Even as less than two months left for the all important Olympic hockey competition to take off, India fields two new comers in its last preparatory tour.
The team announced by Hockey India today includes Nitin Thimmaiah and Pradhan Somaiah, who will be making their international debut in the tour.
Yuvraj Walmiki, probably still to recover fully from hamstring, and who replaced Baljit Singh Chandi for the Azlan Shah Cup, is dropped; while Chandi and Ignace returns.
Chinglensana, who made his international debut during the South Africa test series, makes the cut after missing out the Azlan Shah Cup, where India won the brozce last week.
The 22 member squad will be Captained by Bharat Chetri while Sardar Singh will be Vice-Captain of the team.
India will play two test matches against France in Lille on 28th and 30th June 2012.
The team will then figure in a 3-Nation Invitational Tournament at Santander, Spain from 14-18 July 2012. This will precede two test matches each against Spain and South Africa from 5- 11 July 2012 at the same venue.
The 3-Nation will feature Great Britain, India and the hosts Spain.
These matches are the final preparations for the Team India ahead of the London Olympic Games 2012. The tournament will be played on the blue artificial turf with yellow kookaburra balls.
During the three week tour in France and Spain, Team India will play total of 8 matches before shifting to Olympic Village in London. These matches will help Team India to acclimatize to the European conditions which will be similar to the conditions of London in July and August when they will take part in the London Olympic Games 2012. The schedule of the matches is given below.
The team
Goalkeepers
1. Bharat Chetri (Captain)
2. P R Sreejesh
Defenders
3. V R Raghunath
4. Ignace Tirkey
5. Sandeep Singh
6. Rupinder Pal Singh
Midfielders
7. Sardar Singh (Vice Captain)
8. Kothajit Singh
9. Gurbaj Singh
10. Birendra Lakra
11. Manpreet Singh
Forwards
12. SV Sunil
13. Gurwinder Singh Chandi
14. Sarvanjit Singh
15. Shivendra Singh
16. Danish Mujtaba
17. Tushar Khandker
18. Dharamvir Singh
19. Chinglensana Singh
20. S K Uthappa
21. Nithin Thimmaiah
22. Pradhan Somanna
Schedule of Test Matches (Spain)
Date Local Time Match
Thursday 5 July 2012 1900 India vs Spain
Saturday 7 July 2012 2115 India vs Spain
Sunday 8 July 2012 1900 India vs South Africa
Monday 9 July 2012 1345 Spain vs South Africa
Wednesday 11 July 2012 1200 India vs South Africa
Schedule of the 3 Nation Invitational Tournament (Spain)
Date Local Time Match
Saturday 14 July 2012 1730 India vs Great Britain
Monday 16 July 2012 1900 Great Britain vs Spain
Wednesday 18 July 2012 1345 India vs Great Britain