Indian hockey declares 20 man squad for Belgium tour

Indian Hockey declared a 20 man squad for the forthcoming tour of Belgium. India will be playing three matches against Belgium and two games against Spain. Starting 26th October.

Skipper Manpreet Singh will lead the Indian team and Harmanpreet Singh will play the role of his deputy. Meanwhile, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay will be looking to make a comeback to the Indian side after the World Cup in Odisha last year.

However, head coach Graham Reid stated all the players in the Indian side supports each other very well.

"It's fantastic to have Rupinder Pal Singh back in the side as well, he has improved his game since the FIH Men's Series Finals Bhubaneswar Odisha 2019. We are still looking to fine-tune a few aspects of our game before we leave for Belgium," he said.

The coach also believes that the team will be getting a lot of confidence for the Olympic qualifiers against Russia, if they manage to perform well in this tour.

"Belgium are a strong team and if we perform well against them at their own backyard, then the team will gain a lot of confidence ahead of the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers match against Russia. This tour of Belgium will serve as the perfect preparation before the all-important FIH Olympic Qualifiers. We are expecting a tough challenge from Spain as well," Reid said.

Indian Team:

Goalkeepers: PR Sreejesh, Krishan B Pathak

Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh (vice-captain), Surender Kumar, Birendra Lakra, Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Gurinder Singh, Khadangbam Kothajit Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh.

Midfielders: Manpreet Singh (captain), Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Nilakanta Sharma

Forwards: Mandeep Singh, SV Sunil, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Ramandeep Singh, Simranjeet Singh, Akashdeep Singh.