Delhi: Hockey India, the apex body for hockey in India, on Monday, announced the 18 member Indian Women’s and Men’s squad for the 12th South Asian Games to be held at Guwahati and Shillong. The 12th South Asian Games will see the Indian eves play against Sri Lanka and Nepal while the men’s team will be competing with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and arch rivals Pakistan. The hockey matches will be hosted at Moullana MD. Tayabullah Hockey Stadium, Bhetapara in Guwahati from 07th to 14th February 2016.

The 18-member Indian eves will player under the guidance of Chief Coach, Neil Hawgood and will be led by Ritu Rani. This team will see Yogita Bali and Sonal Minz guard our goal posts while Jaspreet Kaur, Renuka Yadav, Gurjeet Kaur, Hnialum Lal Ruat Feli, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam and Ponnamma Mallamada Narendra will form the defensive wall for India. Captain Ritu Rani along with Deepika, Sonica, Preeti Dubey and Shyama Tirgam will form the midfield for the Indian team while Rani, Jyoti Gupta, Punam Barla, Neha Goyal and Soundarya Yendala will form the forward line for the team.

Neil Hawgood, Chief Coach of the Women’s Team said, “This tournament is of key importance in our scheme of things. Having secured the Olympic berth it is important for us to play as many international games as possible and the 12th South Asian Games also allows us to try new players giving us a much wider spread of talent to choose from for the Upcoming Rio Olympics.”

The 18 member Indian Men’s team under Coach BJ Kariappa will have Mandeep Antil as the Captain. The Indian men’s team announced today will include Vikas Dahiya and Pankaj Rajak as goal keepers while Gaganpreet Singh, Chiyanna AB, Sukhmanjeet Singh, Nilam Sanjip Xess, Ajitesh Roy and the experienced Gurbaj Singh will form the defence line for the team. The midfield line includes Manpreet Singh Mangal Singh Chahal, Vikas Chaudhary, Ajay Yadav and Pradhan Sommanna P. Mohd Umar, Anup Amarpal Valmiki, Mandeep Antil, PL Thimmanna, Gagandeep Singh and Ajit Kumar Pandey will complete the forward line for team India.

“The team has been together in the camp for quite some time now and the boys are quite upbeat about putting in a strong show at the 12th South Asian Games. We hope to convert our Silver at the last edition of the South Asian Games into Gold this year and will surely put on display our best game,” said Coach BJ Kariappa.

The Indian Hockey Contingent for the 12th South Asian Games: