Hockey India reveals Indian men squad for Tokyo Games; 10 Olympic debutants included
18 Jun 2021 16:21:01
New Delhi, June 18: Hockey India on Friday announced the Indian men's hockey squad for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics in which 10 Olympic debutants are included in the 16-member squad. The squad also features experienced performers like PR Sreejesh and Manpreet Singh, for the Tokyo Games to be held from July 23 to August 8.
Amit Rohidas, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Nilakanta Sharma, Sumit, Shamsher Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh and Lalit Kumar Upadhyay are the 10 players who will make their Olympic debut in Tokyo.
Besides, the 16-member team also includes six seasoned campaigners like the former skipper and goalkeeper Sreejesh, midfielder Manpreet, defenders Harmanpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, and Surender Kumar, and forward Mandeep Singh. These players were a part of the previous Olympic squad in Rio de Janeiro.
"It has not been an easy process to make the final selection of 16 players as there is a lot of quality and ambition in this group of players. The performance levels of all the athletes are at an optimum level and more importantly they work well together," Indian men’s team chief coach Graham Reid said in a statement issued by HI.
"They know what it means to represent the country at the Olympics. We are now focussed on training with the same intensity and our goal is to put forward our best performance as a collective unit in Tokyo," he added.
The Squad:
Goalkeepers: PR Sreejesh
Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Birendra Lakra
Midfielders: Hardik Singh, Manpreet Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Nilakanta Sharma, Sumit
Forwards: Shamsher Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Mandeep Singh.