Joining the two nations in battling it out for glory at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex will be Malaysia, Pakistan, South Korea and hosts Oman.

All six will compete in a round-robin tournament, scheduled to run until October 25, with the top four progressing through to the semi-finals.

The two penultimate-round encounters are due to take place on October 27 and will be followed by the final the day after.

Japan’s coach Siegfried Aikman, a Dutch national of Indian origin, said the aim is for the team to enter the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo not just as hosts, but as Asian champions.

"We had to win big in order to gain that self-confidence that we too can beat big teams and that we are not afraid of teams like Korea, Pakistan, Malaysia or India anymore," he said.

"Of course we will be playing to win every single match but at the same time we will also be testing quite a few young players who are below the age of 20 in order to select a core group that will give us enough options and also create more competition within the team ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games."

Japan are due to begin their campaign against Malaysia tomorrow. 

It will be a repeat of last month’s Asian Games final, a match in which Japan made a sensational comeback to draw 6-6 in regulation time before going onto win 3-1 on penalties.

India, ranked fifth in the world, are set to play Oman in tomorrow’s second and last match.

They beat arch-rivals Pakistan in the 2016 final.

It secured India their second triumph in the event having won the inaugural edition in 2011.

Pakistan came out on top in 2012 and 2013.

This year's edition is the fifth in all.