The Men’s Asian Cup is fast approaching and therefore Hockey India have announced the 20-team member Men’s team for the continental crown. The tournament is scheduled in Jakarta, Indonesia. The tournament will also double up as a World Cup qualifier and will feature teams like India, Japan, Pakistan and hosts Indonesia in pool A while Malaysia, Korea, Oman and Bangladesh are grouped in pool B.
The Indian team has a great mixture of youth and experience as they will be led by Olympic bronze medallist Rupinder Pal Singh while Birendra Lakra will be his deputy as the vice-captain of the team. A total of 10 players are all set to make their debut for the Men in Blue proving how Graham Reid wants to see the talent around him and then based on performances he will pick them for the World Cup and the upcoming tournament which are relatively more important.
This includes FIH Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup players Yashdeep Siwach, Abhisek Lakra, Manjeet, Vishnukant Singh and Uttam Singh. Players like Mareeswaren Sakthivel, Sheshe Gowda BM, Pawan Rajbhar, Abharan Sudev and S Karthi are also new additions.
The Men in Blue includes goalkeepers Pankaj Kumar Rajak, and Suraj Karkera, in defence captain Rupinder Pal Singh will lead the team from the back along with vice-captain Birendra Lakra along with Yashdeep Siwach, Abhisek Lakra and others. Players like Pawan Rajbhar, Abharan Sudev, SV Sunil, Uttam Singh and S.Karthi have also been named in the squad with the responsibility of handling the attack and scoring goals.
Junior World Cup players Maninder Singh and Nilam Sanjeep Xess have been named as replacement players while Pawan, Pardeep Singh, Ankit Pal and Angad Bir Singh have been named as standbys.
BJ Kariappa will be the coach of the Indian Men’s team for the Asia Cup and speaking on team composition he shared how this is a great experience for the youngsters to perform at this high level since India as hosts have already qualified for the World Cup. “The team is a good mix of experienced senior players and newcomers, many of whom have played at the international level in different age-group matches but have not made their Senior India debut. Since India has already qualified for the FIH Men’s World Cup by virtue of being the hosts, this will be a good platform for us to try out this new group and test how these players utilize the opportunity.”
Former India captain and stalwart Sardar Singh will also accompany the team as a part of the coaching staff sharing how the players have shown great potential in the national camp and deserve their chance in the Asian Cup. He said, “This is a very talented group of players and I have seen them work really hard over the past few weeks to earn a place in the team. On a personal front, this will be my first tournament as India Coach and I am looking forward to this new experience.”
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