Asian Champions Trophy: Hockey India has announced Manpreet Singh as captain

It has been reported that Hockey India (HI) has announced a young team for the 3rd Asian Champions Trophy on Monday, which is scheduled to be held at Kakamigahara in Japan from 2nd to 10th November.

Meanwhile, HI selectors R.P. Singh, B.P. Govinda, Arjun Halappa, director high performance Roelant Oltmans, in addition to foreign coach of junior team Gregg Clark as well as juniors' coach Baljeet Singh Saini apart from government observer Harbinder Singh picked 18 players consisting of 6 standbys during the trials conducted at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium from 9th to 10th October. HI secretary general Narinder Batra declared that as the Indian junior team is preparing for the upcoming World Cup, which is supposed to be held in New Delhi, the Asian Champions Trophy gives them an opportunity to allow their junior players to exhibit their skills and gain experience in the international environment. Notably, out of the 18 players selected, 13 players were part of the Indian junior team that won the recently concluded 3rd Sultan of Johar Cup in Malaysia.

It is well known that India finished as runners-up last year, while India won the first edition in 2011.

Particularly, the teams participating in the 2013 tournament are Japan, China, Oman, Malaysia and Pakistan. India is scheduled to open its campaign against China on 2nd November.

Moreover, the team will be captained by midfielder Manpreet Singh and midfielder Kothajit Singh will be the vice-captain.

The goalkeepers will be Sushant Tirkey and Harjot Singh.

The defenders will be Amit Rohidas, Gurjinder Singh, Sukhmanjit Singh, Surender Kumar and Pardeep Mor.

The midfielders will be Manpreet Singh (Captain), Prabhdeep Singh, Harjeet Singh, Satbir Singh, Imran Khan and Kothajit Singh (Vice-Captain).

The forwards will be Mandeep Singh, Malak Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Talwinder Singh and Ramandeep Singh.

The standbys will be Jagdeep Dayal (Goalkeeper), Jarmanpreet Singh (Defender), Gagandeep Singh (Defender), Lalit Upadhyay (Midfielder), Affan Yousuf (Forward) and Amon Mirash Tirkey (Forward).