Hockey India announces squad for Champions Trophy, Sardar Singh returns

05/31/2018

Hockey India has named the 18 member Indian Men’s Team for the 2018 Champions Trophy that is scheduled to be held in the Netherlands, this June. The experienced trio of Sardar Singh, Birendra Lakra, and Ramandeep Singh have made a return to the squad after being dropped for the Gold Coast Games.

Sardar Singh has been brought back to the Indian hockey team while Birendra Lakra has also been included in the line-up for the upcoming Champions Trophy. Sardar was not part of the Indian hockey team that had a disappointing outing at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. He was expected to reclaim his place in the national side after being included in the national training camp in Bengaluru. Birendra Lakra who was not part of the CWG squad also made a comeback to the side like Sardar.

The selectors have dropped defenders Rupinder, Kothajit Singh, and Gurinder Singh while Jaramanpreet Singh and Surendra Kumar were included. Among the strikers, the axe fell on Lalit Upadhyay and Gurjant Singh as Ramandeep Singh earned his place back. The selectors also replaced goalkeeper Suraj Karkera with Krishan Bahadur Pathak.

Chief coach Harendra Singh has made it clear that the players who are selected have to do well to be in the reckoning for a place in the Asian Games squad ahead.

“It is an extremely important tournament for the players to showcase their firepower as the team for the forthcoming Asian Games in Jakarta will be picked on the basis of performance at the Commonwealth Games and the Champions Trophy,” Singh said.

“While this team will be put to test against another Asian powerhouse Pakistan who we will face in the Asian Games, the Champions Trophy will provide the ideal platform to see where we stand against higher-ranked teams like Australia, Belgium, The Netherlands and Argentina in the lead up to the World Cup,” he added.

India will begin their campaign at the Champions Trophy against arch-rivals Pakistan on June 23.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Sreejesh Parattu Raveendran (captain), Krishan Bahadur Pathak

Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar, Surender Kumar, Jarmanpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra and Amit Rohidas

Midfielders: Manpreet Singh, Chinglensana Singh Kangujam (vice captain) Sardar Singh and Vivek Sagar Prasad

Forwards: Sunil Sowmarpet Vitalacharya, Ramandeep Singh, Mandeep Singh, Sumit Kumar Jr, Akashdeep Singh and Dilpreet Singh