The Hindu: Sardar Singh back in the reckoning

Uthra Ganesan

Has been called for the National camp

He may have been dubbed slow by critics and ignored for the recent Commonwealth Games but Sardar Singh’s popularity and leadership remains unchallenged. And the 31-year old former captain may just find himself back in the mix when a 55-member huge group assembles for the next National men’s hockey camp in Bengaluru starting April 27.

The group would be pruned to 48 after trials on May 2-3 and Sardar’s future might well depend on that but for now, he would certainly be reporting for the camp with High Performance Director David John confirming the same to The Hindu here on Thursday.

In fact, out-of-favour forward Ramandeep Singh is also expected to be in the camp.

“The initial group is huge because we have added players from the National Championships to the mix. Once it is reduced to 48, they will then be divided into two groups of 24 each, making up the national core and the developmental squad,” John explained.

Which means that, if Sardar does make it to the 48, he is likely to be part of the core squad for the upcoming tournaments, including the Champion Trophy and the Asian Games.

While John insisted that the team did not lack experience as was being made out and there was no need to drastically alter the overall structure of the team, he did admit some changes would be made.

“I would not say there was lack of experience. Only two players — Vivek Sagar Prasad and Dilpreet Singh — were young but every player in the 33-member core had played two tournaments in the past 6-8 months, he said.

The women’s camp, meanwhile, would begin from April 22 with 61 players to be pruned to 48.