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At next month’s Hero Asian Champions Trophy in Dhaka, Olympic bronze medalist captain Manpreet Singh will lead a 20-member Indian men’s hockey team that will be missing veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh.
While Manpreet will lead the team, Harmanpreet Singh has been selected vice-captain for the tournament, which runs from December 14 to 22.
There are a lot of fresh faces on India’s roster for the tournament, which is their first trip since the Tokyo Olympics.
Sreejesh, the talismanic goalkeeper, has been rested, and Krishan Bahadur Pathak and Suraj Karkera will take his place.
Harmanpreet Singh, Gurinder Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Dipsan Tirkey, Varun Kumar, and Mandeep Mor will be in charge of the Indian defence.
Manpreet will play alongside Hardik Singh, Jaskaran Singh, Sumit, Rajkumar Pal, Shamsher Singh, and the seasoned Akashdeep Singh in the midfield.
Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Dilpreet Singh, Gursahibjit Singh, and Shilanand Lakra will lead the forward line.
India will play Korea on the first day of the tournament. . The other teams in the tournament are Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan and hosts Bangladesh.
Talking about the composition of the side, chief coach Graham Reid said, “While selecting this team we now must have our eyes on the future. It takes a deep and strong squad to build sustained success so players have to be given opportunities to perform.”
“We have picked a team that has a good mix of experience and younger guys who will have their chance to show what they can do.
“Given the COVID situation, the FIH and AHF have enabled 18 players to be chosen from a larger roster of 20 players for each game.”
India’s first match will be against Korea on December 14, followed by matches against Bangladesh (December 15), Pakistan (December 17), Malaysia (December 18), and Japan (December 19). (December 19).
The semifinals are scheduled for December 21 followed by the title clash on the next day.
The last edition of the event, held in Muscat, Oman, saw India and Pakistan share the title after the final was postponed due to persistent rains.
Indian team:
Goalkeepers: Krishan Bahadur Pathak, Suraj Karkera.
Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Gurinder Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Dipsan Tirkey, Varun Kumar, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Mandeep Mor.
Midfielders: Hardik Singh, Manpreet Singh, Jaskaran Singh, Sumit, Rajkumar Pal, Akashdeep Singh, Shamsher Singh.
Forwards: Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Dilpreet Singh, Gursahibjit Singh, Shilanand Lakra.
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