Muristek
Bengaluru, February 4
The Indian men's hockey team left for Johannesburg today for FIH Pro League showdowns against South Africa and France, to be played from February 8 to 13.
Senior forward Lalit Kumar Upadhyay and midfielder Jaskaran Singh were ruled out at the last minute due to "illness".
The Manpreet Singh-led squad will play France in the first match on February 8 and take on hosts South Africa on February 9. They will again play France on February 12 and South Africa the following day.
While the team is upbeat and eager to begin the Pro League campaign on a positive note, it received a minor setback with two senior players being replaced due to illness.
"India forward Lalit Kumar Upadhyay and Jaskaran Singh will not be joining the team for South Africa. Stand-bys Sumit will replace Jaskaran in the midfield and Gursahibjit Singh will replace Lalit," chief coach Graham Reid said.
"Though it is a minor setback for us, we were always prepared for such a scenario and had the option of having five stand-bys," he explained. — PTI
Squad
PR Sreejesh, Krishan Pathak, Harmanpreet Singh, Amit Rohidas, Surender Kumar, Varun Kumar, Jarmanpreet Singh, Jugraj Singh, Manpreet Singh, Nilakanta Sharma, Hardik Singh, Sumit, Shamsher Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad. Mandeep Singh, Gursahibjit Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Shilanand Lakra, Dilpreet Singh, Abhishek