India had failed to reach the semi-finals since the gold medal at the 1980 Rome Olympics.
India men's hockey team did what all fans have been waiting for - an Olympic medal. The Manpreet Singh-led side defeated Germany in their much-awaited Olympic Games bronze medal campaign.
There was a lot riding on this team, and they did it and finally ended India's 41-year-old wait for a medal. The country had failed to reach the semi-finals since the gold medal at the 1980 Rome Olympics. In fact, they had hit the lowest in the year 2012 when the team finished last (12th) at the London Games.
However, now the team has kept the past behind and has moved forward and won the bronze. So let's meet the members of Team India.
Team India squad:
Goalkeepers: PR Sreejesh
Defenders: Rupinder Pal Singh, Surender Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh, Birendra Lakra, Amit Rohidas
Midfielders: Manpreet Singh (C), Hardik Singh, Sumit, Nilakanta Sharma, Vivek Prasad
Forwards: Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Upadhyay, Shamsher Singh
1. Manpreet Singh (C) – Midfielder
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Caps: 269
Goals: 22
The Indian skipper Manpreet Singh was only 19-years-old when he made his international debut in 2011. His first big tournament was the 2012 London Olympics.
Since then, he has represented the country at all major tournaments. He has even featured in India's Gold Medal victory at the Asian Games in 2014. He was also part of the squad that won the Silver Medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
It was in 2017 that he was named the Captain of the national team. Under his captaincy, India won Gold Medal at the Hero Asia Cup 2017, Bronze Medal at the Odisha Men's Hockey World League Final Bhubaneswar 2017, and also Gold Medal at the 2018 Asian Champions Trophy.
In 2018, he was conferred with the Arjuna Award.
2. Harmanpreet Singh (VC) – Defender
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Caps: 119
Goals: 74
Harmanpreet Singh had made his international debut in 2015 during a four-match Series against Japan in Bhubaneswar. However, the defender's next call up to the national side was in 2016 where India won the Silver Medal.
Harmanpreet went on to win Silver Medal at the FIH Men’s Champions Trophy 2016 and was also part of the squad that represented India at the Rio Olympics at the age of 20.
He later went on to win Gold Medal at the Hero Asia Cup 2017, Bronze Medal at the Odisha Men's Hockey World League Final Bhubaneswar 2017, and the Silver medal at the FIH Men's Champions Trophy 2018.
He was also conferred with the Hockey India Pargat Singh Award for Defender of the Year 2019.
3. PR Sreejesh – Goalkeeper
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Caps: 236
PR Sreejesh had made his debut in 2006 at the South Asian Games in Sri Lanka. He has been an integral part of the national team since 2011.
He helped India win the Final of the Asian Champions Trophy against Pakistan and was also named as the "Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament" at the 2013 Asia Cup.
In 2014, he had saved two Penalty Strokes in the 2014 Asian Games Final against Pakistan which helped India win the Gold Medal.
The Kerala-born was named Captain in 2016 and he led the side to a historic Silver Medal at the FIH Men's Hockey Champions Trophy in London 2016.
He also led India to another Silver Medal at the same tournament in 2018 and under his captaincy, India also won Bronze Medal in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta-Palembang.
He was also conferred with Arjuna Award in 2015 & the presgious Padma Shri Award in 2017.
4. Dilpreet Singh – Forward
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Caps: 44
Goals: 18
The 21-year-old Dilpreet Singh was a part of the Junior Men's Team in the 2017 Sultan of Johor Cup and his stellar performance earned him his first call-up to the senior side.
He made his senior international debut at the age of 18 and finished as the leading goal-scorer with 3 goals to his name.
Soon after he was named in the 2018 Commonwealth Games Squad as well as the Asian Games in Jakarta- Palembang, and Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup, Bhubaneswar 2018.
5. Rupinder Pal Singh – Defender
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Caps: 216
Goals: 115
Called fondly as 'Bob' by his teammates, Rupinder had made his international debut in 2010 at the Sultan Azlan Shah Tournament where India clinched the Gold.
He was named vice-captain of the 2014 Men's Hockey World Cup and was also part of the 2014 Commonwealth Games Silver Medal-winning side.
He was also part of the 2014 Asian Games triumph and the Gold Medal-winning 2016 Asian Champions Trophy campaign.
However, after being dropped from the team for the 2018 Champions Trophy, he was called back for the 2018 Asian Games.
6. Surender Kumar – Defender
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Caps: 135
Goals: 3
Karnal-born Surender Kumar has played as many as 135 international matches so far. He progressed through the ranks of the junior team and made his debut in 2012 and was a part of the 2013 FIH Junior Men's World Cup squad.
The 27-year-old made his senior team debut at the Men's Asian Champions Trophy in 2013. He was also part of the 2016 Rio Olympics, Hero Men's Asia Cup 2017, FIH Men’s Hockey Champions Trophy 2018, and 2018 Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup Bhubaneswar.
Surender also won the Bronze Medal at the 18th Asian Games Jakarta-Palembang, Hero Asian Champions Trophy Muscat 2018, and the Gold Medal-winning campaign at the FIH Series Finals 2019 in Bhubaneswar.
7. Hardik Singh – Midfielder
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Caps: 39
Goals: 1
Hardik Singh made his international debut with the Senior Team at the 2018 Hero Asian Champions Trophy. He was also selected for the Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018.
Hardik was also a part of India's Gold medal-winning feat at the 2019 FIH Men's Series Finals in Bhubaneswar, as well as a part of the 2019 Tokyo Olympic Qualifiers.
