New Delhi: Goalkeeper PR Sreejesh may feature in his first competitive event in eight months after being named in India’s 20-member squad for a four-nation tournament in New Zealand. The Men in Blue will compete with Belgium, Japan and hosts New Zealand at Tauranga and Hamilton in the event, beginning January 17.
The team will be led by 25-year-old midfielder Manpreet Singh while Chinglensana Singh Kangujam will be his deputy. Only Birendra Lakra of Orissa have found a place in the squad while youngsters Dipsan Tirkey and Amit Rohidas have been omitted. They were part of the Indian squad who won bronze in the Hockey World League Finals played in Bhubaneswar.
Sreejesh, who missed some key tournaments in 2017 due to a knee injury, will be joined by young goalkeeper Krishan Bahadur Pathak, a member of the 2016 Junior World Cup winning team. Pathak was also part of the India ‘A’ team which participated at the Australian Hockey League in September.
New inclusions in the team are forward Dilpreet Singh and midfielder Vivek Sagar Prasad.
“The team continue to remain a good mix of young and experienced players. They will get to show their abilities against top quality teams. This is an important year for us with major tournaments in the pipeline and one of our focus areas is to perform consistently especially against higher-ranked teams,” said chief coach Sjoerd Marijne in a release.
The squad: (Goalkeepers): PR Sreejesh, Krishan Bahadur Pathak; (Defenders): Harmanpreet Singh, Surender Kumar, Gurinder Singh, Varun Kumar, Rupinderpal Singh, Birendra Lakra; (Midfielders): Manpreet Singh (captain), Chinglensana Singh Kangujam, Vivek Prasad, Harjeet Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Simranjeet Singh, Satbir Singh; (Forwards): Dilpreet Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay and Armaan Qureshi.
Press Trust of India
