Commonwealth Games 2022: After Tokyo success, Manpreet Singh-led Hockey team eye elusive gold

The Men’s Hockey team which scripted history at Tokyo 2020 would now look to add another feather in their cap at Birmingham 2022.

While seasoned captain Manpreet Singh will lead the in-form team, dragflick specialist Harmanpreet singh will assist him. The 18-member team stacked with the likes of veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, Mandeep Singh & Lalit Kumar Upadhyay in the frontline and Amit Rohidas & Varun Kumar in the defense unit, would look to end defending champion Australia’s dominance at the quadrennial event.

Before his team’s departure, the skipper who is confident about a medal at the multi-sport event said, ‘everyone is looking forward to giving their 100% and having worked on our strengths and weaknesses in the last few months, we will do whatever it takes to win a medal here’

The Indian team who won an Olympic medal in Tokyo after 41 years was last seen in action at the FIH Pro Hockey League where they finished third. At Gold Coast, in the 2018 edition of the Commonwealth Games, the Indian Hockey team finished fourth. They had won silver medals in the 2010 and 2014 editions of the CWG Games.

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Since their Olympic win, the team has also won bronze at the 2021 Asia Champions Trophy and at the 2022 Asia Cup. The Men in Blue who will begin their campaign against Ghana on July 31st are placed in Pool B along with England, Canada, Wales, and Ghana.

Team:
Goalkeepers: PR Sreejesh, Krishan Bahadur Pathak
Defenders: Varun Kumar, Surender Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh Amit Rohidas, Jugraj Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh
Midfielders: Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Shamsher Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Nilakanta Sharma
Forwards: Mandeep Singh, Gurjant Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Abhishek