Indian men's hockey team to begin Olympic year with European tour
India will play four matches in all against Germany and Great Britain. PR Sreejesh will lead the team in the absence of regular captain Manpreet Singh.
After a year away from action, the Indian hockey team will be back on the field when they play Germany and Great Britain on their tour of Europe later this month.
The Indian team will leave for Krefeld, Germany on Sunday and will face the four-time Olympic champions Germany on February 28 and March 2.
India will then travel to Antwerp, Belgium where they will take on Great Britain on March 6 and 8 before wrapping up the 17-day tour.
This will be India’s first competitive action since playing Australia in the FIH Pro League last year. The performance also saw the Indian men's hockey team climb to the fourth spot on the FIH world rankings, its highest till date.
With the Tokyo Olympics inching closer and the FIH Pro League set to resume with India facing Olympic champions Argentina in April, coach Graham Reid hoped that the European trip would aid the team’s preparations.
“We are very grateful for the opportunity to go to Europe, and we are looking forward to having our first competitive matches in just over 12 months,” Reid told Hockey India.
“Playing against powerhouse teams like Germany and Great Britain will provide us with great competition and help immensely in our FIH Pro League and Olympic Games preparation. Playing any top 10 ranked team is always a great experience for the team,” the Australian added.
The Indian coach has named a strong 22-member side for the tour with regular captain Manpreet Singh and drag-flick expert Rupinderpal Singh being the only notable absentees. According to PTI, Manpreet has opted out due to personal reasons while Rupinder is injured.
The Indian hockey team will be led by goalkeeper PR Sreejesh with defensive mainstay Harmanpreet Singh named vice-captain.
“We understand the weather in Europe will be quite cold this time of the year, but we have almost a week to acclimatize,” Harmanpreet Singh said. “We are looking forward to this exciting challenge, we can't wait to get into competition mode.”
Indian hockey team for the European tour
Goalkeepers: PR Sreejesh (captain), Krishan B Pathak
Defenders: Amit Rohidas, Dipsan Tirkey, Gurinder Singh, Harmanpreet Singh (vice-captain), Surender Kumar, Jarmanpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra
Midfielders: Chinglensana Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Rajkumar Pal, Simranjeet Singh, Shamsher Singh, Akashdeep Singh
Forwards: Gurjant Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Upadhyay
Indian hockey team schedule, fixtures and India match times for European tour
Sunday, 28 February: India vs Germany - 5:30 PM IST
Tuesday, 2 March: India vs Germany - 8:30 PM IST
Saturday, 6 March: India vs Great Britain - 6:30 PM IST
Monday, 8 March: India vs Great Britain - 6:30 PM IST