Newly elected Indian men’s hockey team captain PR Sreejesh says the upcoming FIH Champions Trophy could provide a reality check of the preparations ahead of Hockey World Cup, which is slated to be held in Bhubaneswar later this year.
The 18-member Indian team left for Breda in Netherlands last night to take part in the last edition of Hockey Champions trophy. Indian team finished as runner-up in the last season, loosing to Australia in a tightly contested finale in London.
Top teams like Netherlands, Argentina, Pakistan, Belgium and Australia will participate in the CT of hockey.
“Though right now our immediate goal is to do well in this tournament, there is no doubt the Champions Trophy will be a reality check for us to see where we stand among other top teams especially ahead of the World Cup,” said Sreejesh ahead of the team’s departure.
“It is the final edition of Champions Trophy and I am sure every team would want to make it memorable. It will be a challenging tournament with back-to-back matches and winning those three points from each game will be the only thing on our minds.”
India will begin their campaign against Roelant Oltmans coached Pakistan on 23rd July and Sreejesh said it is just another game for them despite the high profile encounter between the two rival nations.
“For us, the match against Pakistan is just another game where we will be looking to win three points. In this tournament every single match is crucial if we want to see ourselves in the title round because the first two teams on top of the points table will play the final,” said the custodian Sreejesh.
Indian men’s hockey team for Champions Trophy 2018
Goalkeepers: Sreejesh Parattu Raveendran (C), Krishan Bahadur Pathak
Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar, Surender Kumar, Jarmanpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra, Amit Rohidas
Midfielders: Manpreet Singh, Chinglensana Singh Kangujam (VC), Sardar Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad
Forwards: Sunil Sowmarpet Vitalacharya, Ramandeep Singh, Mandeep Singh, Sumit Kumar (Jr.), Akashdeep Singh, Dilpreet
