FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023: Harmanpreet Singh to lead India - full squad

Hockey India, on Friday, announced an 18-member Indian team for the FIH Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup 2023, which will be held in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela from January 13-29.

Dragflicker Harmanpreet Singh will captain the Indian men’s hockey team at the quadrennial meet while Amit Rohidas has been named as the vice-captain of the squad. The final squad was selected after 33 players were put through a two-day trial at the SAI Centre in Bengaluru.

Krishan B Pathak and veteran PR Sreejesh, who will be playing his fourth FIH World Cup - third on home soil - have been chosen as the two goalkeepers in the 18-member contingent.

Promising youngster Vivek Sagar Prasad returns to the squad after the midfielder missed India’s recent tour of Australia and the FIH Hockey Pro League due to an ankle injury.

Manpreet Singh, who captained India to the bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, will also be in the squad and will be tasked to marshall the midfield.

The forwardline is a good mixture of experience and youth with Mandeep Singh and Lalit Kumar Upadhyay joining youngsters Abhishek and Sukhjeet Singh, who have impressed after making their national team debuts earlier this year.

Rajkumar Pal and Jugraj Singh have been named as the two replacement players.

"The World Cup is the most important “Hockey Only” tournament there is. A home World Cup puts extra importance and extra pressure on this event like no other. Every country chooses the best team they believe is available to them at the time and tries to provide their team with the best preparation they can,” Indian men’s hockey head coach Coach Graham Reid said.

"We have also had a great preparation over the last two months including a home Pro League series and a very tough tour to Australia against the world’s No.1. We are looking forward to getting to Odisha and putting the finishing touches to our preparations for what will be an exciting and challenging tournament ahead," Reid added.

India have been drawn in Pool D and will start their 2023 World Cup campaign against Spain on January 13 in Rourkela. England and Wales are the other two teams in their pool.

The 2023 edition will be the fourth FIH Hockey Men’s World Cup hosted in India.

India’s only World Cup title till date came in 1975, when they defeated Pakistan 2-1 in the final in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Indian hockey full squad for FIH World Cup 2023

Goalkeepers: Krishan Bahadur Pathak, PR Sreejesh

Defenders: Jarmanpreet Singh, Surender Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh (captain), Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas (vice captain), Nilam Sanjeep Xess

Midfielders: Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Shamsher Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Akashdeep Singh

Forwards: Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Abhishek, Sukhjeet Singh

Alternate players: Rajkumar Pal, Jugraj Singh

Head coach: Graham Reid