Indian men’s team for Tokyo
PR Sreejesh, Harmanpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Surender Kumar, Amit Rohidoss, Birendra Lakra, Hardik singh, Manpreet SIngh, Vivek Sagar, Nilakanta Sharma, Sumit, Shamsher Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Mandeep Singh.
The Indian team for Tokyo Olympics is by and large on the expected lines. Both PR Sreejesh and Manpreet Singh, who were already double Olympians, are included. The other in the core group with the same lable, SV Sunil misses out. It will be debatable for long time to come.
Hardik Singh and Dilpreet Singh, who made it to the 2018 World Cup, have also found their names in the Olympic list announced today with a graphic post in the Hockey India social media page.
The defence is very strong, will be managed by Harmanpreet Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Birendra Lakra, and Amit Rohidoss and of course ever reliable Surender Kumar.
Speaking on the team selection, Chief Coach Graham Reid said, “It has not been an easy process to make the final selection of 16 players as there is a lot of quality and ambition in this group of players. The performance levels of all the athletes are at an optimum level and more importantly they work well together. They know what it means to represent the country at the Olympics. We are now focused on training with the same intensity and our goal is to put forward our best performance as a collective unit in Tokyo.”
The midfield is also strong unlike the forwardline. Hardik Singh, Manpreet Singh, Sumit and Vivek Sagar Prasad make up a solid midfield.
Gurjant Singh, hero of the last Junior World Cup, experienced Lalit Upadhyay, Mandeep Singh, Dilpreet Singh and Shamsher Singh forms the forward line.
Its here the absence of experience may be felt. Except Lalit and to some extent Mandeep Singh, others are greenhorns. They need to justify their selection in the days to come