Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], August 30 (ANI): The Indian Women's Hockey Team left for Hangzhou, China, on Saturday as the squad gears up for the upcoming Women's Asia Cup 2025.

The 20-member team is being led by Captain Salima Tete, who aims to win the tournament to secure India's spot in the FIH Women's Hockey World Cup 2026 next year, according to a release from Hockey India.

Talking about the upcoming competition, Salima said, 'This tournament is a really good opportunity for us to secure our spot for the FIH Women's Hockey World Cup next year, and we are focusing on that. Our first priority at present is to top our Pool and reach the Super Fours. From there, we will take each game as it comes and make our way towards the trophy,' as quoted from a release by Hockey India.

India has been drawn in Pool B and is scheduled to face Japan, Thailand, and Singapore in the group stage. They will kick off their campaign against Thailand on September 5, followed by a clash against Japan on September 6, and will then play their final pool-stage match against Singapore on September 8.

India has won the Women's Asia Cup twice, first in 2004 and in 2017. In the last edition of the event, India finished third in the tournament.

Meanwhile, the Indian Men's Hockey Team opened their campaign in the Men's Asia Cup 2025 with a 4-3 win against China at the Rajgir Hockey Stadium in Bihar's Rajgir on Friday.

For India, it was captain Harmanpreet Singh (20', 33', 47') who put in a fantastic performance, as he scored a hat-trick, and Jugraj Singh (18') was India's second scorer, China got their goals from Shihao Du (12'), Benhai Chen (35'), Jiesheng Gao (41'). (ANI)