In the absence of skipper Sardara Singh, the Indian men's hockey team suffered another defeat in the Asian Champions Trophy.
PR Sreejesh says his dual role as India hockey captain and goalkeeper is to allow his team mates the freedom to express themselves in Rio but knows he must keep them focused on the medal hunt in the "magic world" of the Olympics. The 30-year-old was second choice at London 2012 behind then captain Bharat Chetri but has since established himself as the clear number one. He was named captain for the recent Champions Trophy in London where India rested some seniors, including regular captain Sardar Singh, ahead of the Rio Games.
Rani Rampal will captain an 18-strong Indian women's team, while experienced goalkeeper Savita will shoulder the duties of vice-captain at next month's Commonwealth Games
Defending champions India, with several experienced players in their ranks, have the upper hand in their opening encounter against Japan in the sixth men's Junior Asia Cup hockey tournament, starting in Hyderabad on Friday. India had beaten arch-rivals Pakistan to clinch the title in the last edition of the event at Karachi four years ago.
Out of the podium race in the Hero Junior Men's Hockey World Cup, India have a chance to redeem some pride with a win over arch-rivals Pakistan in the 9-10th place classification match but national coach Baljit Singh Saini refused to treat the high-profile fixture as a "special" encounter.
Manpreet (30th minute, 44th) was the star for sixth- ranked India, while Varun Kumar (17th) and Harjeet Singh (49th) also sounded the board.
The Indian men's junior hockey team maintained its unbeaten run on the tour of England, thrashing the hosts 7-1 at the Bisham Abbey Sports Centre in Marlow. Ajay Yadav (27th, 43rd minute) and Varun Kumar (32nd, 35th) scored twice each for the Indians, while Manpreet (15th), Gurjant Singh (38th) and Simranjeet Singh (40th) accounted for the other goals.
Ignored for the under-21 Sultan of Johar Cup in Malaysia, Devindar Walmiki tells Laxmi Negi he's not giving up on making the team for the junior World Cup.
India are in the final of the men's Junior Eight-nation Invitational hockey tournament, in Bukit Jalil, Malaysia. With still a match to go, against Holland, in the round-robin league, which is being played on the lines of the Champions Trophy, India, unbeaten with 16 points from six matches and atop the table, are assured of a place in the title round.
Prior to the tournament, the team will participate in a four-nation tournament at Bilboe, Spain.
Even as the euphoria over India's bronze medal win in the junior women's hockey World Cup is yet to die down, former senior men's team chief coach Michael Nobbs has claimed that seven of the players were anaemic.
They beat Malaysia 3-0 in the Junior Challenger hockey tournament in Poland.
Harmanpreet Singh struck twice as India edged past hosts Malaysia 2-1 in their fourth league match of the 5th Sultan of Johor Cup, Junior Hockey tournament in Johor Bahru on Thursday.
India will seek to end 43 years of hurt when they begin the Hockey World Cup campaign against South Africa on Wednesday.
Defending champions India wear the tag of favourites to win the Junior Men's World Cup hockey tournament in Rotterdam.
'The way we are playing now, if we continue to play the same hockey, no one can stop us from standing on the podium in Tokyo.'
The Hockey India League's Mini Players auction will feature 95 Indians, including promising forwards such as Ramandeep Singh and Affan Yousuf, when it is conducted here on November 18.
India's star drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh was on Tuesday named among the five nominees for the men's Player of the Year honour.
Hockey coach Ramesh Parameswaran applies for Dronacharya Award
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
Defender Gurinder Singh, midfielders Sumit and Manpreet who were part of the Junior World Cup-winning squad are slated to make their debut at the tournament.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
India might have lost to Pakistan in the summit clash of men's hockey in the 12th South Asian Games but captain Mandeep Antil on Saturday sought to take the positives from the performance of his players, saying they have done well given the inexperience of the team. With the country's top players taking part in the ongoing Hockey India League, India fielded an inexperienced team mostly consisting of junior players and they failed to click as a unit in the SAG. India settled for the silver medal after losing twice to arch-rivals Pakistan, including in the final 0-1 in Guwahati on Friday night. India had just two senior players who had played some international matches in Antil himself and veteran Gurbaj Singh. Even Antil has played just 20-odd international matches while Gurbaj has donned India colours in more than 200 games. Pakistan had at least six players who played in the London Olympics. Antil said he was disappointed to have lost to Pakistan in the final, which he felt was a close match. "Any loss to Pakistan at any level is a disappointment. We wanted to win the gold but we could not do it. We played better (than the group match which also India lost 1-2) and it was a close match but we lost again," Antil told PTI.
'If we want to ensure this isn't a once-in-four-decade phenomenon, then we have to produce 1,800 players all the time, create infrastructure, so that we are constantly challenging at the top of the ladder.'
Leander Paes feels India will find it tough in singles but the country can hope to win a medal in the Asian Games
Belgium stunned six-time champions and title holders Germany 4-3 in the shoot out to progress to their maiden final of the men's Junior Hockey World Cup in Lucknow on Friday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday.
India defeated Poland 4-2 in their final Pool D match but failed to progress into the group of eight medal round as New Zealand held Holland 2-2, in the men's Junior Hockey World Cup in Singapore on Friday. For India to reach the quarter-finals and get into medal contention, New Zealand had to lose. But the Kiwis held pool leaders Holland and sealed India's fate.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Indian shuttler Lakshya Sen settled for a silver medal after he lost in the men's singles final against Li Shifeng of China in straight games at the Youth Olympics.
The arrival of India's neighbouring nations Pakistan and China in Chennai on Tuesday night energised the city's atmosphere ahead of the Hero Asian Champions Trophy Chennai 2023.
'Coaching centres across the world will make everyone watch this game, the quality of the match was top-notch'
Hockey greats Vasudevan Baskaran, M M Somaya and Mervyn Fernandis relive India's gold medal-winning campaign at the Moscow Olympics in 1980.
Indian men's hockey team captain Sardar Singh and former skipper of the national women's side Saba Anjum were conferred with the prestigious Padma Shri Award by President Pranab Mukherjee at a glittering ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
This time, India may win as many as 17 medals at the Games.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday.
Mumtaz edged Belgium's Charlotte Englebert for the Player of the Year award by a margin of just three points after votes cast by experts (40%), teams (20%), fans (20%) and media (20%) were tallied finishing with a total of 32.9 points.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
'...they were shocked to learn that just 352 Indian soldiers had made 3 brigadiers, 2 colonels, 170 officers, 290 JCOs and 8,000 troops surrender to the Indian Army.'
