PR Sreejesh replaced Sardar Singh as the captain of the Indian hockey team for the Rio Olympics on Tuesday. SV Sunil has been named as Sreejesh’s deputy. The Indian hockey team for the Rio Games was announced by the Hockey India president – Narinder Batra.
Sardar, who was rested for the Champions Trophy, captained the Indian team in the six nations tournament, but now he will play under Sreejesh in the Olympics.
The defender Birendra Lakra, who made a comeback from a knee injury in the six nations tournament has been left out of the Olympics team.
Lakra didn’t look fully fit in the competition and therefore the selectors and the head coach Roelant Oltmans decided to leave him out. They didn’t want his injury to get aggravated.
The Indian women’s hockey team for the Olympics was also announced. Sushila Chanu has been named captain of the team in place of Ritu Rani, who was dropped from the team for the Olympics on Saturday.
Indian Men’s Team: PR Sreejesh (captain and GK), Harmanpreet Singh (defender), Rupinder Pal Singh (defender), Kothajit Singh (defender), Surendar Kumar (defender), Manpreet Singh (midfielder), Sardar Singh (midfielder), VR Raghunath (defender), SK Uthappa (midfielder), Danish Mujtaba (midfielder), Devender Walmiki (midfielder), SV Sunil (forward and vice-captain), Akashdeep Singh (forward), Chinglensana Singh (midfielder), Ramandeep Singh (forward), Nikkin Thimmaiah (forward).
On standby: Pardeep Mor, Vikas Dahiya
Indian Women’s squad: Savita (GK), Navjot Kaur (midfielder), Deep Grace Ekka (defender), Monika (midfielder), Anuradha Devi (forward), Poonam Rani (forward), Vandana Kataria (forward), Deepika (vice-captain and defender), Namita Toppo (defender), Renuka Yadav (midfielder), Sunita Lakra (defender), Sushila Chanu (captain and defender), Rani Rampal (forward), Preeti Dubey (forward), Lilima Minz (midfielder), Nikki Pradhan (forward).
On standby: Rajani Etimarpu & H. Lalruat Feli
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