tokyo.'
PR Sreejesh says his dual role as India hockey captain and goalkeeper is to allow his team mates the freedom to express themselves in Rio but knows he must keep them focused on the medal hunt in the "magic world" of the Olympics. The 30-year-old was second choice at London 2012 behind then captain Bharat Chetri but has since established himself as the clear number one. He was named captain for the recent Champions Trophy in London where India rested some seniors, including regular captain Sardar Singh, ahead of the Rio Games.
Former India hockey player and coach M K Kaushik on Saturday died after battling COVID-19 for the past three weeks.
Vinita Xess's goal gave India a 1-0 victory over Korea in their opening match, in the four-nation junior hockey tournament in Gifu, Japan.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
Three-time Olympian Mukesh Kumar feels "insulted and humiliated" after being sacked by Hockey India as junior national coach, and says the Narinder Batra-led organisation is no different from the Indian Hockey Federation.
Six-time champions and title holders Germany continued their fine form and defeated New Zealand 2-1 in a closely-fought Pool C encounter to virtually seal their place in the quarter-final of the men's Junior Hockey World Cup, in Lucknow on Friday.
Minnows Austria continued to impress in the ongoing men's Junior Hockey World Cup as they spanked declining Asian powerhouse Korea 5-2 in Lucknow on Saturday to remain in contention for a surprise quarter-final berth from Pool A in the 16-team tournament.
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