Indian Men Hockey Team announced for 3rd Asian Champions Trophy

New Delhi, 28 October 2013: Hockey India today announced a young National Men Team for the 3^rd Asian Champions Trophy to be held at Kakamigahara, Japan from 2-10 November 2013.

Hockey India Selectors Mr. B P Govinda, Dr. R P Singh and Arjun Halappa, Mr. Roelant Oltmans, Director High Performance, Mr. Gregg Clark, Foreign Coach Junior Men Team and Mr. Baljeet Singh Saini, Coach Junior Men Team alongwith Government Observer Harbinder Singh selected the list of 18 players with 6 standbys during the selection trials conducted at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi on 9-10 October 2013.

Hockey India Secretary General Dr. Narinder Batra said “With the Indian Junior team preparing for the forthcoming Junior Men Hockey World Cup to be held in New Delhi. The Asian Champions Trophy gives us an opportunity to allow our junior players to showcase their skills and gain experience in the international environment. Out of the 18 players selected for the 3^rdAsian Champions Trophy 13 were part of the Indian Junior Team that won the title of recently concluded 3^rd Sultan of Johar Cup in Malaysia.”

India is the runners-up as they lost to Pakistan 4-5 in the high voltage clash final of the 2^ndChampions Trophy 2012. In 2011, India won the first edition of Asian Champions Trophy defeating Pakistan 4-2 via penalty shootout.

The other participating teams in the 2013 tournament are China, Japan, Malaysia, Oman and Pakistan. India will open its campaign against China on 2 November 2013 followed by matches against Japan, Oman, Pakistan and Malaysia on 3 November, 5 November, 7 November and 8 November 2013 respectively.

The 18 member squad will be captained by midfielder Manpreet Singh while midfielder Kothajit Singh will be the Vice-Captain.

List of players is as under-

GOAL KEEPERS

1.  Sushant Tirkey

2.  Harjot Singh

DEFENDERS

3.  Gurjinder Singh

4.  Amit Rohidas

5.  Surender Kumar

6.  Sukhmanjit Singh

7.  Pardeep Mor

MIDFIELDERS

8. Prabhdeep Singh

9.  Manpreet Singh (Captain)

10.  Satbir Singh

11.  Harjeet Singh

12.  Imran Khan

13.  Kothajit Singh (Vice- Captain)

FORWARDS

14.  Malak Singh

15.  Mandeep Singh

16.  Talwinder Singh

17.  Akashdeep Singh

18.  Ramandeep Singh

STANDBYES

1.  Jagdeep Dayal– Goalkeeper

2. Gagandeep Singh- Defender

3. Jarmanpreet Singh- Defender

4. Lalit Upadhyay- Midfielder

5. Affan Yousuf- Forward

6. Amon Mirash Tirkey- Forward