Hockey India on Monday announced an 18-member men’s squad for the prestigious Commonwealth Games, beginning July 29 in Birmingham. India, placed in Pool B along with England, Canada, Wales and Ghana, will start their campaign against Ghana on July 31.
Manpreet Singh, who led the Indian team to a historic bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo last year, will lead the team at the CWG 2022. Dragflick specialist Harmanpreet Singh, the FIH Hockey Pro League’s highest goal scorer, has been named the team’s vice-captain.
Shaft:
Defenders: Varun Kumar, Surendra Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Jugraj Singh and Jarmanpreet Singh.
The midfielder: Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Shamsher Singh, Akashdeep Singh and Nilakanta Sharma.
Strikers: Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Gurjant Singh and Abhishek.
In their previous outing at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, India suffered a disappointment at the fourth place, however, after an impressive performance in the FIH Pro League this year, the Indian team looks set to take the breakthrough in Birmingham.
Speaking about the team selection, head coach Graham Reid said, “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 sports in the FIH Pro League. Which was a good performance for us ahead of the prestigious quadrennial event.”
“After a brief break when we return home from the Netherlands, we will resume camp at SAI, Bengaluru where we will analyze our performances against Belgium and the Netherlands. Although there are several takeaways from this outing in the FIH Pro League, there are certain There are obviously some areas that we can improve on ahead of the Commonwealth Games,” Reid said.