Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, March 16: Hockey India announced on Wednesday the 22 member men’s team that will face Argentina in a FIH Men’s Hockey Pro League double-header this weekend at the historic Kalinga Hockey Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
Moirangthem Rabichandra Singh, a member of the Indian junior men’s squad in the FIH Junior Men’s World Cup, will be the team’s lone new face for the March 19, 20 matches against Argentina.
Goalkeepers PR Sreejesh and Krishan Bahadur Pathak, as well as defenders Harmanpreet Singh, Jugraj Singh, Surender Kumar, Varun Kumar, Jarmanpreet Singh, and Amit Rohidas, make up the 22-man team.
Manpreet Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Hardik Singh, Sumit, Shamsher Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, and Moirangthem Rabichandra Singh will play in the midfield. Gurjant Singh will return to the forward line after a brief injury layoff. Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Shilanand Lakra, Sukhjeet Singh, Dilpreet Singh, and Abhishek are among others who have joined him.
Also named as standbys are Suraj Karkera, Mandeep Mor, Dipsan Tirkey, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Sanjay, Jaskaran Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Ashis Kumar Topno, Gursahibjit Singh, and Mohd. Raheel.
“These games will provide great exposure for young, new players coming up the ranks, while as a team we are also getting to work out different combinations ahead of the Asian Games,” Chief Coach Graham Reid said.
This season of the FIH Hockey Pro League has seen the Indian team play six games thus far. They defeated South Africa (10-2, 10-2) at home, then won and lost games against France (5-0, 2-5) and Spain (5-0, 2-5), respectively (5-4, 3-5).
India is currently in second place in the pool rankings with a total of 12 points, while the Netherlands are in first place with 16 points.
