Manpreet Singh to lead India in next month’s Asian Champions Trophy

Men's hockey team has improved and has promised a lot which is represented by their FIH ranking of five, currently better than the likes of Germany and England. But their on-field performances have been a dampener, for instance, the Bronze-winning performance in the 2018 Asian Games, where they were the favourites, was a sheer disappointment. The team would be looking to improve their performance in the upcoming Asian Champions Trophy and be ready for the Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneshwar later this year. An 18-member squad was announced for the tournament starting on October 18th.

Coach Harendra Singh, on being asked about the team composition, said "I believe we have a great mix of players in this 18-member team as there is a right balance between youth and experience. "The tournament gives us the last chance to test a few players before the World Cup Bhubaneswar and I'm sure that these players will produce the results in Oman. It is important we stick to our plans and have a good outing in this tournament so that we can wash away the bad memories of the Asian Games," as reported by PTI.

Defenders: Kothajit Singh Khadangbam, Harmanpreet Singh, Surender Kumar, Jarmanpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Gurinder Singh, Varun Kumar.

Midfielders:  Manpreet Singh (Captain), Chinglensana Singh Kangujam (Vice Captain),Sumit Nilakanta Sharma, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay.

Goal Keeper: PR Sreejesh, Krishan Bahadur Pathak

Editor's Note: The original version of the article had Mandeep Singh as India's captain. We have rectified it to Manpreet Singh and we hope it never happens again.