New Delhi: Odisha star player Amit Rohidas missed out on a place in the 18-member Indian squad for the Asian Champions Trophy, starting October 18 in Muscat, Hockey India announced Wednesday. On the other hand, midfielder Manpreet Singh will take over the captaincy from PR Sreejesh.
India will go into the tournament, which will be their first major event after the retirement of Sardar Singh, as the defending champions after they won the 2016 edition where they beat Pakistan 3-2 in the final in Kauntan, Malaysia.
Amit was the member of the India’s bronze medal winning team at the Asian Games in Indonesia. However, he was not included in the core group for the selection camp for the Asian Champions Trophy although he was later called back to join the camp. But it is looked like the coach and selection committee are not impressed with his efforts.
Chinglensana Singh has been named Arjuna awardee Manpreet’s deputy. Alongside experienced goalkeeper in Sreejesh, the team also features young goalkeeper Krishan Bahadur Pathak, while the defensive unit will see seasoned defender Kothajit Singh Khadangbam making a comeback.
The World No.5 team will be up against the likes of Malaysia, Pakistan, South Korea, Japan and hosts Oman, with all the teams playing round-robin matches to progress to the semifinals.
The squad:
Goalkeepers: PR Sreejesh, Krishan Bahadur Pathak;
Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Gurinder Singh, Varun Kumar, Kothajit Singh Khadangbam, Surender Kumar, Jarmanpreet Singh, Hardik Singh;
Midfielders: Manpreet Singh (C), Sumit Nilakanta Sharma, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Chinglensana Singh Kangujam;
Forwards: Akashdeep Singh, Gurjant Singh, Mandeep Singh, Dilpreet Singh.
