Hockey: Sardar retains place in Asiad squad

Ace dragflicker Rupinder Pal Singh and striker Akashdeep Singh on Monday returned to India’s 18member men’s hockey squad for next month’s Asian Games in Indonesia, where the country would be defending its gold medal.

The team for the 18th Asian Games, to be held in Jakarta and Palembang from August 18 to September 2, was announced by Hockey India on Monday and featured just two changes from the Champions Trophy squad that won a second consecutive silver medal in Breda, Netherlands recently.

While Rupinder, who was rested from the Champions Trophy squad, returned to the side in place of Jarmanpreet Singh, Akashdeep replaced an injured Ramandeep Singh.

The rest of the squad, to be led by veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, is the same that took part in the final edition of the Champions Trophy.

Chinglensana Singh has been retained as the vice captain and he will be joined by the experienced Sardar Singh, Manpreet Singh, Simranjeet Singh and Vivek Sagar Prasad in the mid-field.

India’s forward-line has just one change in Akashdeep replacing Ramandeep, who suffered a right knee injury in the Champions Trophy.

Besides Akashdeep, SV Sunil, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay and Dilpreet Singh are the other strikers in the Asian Gamesbound squad.

The team’s defence will be strengthened by the return of experienced dragflicker Rupinder along side Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Surender Kumar and Birendra Lakra.

India defeated Pakistan in the final at the 2014 edition in Incheon, Korea to win the gold and will be eager to repeat the feat to book an automatic berth in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.