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Hockey India today named an 18-member Indian Men Team, including Odisha defenders Birendra Lakra and Amit Rohidas for the FIH Mens Series Finals, scheduled to be held at Kalinga Hockey Stadium here from 6 to 15 June 2019. Lakra has also been made the vice-captain of the team.
The event will see India grouped in Pool A along with Russia, Poland and Uzbekistan while 18th Asian Games Gold Medalist Japan, Mexico, USA and South Africa are grouped in Pool B. The Indian team will be led by Manpreet Singh.
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Striker Ramandeep Singh, who last wore the India colours at the FIH Champions Trophy in Breda last year, returned to the team. He had since been out of action due to a knee injury.
India begin their campaign on 6 June against Russia and will be aiming to finish on the top in order to make it for the Olympic Qualifying event to be held later this year. “I am very much looking forward to my first FIH tournament as Chief Coach of the Indian team. The FIH Men’s Series Finals Bhubaneswar Odisha 2019 is an important step in the Olympic qualification process,” expressed Chief Coach Graham Reid.
Speaking about India’s preparedness for the tournament, Reid said, “Our focus for the tournament will be consistency of performance. To achieve this will we need to respect every opposition and give our 100 per cent every quarter, each half, each game. Our goal will be to be the best team we can be.”
He further added that the team’s emphasis at the moment is on circle entries, finishing, tight marking and tackling. “The Australian tour made us very aware of the level we need to play at to compete with the best teams of the world and we need to aim for that each time we train and each time we play. We are spending a lot of time at the moment on our circle entries, our finishing, tight marking and tackling and we want to see improvements in these areas. PCs are also important and we have chosen three drag flickers to use during the tournament,” said Reid.
INDIAN TEAM: Goalkeepers: PR Sreejesh, Krishan B Pathak. Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra (Vice-captain), Surender Kumar, Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Gurinder Singh. Midfielders: Manpreet Singh (Captain), Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Sumit, Nilakanta Sharma. Forwards: Mandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Gursahibjit Singh, Simranjit Singh.
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TOP: Members of Indian mens team for FIH Mens Series Finals pose in Bhuaneswar on 28 May 2019.
RIGHT: Head coach Graham Reid, flanked by skipper Manpreet Singh and vice-captain Birendra Lakra in Bhuaneswar on 28 May 2019.
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