Bhubaneswar, 26 November 2021: As many as eight Tokyo Olympians and return of Akashdeep Singh mark the 20-member team for the forthcoming Indian team for the Hero Asian Champions Trophy which will commence at Dhaka on 14th next month.

Arjuna awardee Akashdeep Singh missed out the Tokyo number. Conspicuous is the absence of PR Sreejesh in the squad. Eight from the Tokyo Olympics included for the Dhaka trip are Captain Manpreet Singh, his deputy Harmanpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Shamsher Singh, Krishan Pathak, Varun Kumar, Dilpreet Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay and Sumit.

Defending Champions India begin their campaign on the opening day against Korea. In this edition, they will battle it out against Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan and hosts Bangladesh in the single-pool tournament for top honours.

The team includes other goalie Suraj Karkera, Gurinder Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Dipsan Tirkey, Mandeep Mor, Jaskaran Singh, Rajkumar Pal, Gursahibjit Singh and Shilanand Lakra.

Talking about the selection, Chief Coach (Men) Graham Reid said, “While selecting this team we now must have our eyes on the future. It takes a deep and strong squad to build sustained success so players have to be given opportunities to perform.”

“We have picked a team that has a good mix of experience and younger guys who will have their chance to show what they can do. It is a hectic match schedule and given the COVID situation FIH & AHF have allowed 18 players to be chosen each game out of a greater squad of 20. The Asian Champions Trophy is a World Class event that will provide all teams a fantastic opportunity to start the next Olympiad with much needed competition. We are looking forward to the challenge,” he added.

India will play their opening match against Korea on 14 December, followed by their match against hosts Bangladesh on 15 December. Their third match will be against arch rivals Pakistan on 17 December and on 18 December India will take on Malaysia followed by their match against Japan on 19 December. The Semis will be on 21 December followed by the final on 22.

In the previous edition of this event held in Muscat, Oman, India had jointly lifted the title along with Pakistan as the final was called off due to incessant rains. Before that at Kuantan India annexed the trophy.

The team

Goalkeepers

1. Krishan Bahadur Pathak
2. Suraj Karkera

Defenders

3. Harmanpreet Singh (VC)
4. Gurinder Singh
5. Jarmanpreet Singh
6. Dipsan Tirkey
7. Varun Kumar
8. Nilam Sanjeep Xess
9. Mandeep Mor

Midfielders

10. Hardik Singh
11. Manpreet Singh (C)
12. Jaskaran Singh
13. Sumit
14. Rajkumar Pal
15. Akashdeep Singh
16 Shamsher Singh

Forwards

17. Lalit Kumar Upadhyay
18. Dilpreet Singh
19. Gursahibjit Singh
20. Shilanand Lakra