India: The national hockey federation announced the official 18-member line-up for the 2019 Japan Olympic Test.
The selection officers have decided to rest veteran players, which include PR Sreejesh, Surender Kumar, and Captain Manpreet Singh.
Graham Reid, the coach of the Indian Hockey Team, said “We are resting some senior players including Manpreet Singh some of whom have had a very rigorous last 12 months of hockey and will give them a chance to shake off any niggling injuries and get fresh for the next three months of preparation for the November qualifying matches.”
Here is the official 18-member line-up for the 2019 Japan Olympic Test:
Harmanpreet Singh (captain), Mandeep Singh (vice-captain), Krishan Bahadur Pathak, Gurinder Singh, Kothajit Singh Khadangbam, Hardik Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Jaskaran Singh, Gursahibjit Singh, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Jarmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar, Ashis Topno, SV Sunil, Gurjant Singh, Shamsher Singh, Suraj Karkera.
Harmanpreet Singh has been named the Captain of the team, and Mandeep Singh has been named as the vice-captain of the team during the absence of their key and senior players.
Ashis Topno and Shamsher Singh were also selected for the 18-member line-up.
The 2019 Japan Olympic Test will be held from August 17 to August 21, 2019.
Coach Reid added, “With no world ranking points at risk, the Tokyo test event gives us an ideal opportunity to not only get a first-hand look at how Tokyo is shaping up for next year’s Olympics, we will also see some players who have not had a chance to show us what they can do on the international stage.”