Ten Olympic debutants in Indian hockey squad for Tokyo Games
(PTI desk)
India on Friday named 10 Olympic debutants in its 16-member men's hockey squad, which also features seasoned performers like PR Sreejesh and Manpreet Singh, for the Tokyo Games to be held from July 23. Amit Rohidas, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Nilakanta Sharma, Sumit, Shamsher Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh, and Lalit Kumar Upadhyay are the 10 players who will make their Olympic debut.
The squad includes six seasoned campaigners
The 16-member team includes six seasoned campaigners like former skipper and goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, midfielder Manpreet Singh, defenders Harmanpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, and Surender Kumar, and forward Mandeep Singh. These players were a part of the previous Olympic squad in Rio de Janeiro.
The team has only one goalkeeper
Veteran defender Birendra Lakra, who missed the 2016 Games due to a knee injury, has also been named and is set to make his Olympic debut in Tokyo. The team has only one goalkeeper, Sreejesh, which means Krishan Bahadur Pathak missed out on an Olympic berth despite being an integral part of the team in the lead-up to the quadrennial Games.
Hockey India hasn't named the captain
The Olympic-bound Indian team has five defenders, five midfielders, and as many forwards. The notable absentees in the squad are strikers Akashdeep Singh and Ramandeep Singh. Even though Manpreet has been the captain of the side for some time now, Hockey India hasn't named the leader of the Tokyo-bound team but it is expected that the ace midfielder will be retained in the role.
It was tough to choose the final 16: Chief coach
"It has not been an easy process to make the final selection of 16 players as there is a lot of quality and ambition in this group of players," the Indian team's chief coach Graham Reid said in a statement issued by HI. The performance levels of all the athletes are at an optimum level and more importantly, they work well together, it added.
'We want to put forward our best performance in Tokyo'
"They know what it means to represent the country at the Olympics. We are now focused on training with the same intensity and our goal is to put forward our best performance in Tokyo," he added. HI president Gyanendro Ningombam wished the team success. The Indian men's hockey team has a rich Olympic history having won the gold medal eight times in the past.
Here's the squad
Goalkeeper: PR Sreejesh. Defenders: HarManpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Birendra Lakra. Midfielders: Hardik Singh, Manpreet Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Nilakanta Sharma, Sumit. Forwards: Shamsher Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Mandeep Singh.
