The Indian selection committee has decided to rest captain Sardar Singh and ace drag-flicker Rupinder Pal Singh from 18 men squad that will take part in the Champions Trophy in London from 10-17 June.
It will be the last tournament for the Indian team before the Rio Olympics and the move to rest Sardar Singh and other senior members would be to keep them fresh for Olympics that will take place in August.
“It was pre-decided that Sardar will be rested for the Champions Trophy as he has been playing non-stop for quite some time. He played in the Azlan Shah where Sreejesh was rested. Here Sreejesh is leading the side and Sardar gets much-needed rest,” Hockey India president Narendra Batra told PTI on Tuesday.
“It also means that the coach Oltmans can check out a few youngsters and analyse what’s a best possible combination we can have,” Batra added.
P Sreejesh will lead the team and SV Sunil will be his deputy which has seasoned players like Raghunath, SK Uthappa, Akashdeep Singh. Vikas Dahiya and Harjeet Singh will be back up goalkeepers for Sreejesh in the squad.
Speaking after the squad announcement, Sreejesh said, “At the Champions Trophy, our aim will be to put in a class performance and finish as high as we can. Finishing with a medal at the tournament, will give us a lot of confidence going into the Olympics.”
The team for Champions Trophy is as follows
P Sreejesh (Captain), Vikas Dahyia, Pradeep More, VR Raghunath, Kothajit Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Surender Kumar, Danish Mujtaba, Chinglensana Singh, Manpreet Singh, SK Uthappa, Devinder Valmki, Harjeet Singh, Talwinder Singh, Mandeep Singh, SV Sunil(Vice Captain), Akashdeep Singh, Nikkin Thimmiah.