Hockey team for Oly to be named today

Goalkeeper Bharat Chetri has been retained the captain while star midfielder Sardar Singh will continue to serve as his deputy on the Indian hockey team’s tour of France and Spain, the final build-up events on road to London.

The 22-member Indian team will pay two ‘Test’ matches against France in Lille on June 28 and 30.

The 16-member team for the Olympics is to be announced by Hockey India on Monday.

The team would then travel to the Spanish port city of Santander where it will be based for the first half of July before travelling to London for the July 27-August 12 Olympic Games.

In Santander, India will play three ‘Test’ matches -- two against the hosts (July 5 and 7) and one versus African champions and fellow Olympic contenders South Africa (July 8).
India would then participate in a one-legged tri-nation tournament involving Spain and Great Britain. Both the tournaments will be played on a blue and pink pitch with yellow balls. The three events will offer coach Michael Nobbs the final opportunity to get his pieces right before the big bash.

The squad: Goalkeepers: Bharat Chetri, PR Sreejesh. Defenders: VR Raghunath, Ignace Tirkey, Sandeep Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh. Midfielders: Sardar Singh, Kothajit Singh, Gurbaj Singh, Birendra Lakra, Manpreet Singh. Forwards: SV Sunil, Gurwinder Singh Chandi, Sarvanjit Singh, Shivendra Singh, Danish Mujtaba, Tushar Khander, Dharamvir Singh, Chinglesana Singh, SK Uthappa, Nithin Thimmaiah, Pradhan Somanna.
Tri-nation tournament: July 14: India vs Great Britain; July 16: Britain vs Spain; July 18: India vs Spain.