Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Jan 21: Star midfielder Hardik Singh has been disqualified from the 2017 Hockey Men’s World Cup ahead of India’s important crossover match against New Zealand on Sunday.
India sidelined Hardik for their final Pool D match against Wales because he had suffered a hamstring injury against England. According to a statement from Hockey India, Raj Kumar Pal will take the midfielder’s place on the team.
“Overnight we had to make the difficult decision of replacing Hardik Singh in the Indian Team for Sunday’s match vs New Zealand and the subsequent World Cup matches,” Chief Coach Graham Reid said.
“While the injury was not as severe as the initial incident suggested, time was not on our side and after our ongoing thorough rehabilitation process and functional and on-field assessment today, it has been decided that we will replace Hardik with Raj Kumar Pal. While it is extremely disappointing for Hardik personally of course, given how well he played in our first two matches, we are excited at the prospects of Raj Kumar joining the group for the remaining World Cup matches,” he added.
Indian mid-fielder Hardik Singh (in file pic) ruled out of #HockeyWorldCup 2023 due to a hamstring injury. Raj Kumar Pal named as a replacement. pic.twitter.com/CiZbt0r1EC
— ANI (@ANI) January 21, 2023
A below-par India defeated Wales 4-2 earlier in their final pool match, but they were unable to advance through to Thursday’s quarterfinals of the FIH Men’s World Cup in Bhubaneswar. If India defeats New Zealand in their crossover match on Sunday in Bhubaneswar, they will still be able to advance to the quarterfinals.
India’s additional goals came from Shamsher Singh (in the 21st minute) and Harmanpreet Singh (in the 59th), while Akashdeep Singh scored twice (in the 32nd and 45th minutes).
Wales’ goal scorers were Gareth Furlong (42nd) and Jacob Draper (44th).
India, who needed to defeat England by a score of eight goals or more to advance automatically to the quarterfinals, fell short of expectations as they placed second to England in Pool D.
India and England both finished their group play with seven points after winning two games and drawing one, but the European team won Pool D due to a better goal differential.
England has a stronger goal difference of plus nine as opposed to India’s four, having defeated Spain 4-0 in the previous Pool D match here.
