New Delhi: Drag-flicker Sandeep Singh and defender Gurbaj Singh were amongst the 33 core probables announced by Hockey India (HI) today for the FIH Hockey World Cup to be held in The Hague, Netherlands from May 31.
The players will undergo a preparatory camp from March 9 at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi. Both Sandeep and Gurbaj have remained out-of-favour since India's disastrous Olympics outing in 2012.
Goalkeeper P T Rao has been axed due to his indifferent form, and replaced by Harjot Singh who played for debutants Kalinga Lancers in Hockey India League. Other players in the list include midfielders Gurinder Singh, Vikram Kanth, Jasjit Singh and young forwards Talwinder Singh and Lalit Upadhyay.
The probables were shortlisted for the camp by Roelant Oltmans, Director High Performance, Terry Walsh, Chief Coach Senior Men Hockey Team and Harbinder Singh Government Observer during a meeting held on February 25.
The month-long camp will end on April 10. India are placed in Pool A of the FIH Hockey World Cup with Australia, England, Belgium, Spain and Malaysia. India will open their campaign against Belgium on May 31 followed by matches against England (June 2), Spain (June 5), Malaysia (June 7) and Australia (June 9.)
Probables list:
Goalkeepers - PR Sreejesh, Harjot Singh, Sushant Tirkey
Defenders - Gurbaj Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, V R Raghunath, Birendra Lakra, Gurmail Singh, Kothajit Singh, Khadangbam, Gurjinder Singh, Gurinder Singh, Sandeep Singh, Vikram Kanth.
Midfielders - S K Uthappa, Dharamvir Singh, Chinglensana Singh Kangujam, Sardar Singh, Manpreet Singh, Danish Mujtaba, Satbir Singh, Devinder Sunil Walmiki, Vikas Pillay, Jasjit Singh
Forwards - Nikkin Thimmaiah, Nithin Thimmaiah, S V Sunil, Mandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Affan Yousuf, Yuvraj Walmiki, Talwinder Singh, Lalit Upadhyay.
