India on Monday named a full-strength 18-member senior men's hockey squad for the Commonwealth Games 2022 with Manpreet Singh returning as captain and drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh as his deputy. (More Hockey News)
Hockey India (HI) had initially decided to send a second-string team to the CWG 2022 due to the short turnaround time between the Birmingham event and the Hangzhou Asian Games, which is a qu𒈔alifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
However, with the Asian Games now postponed to next year owing to the COVID-19 situation in China, Hockey India decided to pick a s♏trong team for the pre𝓀stigious event, scheduled to begin from July 28.
The Indian team has been grouped in Pool B along with England, Canada, Wales and Ghana. The two-time 🦩former silver medallists will begin their campaign on July 31 agains🧸t Ghana.
Manpreet had led the Indian team to a historic bronze medal at the Olympic Games i🗹n Tokyo last y🎶ear and he will take over the reins from Amit Rohidas, who was the captain for the FIH Pro League tour of Belgium and the Netherlands.
Harmanpreet, who has been named the deputy, emerged as the ☂highest goal scorer in 🔯the FIH Hockey Pro League.
“We have gone with a tried-and-tested team for the Commonwealth Games. These players have the experience of playing top team🧔s in high-pressure games in the FIH Pro League which was a good exposure for us ahead of the prestigious quadrennial event,” chief coach Graham Reid said.
“After a brief break when we return home from Netherlands, we will resume cam𓃲p in SAI, Bengaluru where we will analyze our performance against Belgium and Netherlands. While there are many takeaways from this outing in FIH Pro League, there surely are a few areas that we can improve upon ahead of the Commonwealth Games.”
The squad includes experien💞ced goalkeeper PR Sreejesh and Krishan B Pathak, who returns to the team after a brief injury break. Defenders Varun Kumar, Surender Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Jugraj Singh and Jarmanpreet Singh have been named in the team.
The midfield comprises Manpreet🌊, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Shamsher Singh, Akashdeep Singh and Nilakanta Sharma. Seasoned strikers Mandeeꦆp Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Gurjant Singh and Abhishek will lead the charge in attack.
Goalkeeper Surajཧ Karkera and forwards Shilanand Lakra and Sukhjeet Singh, 🗹who were part of the FIH Pro League, are missing from the squad. India had finished fourth at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.
India Squad:
GOALKEEPERS: PR Sreejesh, Krishan Bahadur Pathak
DEFENDERSဣ: Varun Kumar, Surender Kumar, Harmanpreet S⛎ingh (VC), Amit Rohidas, Jugraj Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh.
MIDFIELDERS: Manpreet Singh (C), Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Pras♛ad, Shamsher Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Nilakanta Sharma
FORWARDS: Mandeep Singh, Gurjant Singh, Lalit Kumar U♌pa🎶dhyay, Abhishek.
