Sardar Singh will lead the 18-member men’s hockey squad for the FIH World League Round 3 (semi-finals) to be held at Rotterdam, The Netherlands, from June 13 to 23.
Senior drag-flicker Sandeep Singh, who was left out of the India squad for the Hockey World League Round 2 held here earlier this year, makes a comeback along with forward Shivendra Singh, who last played for India in the London Olympics.
Sandeep, incidentally, was part of the squad that went to The Netherlands in April for an invitational tour.
Notable absentees from the squad are midfielder Danish Mujtaba and Gurvinder Singh Chadi who are both injured. While Gurvinder continues to be on the sidelines because of a prolonged ankle injury, Danish is suffering from a ligament tear.
The squad was picked by HI selectors Balbir Singh, B.P. Govinda, chief coach Michael Nobbs, Roelant Oltmans (director high performance) along with government observer Harbinder Singh at a meeting on May 17.
The squad has two goal-keepers in P.R. Sreejesh and P.T. Rao, four defenders, five mid-fielders and seven forwards.
The senior men’s team are currently based at the Netaji Subhas Southern Centre, Bengaluru where they are attending a camp that began on May 16, as final preparations for the upcoming tournament.
The team will depart for Rotterdam on June 5 and their opening match is against Ireland on June 13.
India are in Pool B alongside the hosts, New Zealand and Ireland while Australia, Spain, Belgium and fourth team (to be known after the conclusion of the final tournament of FIH World League Round 2 on June 2) will form Pool A.
India had qualified for the FIH World League Round-3 (semi-finals) in February this year. The World League is also the qualifier for the World Cup 2014 also to be played in Holland.
Squad
Goalkeepers: P.R. Sreejesh, P.T. Rao; Defenders: V.R. Raghunath (vice-captain), Sandeep Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Harbir Singh Sandhu; Midfielders: Birendra Lakra, Sardar Singh (captain), Manpreet Singh, Kothajit Singh, Gurmail Singh; Forwards: S.V. Sunil, Shivendra Singh, Chinglensana Singh, Nithin Thimmaiah, Dharamvir Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Mandeep Singh.