8. Gurjant Singh – Forward
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Caps: 47
Goals: 15
Gurjant Singh opened the scoring for India in the Semi-Final and Final of the 2016 Men's Hockey Junior World Cup. That proved to be a stepping stone for the selection in the senior team.
He featured since and made his internaonal debut against Belgium in 2017. Gurjant was also part of the team that won the Gold Medal at the 2017 Men's Hockey Asia Cup and the 2018 Asian Champions Trophy.
9. Simranjeet Singh – Forward
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Caps: 47
Goals: 13
Simranjeet Singh was selected to be a part of the squad that took part in the FIH Junior Men's World Cup 2016. He was given his Senior Team debut in early 2018 and has since been involved in India's Silver medal-winning campaign at the FIH Men's Champions Trophy 2018.
He was also part of the squad for the Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018, in 2019 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, and the FIH Men's Series Finals in Bhubaneswar in 2019.
10. Mandeep Singh – Forward
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Caps: 159
Goals: 82
Mandeep Singh had featured in India's Silver Medal win at the 36th FIH Champions Trophy. He was also part of the team winning Bronze Medal at Odisha Men's Hockey World League Final Bhubaneswar 2017.
He was also named in the squad for Commonwealth Games 2018, and the FIH Men's Champions Trophy 2018. He was part of India’s Bronze medal feat at the 18th Asian Games Jakarta-Palembang and also took part in the Hero Asian Champions Trophy. He was also involved with the team that took part in the Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018.
He was conferred with the Hockey India Dhanraj Pillay Award for Forward of the Year 2019.
11. Lalit Upadhyay – Forward
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Caps: 108
Goals: 27
Lalit Upadhyay had made his international debut for India in the 2014 Hockey World Cup. He was part of the Asia Cup in Dhaka and also part of the Bronze Medal at the Odisha Men's Hockey World League Final Bhubaneswar 2017 and the Silver Medal at the FIH Men's Champions Trophy 2018.
Lalit was a part of the team which won the Bronze Medal at the 2018 Asian Games Gold Medal at the Men's Asian Champions Trophy 2018. He also took part in his second Men's World Cup at the FIH Men's Hockey World Cup Odisha 2018.
12. Sumit – Midfielder
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Caps: 66
Goals: 2
Sumit had made his debut for the senior national team at the 2017 Sultan Azlan Shah tournament and was also part of the junior team that clinched FIH Men's Junior World Cup in 2016.
He got a chance to represent India at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast and Odisha Men's World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018.
He was named in the squad that clinched the Bronze medal in the Men's Hockey World League Final, Bhubaneswar in the year 2017. He was also part of the Gold Medal-winning team at the 2017 Asia Cup as well as the 2018 Asian Champions Trophy.
13. Nilakanta Sharma – Midfielder
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Caps: 59
Goals: 11
Nilakanta, the Imphal-born player, was part of the 2015 Junior Asia Cup Gold Medal winning and 2016 Junior World Cup winning team.
His senior naonal debut was against Belgium during India's Europe tour in 2017. He was also part of the 2018 Hero Asian Champions Trophy Muscat.
He was later selected to be a part of the team that took part in the Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018.
14. Shamsher Singh – Forward
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Caps: 6
Goals: 1
Shamsher Singh had made his international debut for the national senior team in 2019 at the Men's Ready Steady Tokyo Hockey Tournament.
15. Varun Kumar – Defender
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Caps: 85
Goals: 22
Varun Kumar made his debut for the junior team at the 2016 Four Nations Invitational Tournament in Spain. He made his international debut at the Europe Tour of Belgium and the Netherlands.
He was a part of the squad that won the Gold medal at the Hero Asia Cup in 2017, Bronze medal at the Odisha Men’s Hockey World League Final Bhubaneswar 2017, Silver medal at the FIH Men’s Champions Trophy 2018, and Bronze at the 18th Asian Games Jakarta-Palembang.
16. Birender Lakra (VC) – Defender
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Caps: 197
Goals: 10
Birendra went on to represent India at the Champions Challenge tournament in South Africa in 2011, the SAAF Games at Dhaka in 2010, the Youth Olympics at Sydney in 2009, and the Junior World Cup at Singapore in 2009.
The defender was also part of the Indian team winning Gold at the 2014 Asian Games, and Silver at the Commonwealth Games 2014.
17. Amit Rohidas – Defender
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Caps: 97
Goals: 17
Amit Rohidas made his India debut at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2013 in Malaysia and was also a part of the 2013 Men's Asia Cup squad which won the Silver Medal.
Amit represented India at the 2013 FIH Junior Men's Hockey World Cup and played at the 2014 Hockey Men's World League Final.
He became a part of the Gold Medal-winning team at Hero Asia Cup 2017, Bronze Medal-winning side at the Odisha Hockey World League Final Bhubaneswar 2017, and Silver Medal-winning team at the FIH Men's Champions Trophy 2018.
18. Vivek Sagar Prasad – Midfielder
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Caps: 62
Goals: 15
Vivek Sagar Prasad was named the Captain of the Indian Junior Men's Hockey team at the 2017 Sultan of Johor Cup. He also led the team to a Silver Medal at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games held in Buenos Aires.
Vivek was called up for the Senior National Camp and was picked up for the team's Four Nations Invitational Tournament in New Zealand in 2018.
He became the second-youngest player ever to debut for India at 17 years, 10 months, and 22 days.
He has won the Silver Medal at the FIH Men's Champions Trophy in Breda, and the Bronze Medal at the 2018 Asian Games.
