Sardar rested, Sreejesh to lead India in Champions Trophy

The selection committee of the Indian men's hockey team decided to rest skipper Sardar Singh and ace drag-flicker Rupinder Pal Singh from the 18-member national squad led by goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, that will take part in the FIH Champions Trophy in London from June 10-17.
It will be India's last tournament before the Rio Olympics and the move to rest Sardar is keeping in mind the decision to rest some of the seniors in order to keep them fresh for the quadrennial extravaganza.
"It was pre-decided that Sardar will be rested for the Champions Trophy as he has been playing non-stop for quite some time. He played in the Azlan Shah where Sreejesh was rested. Here Sreejesh is leading the side and Sardar gets much-needed rest," Hockey India president Narinder Batra told PTI today.

"It also means that the coach (Roelant Oltmans) can check out a few youngsters and analyse what's best possible combination we can have," Batra added.
SV Sunil will be Sreejesh's deputy in the squad which also has seasoned first team players like VR Ragunath, Kothajit Singh, SK Uthappa, Akashdeep Singh to name a few.
Defender Harmanpreet Singh, one of the outstanding performers from the team's silver medal winning Azlan Shah Cup team, finds himself retained in the squad, and is joined by his junior colleagues, Harjeet Singh and Goalkeeper Vikas Dahiya. Dahiya will be a back up to Sreejesh in the squad.

Speaking after the squad announcement, Sreejesh said,"At the Champions Trophy, our aim will be to put in a class performance and finish as high as we can. Finishing with a medal at the tournament, will give us a lot of confidence going into the Olympics."

Chief coach Oltmans also echoed the same sentiments saying,"It is important that we approach the tournament, not just with a view to winning it, but also to execute our tactics well, and learn from past mistakes and keep evolving. This will ensure, that as a team we are prime placed when we reach Rio, physically, mentally and tactically."

(REOPENS FGN 3)
India's tentative defence and wayward shooting had left them marginally short in the past, but luck smiled on India today as Belgium squandered their chance of increasing the 3-1 lead even as Britain played without a goalkeeper for the last six minutes.
Then Belgium had two players sent off and were down to nine men, allowing Britain to score twice in the space of three minutes and drawing 3-3 parity with 75 seconds left.
Britain went all out looking for that one good shot to land on target and lift them into the final, but the Belgian defence hung on grimly.

Two shots from British strikers went wide of the target and India found themselves in the final.
Belgium had surged into the initial lead in the opening minute when Florent van Aubel deflected a powerful shot past British goalkeeper George Pinner.
Britain equalized on captain Barry Middleton's penalty corner conversion in the 25th minute. Jerome Luyparet fired in two successive penalty corners in the 30th and 42nd minutes to give Belgium a 3-1 lead, but the fourth goal proved elusive even when they surged forward with full thrust.
The tide turned for Britain when van Aubel got a yellow card in the 56th minute and Emmanuel Stockbroekx was sent off with red card two minutes later.

David Ames sent in a five reverse hit past a crowded circle in the 57th minute to revive the home team. With the crowd egging them on, captain Middleton scored his second goal of the match by deflecting a cross from Sam Ward in the 59th, but the 3-3 equaliser was as far as they could go.