Padma Bhushan recipient PR Sreejesh, a legendary Indian hockey goalkeeper, expressed his gratitude for the honor, stating that India has given him more than what he has contributed to the sport.
Akashdeep Singh will lead an 18-member Indian squad in the seventh Junior Asia Cup hockey, scheduled to be held at Malacca, Malaysia, from May 3 to 13. Defender Amit Rohidas is the vice-captain. The nine-nation tournament features Bangladesh, China, India, Iran, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
In the first quarter-final of the day, Germany eked out a narrow 3-1 win over Spain via the shoot-out after both the teams were locked at 2-2 in regulation time. Later, Argentina beat the Netherlands 2-1.
Skipper Sardara Singh has been rested for third Asian Champions Trophy. In his absence, Hockey India said, midfielder Manpreet Singh will lead India's 18-member squad for the tournament in Kakamigahara, Japan, from November 2-10.
India's newly-appointed men's hockey chief coach Graham Reid took charge of the national camp in Bengaluru and asked his players to put the team first in his maiden address to them.
Three-time Olympian Mukesh Kumar, who created a stir by walking out of a national camp recently after being denied charge of the junior side, has been appointed as coach of the senior men's hockey team and will work under chief coach Michael Nobbs of Australia.
Pakistan Hockey Federation is still awaiting the No Objection Certificate from its government to send its national squad for the Junior Hockey World Cup, to be held in Lucknow from December 8.
The win propelled India to the second position in Pool C, enough to earn them a last eight berth.
India booked a berth in the final of the Sultan of Johor Cup hockey tournament with an impressive 3-1 victory over New Zealand, in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, on Thursday.
Eight-time Olympic hockey champions India may not have made the cut for Beijing Games for the first time in 80 years, but four of its coaches will be at the hockey tournament to study the strategy of other participating nations.
Indian junior women's hockey team goes down against Germany
The Birmingham Commonwealth Games is scheduled from July 28 to August 8, while the Asian Games will be held from September 10 to 25 this year.
India scored a hard-fought 2-1 victory over China in their last pool match to enter the semi-finals of the seventh junior men's Asia Cup hockey tournament, in Malacca, on Monday. Naveen Antil (19th minute) and Amit Rohidas (57th) scored for India, while China's lone reply came through winger Yu Xin in the 45th minute.
India's junior men's hockey team drew 1-1 against Canberra Lakers in their Pool B game of the AHL in Perth on Sunday.
Veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh on Monday said the Indian men's hockey side's main focus is qualifying for the Paris Olympics by winning the Asian Games this year besides giving opportunities to youngsters.
The FIH Hockey Pro League matches between India and Great Britain, scheduled for May 8-9 in London, were on Wednesday postponed following the UK government's decision to add India to the travel 'red list'.
Hockey India appointed former Olympic gold-medallist V Baskaran as a coach of the men's national team on Wednesday and he will work under the recently-appointed chief coach Terry Walsh.
Indian hockey had something to cheer about. Poonam Rani struck twice as India scored an upset victory over higher-ranked China 4-2 in their opening match of the third Asian Women Champions Trophy hockey tournament at Kakamigahara, Japan on Saturday.
Rani Rampal led the team to historic victories in the Women's Asia Cup in 2017, silver at the 2018 Asian Games and played a critical role in the FIH Olympic Qualifiers in 2019 by scoring the deciding goal that helped India qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
'The Asian Games is the first step towards achieving that goal. We want to have a shot at the podium in 2020 Tokyo and the Asian Games will set the tone for our preparation towards that.'
The Government of India is set to appoint Hockey India's Director High Performance Roelant Oltmans as Chief Coordinator and High Performance Director for Indian Hockey.
It was touted as the year which could herald a change in the fortunes Indian hockey, but 2018 turned out to be yet another saga of missed opportunities for the sport.
Rising Indian midfielder Manpreet Singh was named the 'Junior Player of the Year' by the Asian Hockey Federation in its Congress held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The Prime Minister termed the athletes as "India's soldiers of 2036 Olympics".
India women claim hockey CWG medal after 16 years
A 21-member Indian men's hockey team will embark on a 15-day tour of Europe, starting July 31. High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans will take over as the chief coach of the side following the unceremonious ouster of Paul Van Ass.
But India clawed back into the game in the second quarter. While the team's defence held strong in the following minutes, the Indian attackers worked on creating scoring opportunities.
Praveen Kumar expressed his sentiments without naming anyone, saying he would have been happier if other Paris Paralympics medallists had also been honored.
Hockey fraternity including three former captains on Friday expressed shock over the decision to appoint women's team coach Sjoerd Marijne as head coach of the Indian men's side, saying the abrupt move 'defies logic'.
India goalkeeper PR Sreejesh and Deepika won the Dhruv Batra Player of the Year award for men and women, respectively, at the Hockey India second annual awards, in Bengaluru, on Saturday.
'Huge disappointment that we did not qualify for our third consecutive Olympics'
Hockey India reasoned that there is only a 32-day window available between the Birmingham Games (July 28-August 8) and the Hangzhou Asian Games (September 10-25) and it can't risk sending its players to the UK which has been one of the worst affected countries by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Indian men's hockey team's biggest gain this year was the emergence of some talented fresh faces.
Australia and France made the quarter-finals of the Hero FIH Junior Men's World Cup after registering contrasting victories in their respective Pool B matches today at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi on Sunday.
Over 70 goals were scored on the second day of the men's Junior Hockey World Cup in Odisha, with Spain registering a record-breaking 17-0 win over the USA in a Pool C game, on Thursday.
Hockey India on Saturday sacked national coach Roelant Oltmans after a string of unimpressive outings at the international level.
India, who have already sealed a semi-final berth, ended the round-robin stage of the five-nation tournament at the top of the standings with 10 points, ahead of Korea (6), Japan (5), Pakistan (2) and hosts Bangladesh (0).
Harendra Singh has a penchant for delivering results whenever entrusted with an assignment and has now set his sights at bigger goals after guiding the Indian women's team to Asia Cup triumph
Hockey India secretary general Narinder Batra confirmed that that they are in look out for a foreign expert to work with Indian goalkeepers on short-term basis.
Indian men's hockey team goalkeeper Krishan B Pathak spoke about his selection in the team for the Asian Games and his family's reaction when he broke the news to them.
