Hockey India has selected 16 members for the men’s hockey team on Friday, for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics 2020. 10 members from the squad got their maiden Olympics call. It also includes experience players like PR Sreejesh and Manpreet Singh. This team has five defenders, five midfielders, and five forwards.
The ten players who will be making their Olympic debut are Amit Rohidas, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Nilakanta Sharma, Sumit, Shamsher Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh, and Lalit Kumar Upadhyay.
With the addition of young dynamic players, the squad also included six experienced campaigners like former captain PR Sreejesh, midfielder Manpreet, defenders Harmanpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Surender Kumar, and forward Mandeep Singh. These players were part of the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Veteran defender Birendra Lakra who had missed the Rio Olympics in 2016 due to a knee injury also added to the squad.
PR Sreejesh is the only goalkeeper in the squad. Akshdeep Singh and Ramandeep Singh who had played the last edition are not included in the squad.
Indian’s men hockey team coach Graham Reid said on the selection, “ 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.”
He also added, “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.”
The Indian men’s team has been clubbed alongside defending champions Argentina, 3 times champion, and current world number 1 Australia, New Zealand, Spain, and the host Japan.
Indian Men’s Hockey Tokyo Olympics squad
Goalkeepers: PR Sreejesh.
Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidas and Birendra Lakra.
Midfielders: Hardik Singh, Manpreet Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Nilakanta Sharma and Sumit.
Forwards: Shamsher Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay and Mandeep Singh.
