India to face Pakistan in Robobank Hockey Champions Trophy opener today. Odia fans expect good show from Amit Rohidas and Birendra Lakra

Report by Avilash Panigrhi, Bhubaneswar: Pakistan will face Indian challenge in the opening match of the Men’s Hockey Champions Trophy today in Breda, Netherlands. India, who have never won a Champions Trophy title in hockey, will be looking to put behind their miserable Commonwealth Games campaign when they take on arch-rivals Pakistan, who are looking for their first victory against India since 2014 . India is currently ranked sixth while Pakistan is ranked thirteenth as per the FIH, but history, rankings, and recent form mean very little when two of the oldest rivals in the hockey world clash

Six teams will be taking part in this year’s tournament, which is the last edition of Champions Trophy. The tournament will be replaced by the Hockey Pro League (HPL) in 2019.

Apart from hosts the Netherlands, Australia, Argentina, Belgium, India and Pakistan are taking part in the tournament from June 23 to July 1.

https://twitter.com/TheHockeyIndia/status/1009047251778338817

Two ace defenders from Odisha – Birendra Lakra and Amit Rohidas will be playing a crucial role in Indian team for this important Tournament .

India’s forward line will see two changes in the squad that was named earlier this month with Akashdeep Singh and Sumit Kumar (Jr) being rested for the tournament. “We have brought in Simranjeet Singh in place of Akashdeep Singh. We have decided to rest Akashdeep who had a minor injury scare during our intense training camp. Though he has recovered, we did not want to risk him ahead of the Asian Games. Sumit Kumar (Jr) too has missed out an opportunity to play the important tournament due to an injury and is replaced by Lalit Kumar Upadhyay,” stated Chief Coach Harendra Singh.

Hockey legend and former Captain of Indian Hockey Team Padmashree Dilip Tirkey took twitter to wish Team India for this tournament. He believes Indian team will do well throughout the Tournament.

 

 

Indian Team 

Goalkeepers

P R Sreejesh (C)

Krishan Bahadur Pathak

Defenders

Harmanpreet Singh

Varun Kumar

Surender Kumar

Jarmanpreet Singh

Birendra Lakra

Amit Rohidas

Midfielders 

Manpreet Singh

Chinglensana Singh Kangujam (VC)

Sardar Singh

Vivek Sagar Prasad

 

Forwards

S V Sunil

Ramandeep Singh

Mandeep Singh

Simranjeet Singh

Lalit Kumar Upadhyay

Dilpreet Singh

https://twitter.com/TheHockeyIndia/status/1010377372749660160

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