Prabodh Tirkey to lead India

Midfielder Prabodh Tirkey was on Saturday named to lead the 18-member Indian team at the Asia Cup hockey tournament in Chennai starting on September 1.

The team was announced at a press conference here by Indian Hockey Federation President K P S Gill who said the team was strong and he expected a "good show" from them.

Three changes were made in the team that took part in Champions Challenge in Belgium. Striker S V Sunil (forward) of Services has come in place of the injured Bharath Chikara, Ignace Tirkey (midfielder) for Sunil Yadav and defender V Raghunath for injured drag-flicker Sandeep Singh.

Sandeep pulled out of the camp injuring his back as a result of a fall.

Chief coach Joaquim Carvalho said the team wanted to do better than the performance in Belgium and Kuala Lumpur where Indian won bronze.

The squad:

Goalkeepers: Baljit Singh, Adrian D'Souza,

Defenders: Dilip Tirkey, William Xalco, V Raghunath, Jaswinder Singh

Midfielders: Gurbaj Singh, Vimal Lakra, Sardara Singh, Prabodh Tirkey (captain), Ignace Tirkey, Vikramkanth

Forwards: Rajpal Singh, Prabhjot Singh, Tushar Khandekar, Roshan Minz, Shivendra Singh and S V Sunil.      Chief Coach: Joaquim Carvalho, Coach: M P Singh, Assistant Coach: Ramesh Parameswaran

Physio: Srikanth Iyengar, Trainer: Ganguly Prasad.

Standbyes: Bharath Chetri, Sandeep Singh, Ajitesh Rai, V S Vinaya, Dharamdeep Singh, Birendra Lakra, Anwar Ali and Mayur Subbaiah.