Asian Champions Trophy : After the retirement of PR Sreejesh, Krishna Bahadur Pathak has been made the main goalkeeper of the Indian team for the upcoming Asian Hockey Champions Trophy. Harmanpreet Singh is the captain of the 18-member Indian team. Ten players of the Paris Olympics bronze medal winning team are part of this team.
The tournament will see defending champions India compete for the top honours along with Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Japan and hosts China in Hulunbuir from September 8 to 17.
opportunity for the reader
Sreejesh announced his retirement earlier this month after India won their second consecutive Olympic bronze medal in Paris. Pathak, who was India’s standby goalkeeper at the Paris Olympics and several tournaments before that, will now take over the responsibility, while Suraj Karkera will be the reserve goalkeeper.
Sagar became the vice-captain
– Experienced midfielder Vivek Sagar Prasad has been made the vice-captain in place of Hardik Singh. Hardik, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Upadhyay, Shamsher Singh and Gurjant Singh have been rested for this tournament.
– The tournament will also be a big opportunity for India’s promising drag-flicker Jugraj Singh, who went to the Paris Olympics as a standby, and will look to prove his worth along with the brilliant Harmanpreet.
– A potent drag-flicker, Jugraj has proven his worth in the limited opportunities he has got in the Pro League, and it will now be up to him to cement his place in the team. Arijeet Singh Hundal is the third drag-flicker in the squad.
– The defense will be led by Jarmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Harmanpreet Singh, Jugaraj Singh, Sanjay and Sumit.
– Raj Kumar Pal, Neelkant Sharma, Manpreet Singh and Mohammad Raheel will be part of the midfield.
– A young forwardline of Abhishek, Sukhjeet Singh, Hundal, junior India captain Uttam Singh and debutant Gurjot Singh will lead the attack.
– “This is an important campaign for us to improve our ranking points. The team has just returned to camp after all the celebrations following our performance at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” chief coach Craig Fulton said in a Hockey India statement.
