Plagued by injuries, India named a young 18-member squad to be led by the inspirational Sardar Singh in the crucial Asia Cup hockey tournament scheduled from August 24 to September 1 in Ipoh, Malaysia.
With four key strikers -- Danish Mujtaba, S V Sunil, Gurwinder Singh Chandi and Akashdeep Singh -- ruled out of the tournament due to injuries, India has fielded a young and inexperienced five-member forwardline which has two new players -- Ramandeep Singh and Nikin Thimmaiah.
Defender Amit Rohidas is the other entrant in the Asia Cup-bound team which will also witness the return of mid-fielder S K Uthappa.
Goalkeeper P R Sreejesh has been named as Sardar's deputy in place of dragflicker V R Raghunath.
Hockey India selectors B P Govinda, R P Singh and Arjun Halappa, High Performance Director and interim chief coach Roelant Oltmans, coach M K Kaushik and scientific advisor Jason Konrath along with the government observer Harbinder Singh selected the team during the three-day selection trials held at the SAI Centre in Bangalore from July 25 to 27.
The team will leave for Ipoh on August 16.
India is placed in Pool B along side Korea, Bangladesh and Oman while Pakistan, Malaysia, Japan and Chinese-Taipei complete the Pool A line-up.
India will open its campaign against Oman on August 24 followed by matches against Korea (August 26) and Bangladesh (August 28).
Squad: Goalkeepers: P R Sreejesh (vice-captain), P T Rao.
Defenders: V R Raghunath, Rupinder Pal Singh, Amit Rohidas, Kothajit Singh, Birendra Lakra, Gurmail Singh.
Midfielders: Sardar Singh (captain), Manpreet Singh, Chinglensana Singh, Dharamvir Singh, S K Uthappa.
Forwards: Ramandeep Singh, Nithin Thimmaiah, Mandeep Singh, Malak Singh, Nikin Thimmaiah.
Photograph: Laxmi Negi