India’s seasoned striker Ramandeep Singh was on Tuesday recalled to the Indian squad to be led by Manpreet Singh at the FIH Men’s Series Finals, commencing on June 6 in Bhubaneswar.
Ramandeep, who has been out of action due to a knee injury,has returned after a gap of nine months.
Varun Kumar, who was rested for the Australian tour, andAmit Rohidas have also made a comeback, while midfielder Sumit also returns tothe team.
Birendra Lakra has been named Manpreet’s deputy for the upcomingtournament as Hockey India announced the much-awaited 18-member squad.
The 26-year-old Ramandeep will be seen tackling India’sforward-line along side Mandeep Singh, Gursahibjit Singh, Simranjeet Singh andAkashdeep Singh.
Experienced goalkeeper PR Sreejesh and Krishan B Pathak willdefend the post for the team.
Harmanpreet Singh, Lakra, Surender Kumar, Varun Kumar, AmitRohidas and Gurinder Singh will form India’s backline, while the midfield willsee Manpreet playing a key role along with youngsters Hardik Singh, Vivek SagarPrasad, Sumit and Nilakanta Sharma.
India have been grouped in Pool A along with Russia, Polandand Uzbekistan while Japan, Mexico, USA and South Africa are grouped in PoolB.
India will begin their campaign on June 6 against Russia andwill be aiming to finish at the top in order to make it for the Olympicqualifying event, which will be held later this year.
“I am very much looking forward to my first FIHtournament as chief coach of the Indian team. The tournament is an importantstep in the Olympic qualification process,” said chief coach Graham Reid.
“We have selected a well-balanced group includingRamandeep Singh, who is returning from injury and Varun Kumar who was restedfor the Australian tour.
“Sumit and Amit Rohidas too return to bolster ourdefensive capabilities and our Penalty Corner. Simranjeet also returns to addsome flexibility and strike power to the forward-line,” added Reid.
Reid said the team’s emphasis at the moment is on circleentries, finishing, tight marking and tackling.
“Our focus for the tournament will be consistency ofperformance. To achieve this will we need to respect every opposition and giveour 100 per cent every quarter, each half, each game. Our goal will be to bethe best team we can be,” said the coach.
“The Australian tour made us very aware of the level weneed to play at to compete with the best teams of the world and we need to aimfor that each time we train and each time we play.
“We are spending a lot of time at the moment on ourcircle entries, our finishing, tight marking and tackling and we want to seeimprovements in these areas. PCs are also important and we have chosen threedrag flickers to use during the tournament,” he added.
SQUAD:
Goalkeepers: PR Sreejesh, Krishan B Pathak
Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra (Vice-Captain),Surender Kumar, Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Gurinder Singh.
Midfielders: Manpreet Singh (Captain), Hardik Singh, VivekSagar Prasad, Sumit, Nilakanta Sharma. Forwards: Mandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh,Ramandeep Singh, Gursahibjit Singh, Simranjit Singh.