New Delhi, June 20
India today named a full-strength 18-member men’s hockey squad for the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Birmingham with Manpreet Singh returning as captain and drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh as his deputy.
Hockey India (HI) had initially decided to send a second-string team due to the short turnaround time between the Birmingham CWG and the Hangzhou Asian Games, a qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
With the Asian Games now postponed due to Covid, HI decided to pick a strong team for the event which is scheduled to begin from July 28.
India have been grouped in Pool B along with England, Canada, Wales and Ghana. The two-time silver medallists will begin their campaign on July 31 against Ghana. “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 a good exposure for us ahead of the prestigious quadrennial event,” chief coach Graham Reid said. — PTI
Squad
PR Sreejesh, Krishan Bahadur Pathak, Varun Kumar, Surender Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh (vc), Amit Rohidas, Jugraj Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Manpreet Singh (c), Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Shamsher Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Mandeep Singh, Gurjant Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Abhishek
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