Indian hockey prepares for subsequent Olympic cycle, beginning with Asian Champions Trophy

Manpreet Singh couldn’t cease smiling whereas reflecting how a lot life has modified for him since that historic August morning, when he led the Indian hockey group to its first Olympic medal in 41 years.
He now has a college named after him in his hometown Mithapur. He is the recipient of the nation’s highest sporting honour, the Khel Ratna. Last month, his spouse gave delivery to their daughter. “It’s tough to express in words how much everything has changed,” Manpreet says.
Not only for him.
His teammate, drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh obtained married weeks after coming back from Tokyo, the place he’d scored a purpose in India’s dramatic win over Germany within the bronze-medal match. Manpreet teased his deputy for being holed up at a college campus in Bhubaneswar for the nationwide camp, days after getting hitched.
The smiles, the laughter and the banter captured the temper of the group that’s nonetheless basking within the afterglow of Olympic success. Even as they proceed to benefit from the honeymoon interval, the rebuilding part for the Paris Olympics cycle has begun.
It will replicate on Tuesday when India play their first match because the Games. They will take the sector towards South Korea in Dhaka of their opening match of the Asian Champions Trophy, which obtained delayed by a number of months as a result of pandemic. The group will put on a vastly totally different look in comparison with the one which received the medal in Tokyo 4 months in the past.
Almost half of the gamers from the squad – together with inspirational goalkeeper PR Sreejesh – which completed on the rostrum in Tokyo, have been rested as head coach Graham Reid seems to be to rebuild the aspect, in addition to add to its depth, forward of a busy 2022, the 2023 World Cup and, finally, the Paris Olympics.

Apart from Sreejesh, forwards Simranjeet Singh – who scored two objectives within the bronze-medal match – Gurjant Singh and Mandeep Singh, midfielder Nilakanta Sharma and defenders Amit Rohidas and Surender Kumar haven’t been included within the squad that has travelled to Dhaka. Centre-half Vivek Sagar Prasad has been rested after he led the U-21 group on the latest Junior World Cup whereas two members from the Tokyo group, defenders Rupinderpal Singh and Birendra Lakra, have introduced their retirements.
Eye on the long run
Reid, who has barely had any break because the Olympics, had mentioned whereas saying his choices that the gamers had been chosen with an concept to construct a ‘deep and strong squad’. “While selecting this team, we now must have our eyes on the future. It takes a deep and strong squad to build sustained success so players have to be given opportunities to perform,” he mentioned.
Indian males’s hockey group for the Asian Champions Trophy. (Hockey India)
The sharp decline in continental hockey, which has coincided with India’s regular progress, means the Asian Champions Trophy is a perfect stage for Reid to experiment.
The match, the place India are the co-winners of the earlier version with Pakistan after the ultimate was washed out, doesn’t maintain any big-picture significance – the Asian Games gold medallists get an Olympic berth, the Asia Cup winners qualify for the World Cup however the Asian Champions Trophy gives no such context.
The competitors obtained diluted much more after Malaysia, a group that continually punches above its weight and has been a continuing irritant for India, pulled out attributable to Covid-related issues. Pakistan, whom India play on the December 17, left for Dhaka with out their two goalkeepers after they had been denied visas. Siegfried Aikman, Pakistan’s new coach, must make do with the junior group goalkeepers who already had Bangladesh visas.
Aikman’s former group, Asian Games gold medallists Japan, will hope to construct on the momentum they’ve gained due to the Olympics whereas South Korea, India’s first opponents, are not any extra a power they as soon as had been.
In a shortened Olympic cycle, this provides Reid sufficient house to check gamers to arrange the group first for the Asian Games, the place India can seal the Olympic delivery, after which deal with the World Cup at residence adopted by the Paris Games.
Filling Sreejesh’s sneakers
Reid’s rapid focus will likely be on figuring out a alternative for Sreejesh, a seemingly inconceivable activity given the heroic function he performed in serving to India step on the Olympic podium. The veteran goalkeeper, a constant performer for a significant a part of the final decade, is prone to stay the first-choice custodian within the quick time period. The group administration, nevertheless, has hinted at wanting past him for the Paris Olympics. By then, Sreejesh will likely be 36 years outdated.
This provides Krishan Pathak (24), a reserve on the Olympics, the possibility to stake a declare for a everlasting spot after spending years because the group’s backup goalkeeper. Suraj Karkera, who has been within the core group for the final Olympic cycle however didn’t get sufficient probabilities, too will get a possibility to indicate why he’s rated extremely by friends.
“Suraj has come in for Sreejesh. He has been playing well for a long time and in Dhaka, he can show how much he has improved since the last time he played for India,” Manpreet mentioned.
Karkera, 26, is acutely aware of the problem that awaits him. “It is always going to be hard to fill his (Sreejesh’s) shoes. We have been learning from him for so long. He shares his knowledge with all of us during goalpost training and gives us a lot of tips. So, I have a big responsibility,” he mentioned.

The subsequent one week in Dhaka will even be essential for ahead Akashdeep Singh, who will look to claw his means again into the group after being dropped for the Olympics, and half a dozen younger gamers who will look to current their circumstances.
Reid’s experimentation is prone to proceed even throughout subsequent 12 months’s FIH Pro League. But because the Olympic medallists make a return to the sector, their sights are firmly set on the following goal, the Paris Games. Tuesday will mark the start of a brand new journey in that course.
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New-look India
With an eye fixed on subsequent 12 months’s Asian Games, the 2023 World Cup and the Paris Olympics, coach Graham Reid has named a vastly totally different squad in comparison with the one which completed on the rostrum in Tokyo. Below are the gamers who had been unnoticed, and people who have been included:
Goalkeepers:
In: Suraj Karkera; Out: PR Sreejesh; Retained: Krishan Bahadur Pathak
Defenders:
In: Gurinder Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh, Dipsan Tirkey, Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Mandeep Mor; Out: Amit Rohidas, Surender Kumar, Rupinderpal Singh, Birendra Lakra (each retired); Retained: Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar
Midfielders
In: Jaskaran Singh, Rajkumar Pal, Akashdeep Singh; Out: Nilakanta Sharma, Vivek Sagar Prasad; Retained: Hardik Singh, Manpreet Singh, Sumit
Forwards:
In: Gursahibjit Singh, Shilanand Lakra; Out: Simranjeet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Mandeep Singh; Retained: Shamsher Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Dilpreet Singh
India’s schedule:
December 14: vs South Korea; December 15: vs Bangladesh; December 17: vs Pakistan; December 19: vs Japan; December 21: Semifinals; December 22: Final