Press Trust of India
Bangalore, Nov 4: Veteran midfielder Sardar Singh will lead an 18-member Indian hockey squad in the eight-team Hero World League Finals (WLF) to be played in Raipur, November 17 to December 6. Goalkeeper PR Sreejesh will be Sardar’s deputy. Birendra Lakra from Orissa is the only player to have found a place in the squad.
Prior to the tournament, India will take on Australia in a three-Test preparatory series. The matches will be played November 19, 22 and 23 at Rajnandgaon (first two games) and Raipur.
“The team has been together in the camp for quite a while and they are showing tremendous progress. The Test series with Australia will help us evaluate our strengths and weaknesses before going into the Hockey World League Finals,” said Roelant Oltmans, India’s high performance director and chief coach here Wednesday.
“We are excited and there is high degree of positivity within the boys and that gives all of us a lot of confidence. We are confident of playing some competitive hockey and hope to produce the best results in the competition,” Oltmans added.
The squad: (Goalkeepers): PR Sreejesh, Harjot Singh; (Defenders): Birendra Lakra, Kothajit Singh, VR Raghunath, Jasjit Singh Kular, Rupinder Pal Singh; (Midfielders): Sardar Singh, Chinglensana Singh, Devinder Walmiki, Manpreet Singh, Dharamvir Singh, Danish Mujtaba; (Forwards): SV Sunil, Ramandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Lalit Upadhyay and Talwinder Singh.
