Hockey India on Monday named a full-strength males’s crew for the upcoming Commonwealth Games. Manpreet Singh is again to steer the crew, and drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh has been named as his deputy.
While PR Sreejesh is a part of the full-strength 18-member squad, goalkeeper Suraj Karkera and forwards Shilanand Lakra and Sukhjeet Singh, who had been a part of the FIH Pro League, are lacking from the squad.
Notably, Hockey India had initially determined to ship a second-string crew to the Commonwealth Games as the main target was on the Asian Games, which is a qualifier for the Paris Olympics in 2024. However, with the Asian Games getting postponed as a consequence of Covid-19 issues in host nation China, the emphasis is on doing effectively on the Commonwealth Games, beginning July 28.
The Indian crew has been grouped in Pool B together with England, Canada, Wales and Ghana. The two-time former silver medallists will start their marketing campaign on July 31 in opposition to Ghana. India had completed fourth on the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.
Manpreet led the Indian crew to a historic bronze medal on the Olympic Games in Tokyo final 12 months and he’ll take over the reins from Amit Rohidas, who was the captain for the FIH Pro League tour of Belgium and the Netherlands.
CAMP IN BENGALURU BEFORE CWG
“We have gone with a tried-and-tested team for the Commonwealth Games. These players have the experience of playing top teams in high-pressure games in the FIH Pro League which was good exposure for us ahead of the prestigious quadrennial event,” chief coach Graham Reid stated.
“After a brief break when we return home from the Netherlands, we will resume camp in SAI, Bengaluru where we will analyze our performance against Belgium and Netherlands.
“While there are various takeaways from this outing in FIH Pro League, there absolutely are a number of areas that we will enhance upon forward of the Commonwealth Games.”
INDIA MEN’S HOCKEY SQUAD FOR CWG 2022
GOALKEEPERS: PR Sreejesh, Krishan Bahadur Pathak
DEFENDERS: Varun Kumar, Surender Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh (VC), Amit Rohidas, Jugraj Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh.
MIDFIELDERS: Manpreet Singh (C), Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Shamsher Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Nilakanta Sharma
FORWARDS: Mandeep Singh, Gurjant Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Abhishek.