New Delhi, 25 March 2015: Indian ace Sardar SIngh will shoulder the responsibility of leading India at the forthcoming Azlan Shah CUp for which Hockey India announced squad today
The 24th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup is scheduled to take place from 5th till 12th April 2015, in Ipoh, Malaysia.
This is of course first time the tournament will be held without the presence of its mentor Azlan Shah, who expired last year.
Coming April 5th, 2015 will see the 18 hand-picked players for the Indian Men National Hockey Team taking on Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Malaysian and Canada in the impending 24th Sultan Alzan Shah Cup in order to claim the title of Sultan. The core probables were seen sweating it out on the field during rigorous training session in preparation of the tournament. Where Sardar Singh will be leading the team as the Captain, the Indian star-goalkeeper PR Sreejesh will be seen supporting him as the Vice-Captain.
Training under Coach Paul van Ass, the Indian Men are undergoing serious training sessions with a mindset of outclassing the opponents in the upcoming tournament.
Speaking on the team announcement, Captain for the team, Sardar Singh said, “The team composition is almost the same as Champions Trophy, though we have three new inclusions Chinglensana Singh Kangujam, Satbir Singh and Mandeep Singh. All three will help boost our options for attack. I think their contribution for their respective teams in HHIL 2015 helped them make a comeback into the National squad”.
Speaking on the team, Chief Coach Paul van Ass of the Indian Men Hockey Team said, “The Sultan Azlan Shah Cup will be my first tournament as the Coach of this team and I look forward to a positive start by doing well in this tournament. The players and I are still getting to know each other both, professionally as well as on the personal front. By the intensity and efforts put in by theses players on the field, during the preparations, gives me much confidence in this team and a hope to have a great start as one unit. I have seen them play in Champions Trophy last year and they are turning into a formidable line-up who are keen to take on new challenges.”
The 24th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup at Malaysia will be played from 5 – 12 April 2015 and six teams will be seen fighting it out for the title. India will play their first match against Korea at 15.40 IST on 5 April 2015.
List of Players:
GOALKEEPERS
1. Parattu Raveendran Sreejesh
2. Harjot Singh
DEFENDERS
3. Gurbaj Singh
4. Rupinder Pal Singh
5. Birendra Lakra
6. Kothajit Singh
7. VR Raghunath
MIDFIELDERS
8. Manpreet Singh
9. Sardar Singh
10. Dharamvir Singh
11. Chinglensana Singh Kangujam
12. S. K. Uthappa
FORWARDS
13. Ramandeep Singh
14. S. V. Sunil
15. Akashdeep Singh
16. Nikkin Thimmaiah
17. Satbir Singh
18. Mandeep Singh