Hockey India today named the 20-member Indian Men’s Hockey Team who will take part in the 2018 Four Nations Invitational Tournament in New Zealand starting 17 January 2018. India will compete alongside Belgium, Japan and hosts New Zealand at Tauranga and Hamilton.
Seasoned goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh returned to the Indian hockey squad after a gap of eight months as he overcame a knee injury. He was named on Monday in a young squad for the Four Nations Invitational Tournament in New Zealand starting on January 17. Sreejesh, currently a part of the national camp in Bengaluru, sustained the injury at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in May last year. The veteran goalie tweet indicated his determination to perform for the nation.
The promise I made to myself ….. …#injury #surgery #rest #walk #rehab #run #gym #goalkeeping #performance #team #indianteam @TheHockeyIndia @FIH_Hockey pic.twitter.com/Fqxr35dw2R
— sreejesh p r (@16Sreejesh) January 8, 2018
Hockey India selectors took the decision of giving exposure to youngsters ahead of a busy year in which India will play four big tournaments — Commonwealth Games, FIH Champions Trophy, Asian Games and FIH World Cup.
New inclusions in the team are forward Dilpreet Singh and midfielder Vivek Sagar Prasad. The duo was rewarded for their promising performance at the Sultan of Johor Cup last year where the team returned home with the bronze medal. While Vivek had played an instrumental role in the midfield, Dilpreet impressed with nine goals in six matches to his credit. Read: Hockey India announces 33 players for men’s national camp. PR Sreejesh makes a comeback.
Hockey India introduced players like Harmanpreet and Mandeep in the senior team at a very young age. Harmanpreet played Olympics at a young age of 19 and Mandeep featured for India in 2015 Champions trophy. It did wonders, as India lifted the Junior Hockey world cup in 2016 where these two youngsters played a key role. Following the same policy, Hockey India may be keen to give the right exposure to the youngsters like Vivek and Dilpreet. They will get to learn and can be a turning point for India’s title defense in next edition of Junior world cup, expected to be held in 2019.
Forwards
India’s attack will be led by Ramandeep Singh, who is making a comeback. Along with young gun Armaan Qureshi, Dilpreet Singh, Mandeep Singh and Lalit Upadhyay.
Missing: Akashdeep Singh, SV Sunil, Gurjant Singh
Midfield
The midfield will see skipper Manpreet Singh, Chinglensana Singh, Harjeet Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Satbir Singh along with debut players Simranjeet Singh and Vivek Sagar Prasad.
Missing: SK Uthappa, Sumit, Kothajit Singh, Sardar Singh
Defense
India’s defence features Rupinder Pal Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar — all three will double-up as drag-flickers. They will be joined by Birendra Lakra, Surender Kumar and Gurinder Singh in the defence.
Missing: Amit Rohidas, Dipsan Tirkey
Goalkeepers
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.
Missing: Akash Chikte, Suraj Karkera
“The team continues 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,” expressed Chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne further adding that this tour will be a good exposure ahead of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018. “We use this tour for our preparation for the Commonwealth Games and look at progressing to the next level after the previous two tournaments,” he added.
Meanwhile Hockey India’s High Performance Director David John said, “This tour provides international exposure for some of our younger players in the squad with four of them making their international debut with the senior team. We also view this tournament as another opportunity to assess senior players performance under competition.”
Squad for four nations invitational tournament:
Goalkeepers
1. PR Sreejesh
2. Krishan Bahadur Pathak
Defenders
3. Harmanpreet Singh
4. Surender Kumar
5. Gurinder Singh
6. Varun Kumar
7. Rupinderpal Singh
8. Birendra Lakra
Midfielders
9. Manpreet Singh(C)
10. Chinglensana Singh Kangujam (VC)
11. Vivek Sagar Prasad
12. Harjeet Singh
13. Nilakanta Sharma
14. Simranjeet Singh
15. Satbir Singh
Forwards
16. Dilpreet Singh
17. Ramandeep Singh
18. Mandeep Singh
19. Lalit Kumar Upadhyay
20. Armaan Qureshi
four nations invitational tournament
