Rajpal Singh will lead the Indian hockey team at the Champions Challenge at Salta, Argentina, to be played from December 6 to 13. The team leaves for Madrid for a week’s training en route to Salta on November 23 for the eightnation tournament, Hockey India said in a statement on Friday.
Among major additions to the squad, forward Deepak Thakur returns from a 10month lay-off after recuperating from a knee injury.

India have been drawn in Pool A with Belgium, China and New Zealand, while Pool B consists of hosts Argentina, Canada, Pakistan and South Africa.

India take on New Zealand on December 6, followed by China on December 8 and Belgium on December 10. The winner of the tournament will be eligible for the elite sixnation Champions Trophy next year. India won the inaugural Champions Challenge Tournament at Kuala Lumpur in 2002 and played the Champions Trophy at Cologne in 2003. They last played the Champions Challenge at Boom, Belgium in 2007.

SQUAD: Goalkeepers: Adrian D’Souza, P.R. Sreejesh; Defenders: Sardar Singh, Sandeep Singh, Gurbaj Singh, Bharat, Ajitesh Roy, Dhananjay Mahadik, V.
Raghunath; Midfielders: Tushar Khandker, Arjun Halappa, Vikram Pillay, Roshan Minz, Danish Mujtaba, Vikas Sharma; Forwards: Rajpal Singh (captain), Gurvinder Singh Chandi, Shivendra Singh Deepak Thakur, Sarwanjit Singh, Mandeep Antil, Prabhjot Singh