Striker Rajpal Singh will lead India in the inaugural Asian Champions Trophy field hockey tournament in the Chinese city of Ordos next month, Hockey India announced on Tuesday. The 18-man squad, coached by former Australian international Michael Nobbs, is without two senior stars, midfielder Arjun Halappa and striker Shivendra Singh, both of whom are injured. The September 3-11 tournament features the top six finishers at the Asian Games in Guangzhou last year — gold medallists Pakistan, losing finalists Malaysia, third-placed India, South Korea, Japan and China. The event is the first big test for Nobbs, who succeeded Spaniard Jose Brasa as India’s coach last month for a five-year period. India, who won the last of their eight Olympic field hockey titles in 1980, failed to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Games and must win a qualifying event in New Delhi next February to play at the London Olympics.
India’s squad:
Goalkeepers: Bharat Chetri, P. Sreejesh.
Defenders: Sandeep Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Harpreet Singh.
Mid-fielders: Sardar Singh, Gurbaj Singh, Ignace Tirkey, Manpreet Singh, Manjit Kullu.
Forwards: Rajpal Singh (capt), Danish Mujtaba, Sarvanjit Singh, S. Sunil, Ravi Pal, Gurvinder Singh Chandi, Roshan Minz, Yuvraj Walmiki.
Coach: Michael Nobbs (AUS).
