FIH Series Finals | Ramandeep Singh returns to national squad as Hockey India announces 18-member team

05/28/2019

Hockey India has announced the 18-member squad for the FIH Series Finals which will be held at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar from June 6-15. Ramandeep Singh has returned to the Manpreet Singh-led national team after a gap of nine months while Birendra Lakra has been named the vice-captain.

Hockey India on Tuesday named the 18-member Indian Men’s Hockey Team for the much-awaited FIH Men’s Series Finals Bhubaneswar Odisha 2019 scheduled to begin on 6 June 2019 at the iconic Kalinga Hockey Stadium. The event will see India grouped in Pool A along with Russia, Poland and Uzbekistan while 18th Asian Games Gold Medalist Japan, Mexico, USA and South Africa are grouped in Pool B.

The Indian team for the coveted event will be led by Manpreet Singh and Vice-Captained by Birendra Lakra. Experienced goalkeeper PR Sreejesh and Krishan B Pathak will defend India's goalpost while Harmanpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra, Surender Kumar, Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas and Gurinder Singh will add to India’s might in the backline.

The midfield will see Manpreet Singh play a key role along with youngsters Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Sumit and Nilakanta Sharma. The forward-line will see the return of striker Ramandeep Singh who last wore the India colours at the FIH Champions Trophy in Breda last year. He had since been out of action due to a knee injury. He will join Mandeep Singh, Gursahibjit Singh, Simranjeet Singh and Akashdeep Singh to form India’s attack.

India begin their campaign on 6 June 2019 against Russia and will be aiming to finish on the top in order to make it for the Olympic Qualifying event to be held later this year.