New Delhi:
Hockey India on Wednesday announced the 16-member squad for next month’s Paris Olympics with Harmanpreet Singh as captain and Hardik Singh as vice-captain. Five players will make their Olympic debut in the Indian team, apart from this, some senior players who have participated in previous stages have also been included in the team. The Indian team, who won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2020, has been placed in Pool B along with defending champions Belgium, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand and Ireland. The top four teams in the pool points table will advance to the quarter-finals. Indian athletes are currently busy preparing for the Olympics at the national camp at the SAI Centre, Bengaluru.
Veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh and midfielder Manpreet Singh will be participating in the Olympics for the fourth time while this will be the third Olympics for captain Harmanpreet. Five players will make their Olympic debut for India including Jarmanpreet Singh, Sanjay, Raj Kumar Pal, Abhishek and Sukhjit Singh.
Indian defenders Rupinderpal Singh and Birendra Lakra have retired after a historic performance to win a medal in Tokyo after a long run of 41 years, while Surender Kumar is out of the squad. Neelkant Sharma, who was part of the main squad in Tokyo, has been kept in the alternates and Dilpreet Singh has not got a chance. Goalkeeper Krishna Pathak will be an alternate for the second consecutive Olympics. The following is the Indian team for the Paris Olympic Games.
Defender: Harmanpreet Singh, Jarmanpreet, Amit Rohidas, Sumit and Sanjay, Midfielder: Rajkumar Pal, Shamsher Singh, Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh and Vivek Sagar Prasad, Forward: Forward: including Abhishek, Sukhjit, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Mandeep Singh and Gurjant Singh, Reserve: Krishna Baradur Pathak, Jugraj Singh, Neelkant Sharma, Goalkeeper: PR Sreejesh