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The Indian senior men’s hockey team gave the finishing touches to their preparations for the upcoming Hockey World League semifinals to be held in Rotterdam as the second and final leg of their 19-day camp concluded at the Netaji Subhas Southern Centre (NSSC) in Bangalore on Sunday.
The camp began on June 16 after the national team returned from an exposure tour of the Netherlands. The team dished out a pretty decent performance on the Dutch tour – they defeated the national side twice and also played five games against top Dutch clubs.
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The Indian team had earlier attended the first leg of the national camp in Bengaluru before the team embarked on a tour of the Netherlands.
The second leg of the camp saw as many as 34 probables go through their paces under the watchful eyes of head coach Michael Nobbs and high performance director Roelant Oltmans among other members of the team management.
The 34 probables were pruned down to 18 with the likes of Yuvraj Walmiki, Gurwinder Singh Chandi and Danish Mujtaba missing out.
Midfielder Sardar Singh, with over 150 internationals under his belt, will captain the Indian senior men’s hockey team in the upcoming FIH Hockey World League Round 3 (semifinals) at Rotterdam, the Netherlands from 13-23 June 2013.
Drag-flicker and Coorg lad Vokkaliga Raghunath will be the vice-captain of the side.
India are placed in Pool B with hosts and Olympic silver medallists Netherlands, New Zealand and Ireland.
The Pool A features Australia, Spain, Belgium and France (who qualified from the fourth and final men’s round 2 tournament held in Elektrostal, Russia)
India will launch their Hockey World League campaign against Ireland on June 13.
They play the Netherlands on June 15 and wrap up their league engagements against New Zealand on June 17.
It may be worth recalling that India had qualified for the FIH World League Round 3 (semifinal) by winning all the matches of the Round 2 tournament held at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium here in February.
The FIH World League Round 3 (semifinal) is a qualification tournament for the FIH 2014 Men’s World Cup to be held at The Hague, Netherlands.
The squad: Goalkeepers: P R Sreejesh, P T Rao; Defenders: VR Raghunath (vice-captain), Sandeep Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Harbir Singh Sandhu; Midfielders: Birendra Lakra, Sardar Singh (captain), Manpreet Singh, Kothajit Singh, Gurmail Singh; Forwards: SV Sunil, Shivendra Singh, Chinglensana Singh, Nithin Thimmaiah, Dharamvir Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Mandeep Singh.
