Gurinder to lead nine-member Indian team in inaugural FIH Hockey 5s

By PTI

NEW DELHI: Defender Gurinder Singh will lead a nine-member Indian men’s hockey team at the inaugural edition of the FIH Hockey 5s, to be held in Lausanne, Switzerland next month.

The Indian men’s team will play Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland and hosts Switzerland in the event, which will be held on June 5 and 6.

Midfielder Sumit, who was a member of the Tokyo Olympics bronze medal-winning team, will be Gurinder’s deputy in the two-day event.

The team is a mix of players from the Olympic bronze medal-winning squad as well as the FIH Junior World Cup held last year. This includes goalkeeper Pawan, defenders Sanjay, Mandeep Mor and Gurinder Singh.

Midfielders Sumit and Rabichandra Singh have been called up along with forwards Dilpreet Singh, Mohd Raheel Mouseen and Gursahibjit Singh.

Among the nine-member squad, Pawan, Sanjay and Rabichandra were part of the silver medal-winning Indian team at the Youth Olympic Games in 2018 where Hockey 5s format was played. They were also part of the Junior Men’s World Cup in Bhubaneswar, Odisha last year.

Besides Sumit, forward Dilpreet Singh was part of the Olympic bronze medal-winning side. Prashant Kumar Chauhan, Boby Singh Dhami and Sudeep Chirmako have been named as standbys.

India’s chief coach Graham Reid, who will accompany the team, said, “The Hero FIH Hockey5s tournament in Lausanne will provide an opportunity to showcase a different version of our game. We are excited about the prospect of playing fast entertaining hockey at a great venue against world-class opposition in a beautiful country.”

“We have chosen a team that while maybe on the younger side contains multiple players who have played the format before at the Youth Olympics. At the same time this tournament provides another opportunity for players to experience international hockey played at its best.”

The Indian team is scheduled to leave from Bengaluru on June 1.

Squad: Pawan, Sanjay, Mandeep Mor, Gurinder Singh (captain), Sumit (vice- captain), Rabichandra Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Mohd Raheel Mouseen, Gursahibjit Singh.

Standbys: Prashant Kumar Chauhan, Boby Singh Dhami, Sudeep Chirmako.