Indian men's hockey squad aims to end the dominance of Australia at CWG

    The strong performance of the Indian hockey squad at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, followed by a third-ranked finish behind the Netherlands and Belgium in the FIH Hockey Pro League

     

    India's Shamsher Singh scoring the 0-1 goal during a hockey match between the Belgian Red Lions and India in the group stage India's Shamsher Singh scoring the 0-1 goal during a hockey match between the Belgian Red Lions and India in the group stage

    has ignited the hopes of the Indian men's hockey squad to end the dominance of Australia at the Commonwealth Games.

    Australia has dominated the sport of field hockey at the Commonwealth Games since its introduction at the 1998 Commonwealth Games, having won all six gold medals.

    The Indian hockey squad made history by winning the historic bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics last year after a 41-year-long hiatus. The achievement renewed the motivation and belief of the Indian squad to end the supremacy of Australia at the Commonwealth Games.

    India has previously won the silver medal twice, at the New Delhi Commonwealth Games in 2010 and the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014. The issues with the Indian squad stemmed from their problems with fitness. However, thanks to the contributions of Orissa, the Indian hockey team is now one of the fittest in world hockey.

    India will face tough competition at the Commonwealth Games as they will have to outplay New Zealand, England, Canada and Pakistan, in addition to Australia.

    The chief coach of the Indian hockey squad, Graham Reid, said, "It is tough to predict what will happen, but anything is possible (on winning gold) because the gap between teams in current international hockey is minimal. But we can not control the uncontrollable. We can only control what is in our capacity."

    The Indian men's hockey squad for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games consists of:

    Goalkeepers: PR Sreejesh and Krishan Bahadur Pathak

    Defenders: Varun Kumar, Jarmanpreet Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Surender Kumar, Jugraj Singh, Jarmanpreet Singh and Amit Rohidas

    Midfielders: Manpreet Singh, Shamsher Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Hardik Singh, Nilakanta Sharma and Akashdeep Singh

    Forwards: Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Abhishek and Gurjant Singh

    The Indian squad is at the top of their form. Still, the defenders need to do better to not concede goals under pressure and the penalty corner lineup, consisting of Amit Rohidas, Varun Kumar, Jugraj Singh, and vice-captain Harmanpreet Singh needs to work on their accuracy.

    Star Indian goalkeeper PR Sreejesh is playing the last Commonwealth Games this year and will aim to finish it with gold. He said, "This is going to be my last CWG. I am desperate to return with gold. Although Australia has won all the golds so far, this team has the potential to beat Australia. We have beaten them in the past as well." 

    India is with England, Wales, Canada and Ghana in Pool B. The men's hockey squad will open their squad against Ghana on July 31.

     

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