Harmanpreet to lead Indian men's hockey team in European leg of FIH Pro League 2024/25
Hockey India on Thursday announced the 24-member Indian Men's Hockey Team for the European leg of FIH Hockey Pro League 2024-25 (Men), which is scheduled to take place in Amstelveen, the Netherlands and Antwerp, Belgium from 7th to 22nd June 2025.
India will begin their European leg with two matches each against the Netherlands on 7th and 9th June followed by the double header against Argentina on 11th and 12th June at the Wagner Stadium in Amstelveen. The team will then travel to Antwerp to face Australia on 14th and 15th June before they end their campaign against hosts Belgium on 21st and 22nd June.
The squad doesn't have much surprise as Krishan Bahadur Pathak will start in the goal along with Suraj Karkera. Defence will be led by skipper Harmanpreet Singh along with experienced defenders Sumit, Amit Rohidas, Jarmanpreet Singh, Nilam Sanjeep Xess and youngsters Yashdeep Siwach and Jugraj Singh.
Veteran midfielder Manpreet Singh along with vice captain Hardik Singh will lead the midfield along with Nilakanta Sharma, Raj Kumar Pal, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Shamsher Singh and youngster Rajinder Singh.
Abhishek along with Lalit Kumar Upadhyay and Gurjant Singh will lead the forward libe that has Mandeep Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Sukhjeet Singh and youngster Shilanand Lakra.
Gurjant Singh, Abhishek, Shilanand Lakra, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Dilpreet Singh and Sukhjeet Singh will be the attackers for team India.
The dragflicking duties will be shared by skipper Harmanpreet and Jugraj likely with the likes of Shilanand serving as backup during penalty corners.
India played the home leg of the FIH Hockey Pro League 2024-25 (Men) in Bhubaneswar earlier this year where they secured fifteen points with five wins in eight games and now stand third in the points table. With the highest-placed team of the league securing a spot in the 2026 Men's FIH Hockey World Cup, India will be hoping to improve upon their performance and win maximum points in the remaining eight matches of the tournament.
Speaking on the squad selection, Indian Men's Team Chief Coach Craig Fulton stated, 'We wanted a bit more experience in the squad this time around and I am really happy with the selection. The team has been training well as we're looking to try and push as hard as possible and win the Pro League. Since there's qualification for the World Cup on the line, we want to try and get as many points to put ourselves in a good position for that.'
Reflecting on the Bhubaneswar leg and the way ahead, Fulton said, 'We haven't drawn any games so far in the tournament and I believe we need to turn our losses into draws and then go for a shootout, so if we don't really get the desired results, we can still get points on the board. We also need to improve our penalty corner conversion rate so yes, we've got some good objectives to try and achieve this time around,' he concluded.
GOALKEEPERS: Krishan Bahadur Pathak, Suraj Karkera
DEFENDERS: Sumit, Amit Rohidas, Jugraj Singh, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Harmanpreet Singh (C), Jarmanpreet Singh, Sanjay, Yashdeep Siwach
MIDFIELDERS: Raj Kumar Pal, Nilakanta Sharma, Hardik Singh (VC), Rajinder Singh, Manpreet Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Shamsher Singh
FORWARDS: Gurjant Singh, Abhishek, Shilanand Lakra, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Dilpreet Singh, Sukhjeet Singh
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