Rupinder Pal Singh, Akashdeep Singh make comebacks; Sardar Singh retains place in Asian Games squad
Rupinder Pal Singh and Akashdeep Singh on Monday returned to India's men's hockey squad for next month's Asian Games in Indonesia, where the country would be defending its gold medal.
Ace dragflicker Rupinder Pal Singh and striker Akashdeep Singh today returned to India’s 18-member men’s hockey squad for next month’s Asian Games in Indonesia, where the country would be defending its gold medal.
The team for the 18th Asian Games, to be held in Jakarta and Palembang from August 18 to September 2, was announced by Hockey India today and featured just two changes from the Champions Trophy squad that won a second consecutive silver medal in Breda, Netherlands recently.
While Rupinder, who was rested from the Champions Trophy squad, returned to the side in place of Jarmanpreet Singh, Akashdeep replaced an injured Ramandeep Singh.
The rest of the squad, to be led by veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, is the same that took part in the final edition of the Champions Trophy.
Chinglensana Singh has been retained as the vice captain and he will be joined by the experienced Sardar Singh, Manpreet Singh, Simranjeet Singh and Vivek Sagar Prasad in the mid-field.
India’s forward-line has just one change in Akashdeep replacing Ramandeep, who suffered a right knee injury in the Champions Trophy. Besides Akashdeep, SV Sunil, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay and Dilpreet Singh are the other strikers in the Asian Games-bound squad.
The team’s defence will be strengthened by the return of experienced dragflicker Rupinder along side Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Surender Kumar and Birendra Lakra.
India defeated Pakistan in the final at the 2014 edition in Incheon, Korea to win the gold and will be eager to repeat the feat to book an automatic berth in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
India’s chief coach Harendra Singh is happy with the composition of the team.
“We have a great mix of players who have shown their abilities in recent tournaments. But it is unfortunate we will be missing Ramandeep Singh’s experience as he is ruled out of the Asian Games due to a recent knee surgery,” Harendra said.
“It is good to have Akashdeep Singh back in the mix. Both Rupinder and Akashdeep have remained in camp when the team was away in Breda and have had good match practice against Bangladesh over the past week and are raring to go,” he added.
The players, who returned from Breda, have joined the rest of the core group at the ongoing national camp at the Sports Authority of India center in Bengaluru after a short five-day break.
The next three weeks will see them take on the Korean national team in five practice matches and New Zealand in three matches ahead of the all-important Games.
“While the practice matches against Korea will have a mix of players from the core group, the matches against New Zealand will be played by the 18 members who are selected for the Asian Games,” the coach said.
“I believe this will be good for the team in their preparation for the Asian Games where we will certainly go for the gold to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,” added Harendra.
Team: Goalkeepers: PR Sreejesh (Captain), Krishan B Pathak
Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar, Birendra Lakra, Surender Kumar, Rupinder Pal Singh, Amit Rohidas
Salwa Eid Naser from Bahrain is only 19 years
old and is a formidable athlete. Silver Medal in World Championship. 400
meters. hima das has little chance against her in Asian Games for Gold
Medal.
What is the timing of 200 meters for Hima? good enough for Gold Medal ??
I"ll try to Answer All the Questions/Issues raised on this page.
1)In my Opinion Gopichand is in a spot of bother.He has not Picked Jakka Reddy as the Third Women"s Singles player even though she is ranked at 53 in The World(and is actually 3rd ranked Indian on the list behind Sindhu and Saina).On the other hand he has picked his daughter who is not even in the Top 300.
2)Now to the Hockey Team Selection: Munna has correctly covered most of the Areas.I just share few Add ons:-
Jarmanpreet should have been selected in Defence in place of Amit Rohitdas.He could have been selected for Birendra Lakra as well(Jarmanpreet is that good) but in an ideal scenario,he should have replaced Amit Rohitdas.Rest Defence is Good. Vivek Sagar is favourite i think.I don"t see anything special in him but selectors definitely think differently.In Ideal Scenario,Uthappa would have been the best choice but i think since Uthappa is injured so Vivek Sagar was selected.
Sumit would have been ideal in Attack but since he is injured so this is basically the same Attack which did well for us in the Champions Trophy.Akashdeep in place of Ramandeep(Injury) being the only change.
The composition of the Team is Defence Heavy for me.We should have added one more Forward in place of a Defender for me.The team is better than Champions Trophy Team and the competition level is lower than that of Champions Trophy,So nothing less than a Gold will Suffice.EVEN THOUGH THIS IS NOT THE BEST TEAM WHICH WE COULD"VE SELECTED BUT THIS TEAM SHOULD BE GOOD ENOUGH TO WIN THIS TOURNAMENT EASILY.THEY SHOULD WIN EVERY MATCH BY A MARGIN OF ATLEAST 3 GOALS.
Salwa Eid Naser from Bahrain is only 19 years old and is a formidable athlete. Silver Medal in World Championship. 400 meters. hima das has little chance against her in Asian Games for Gold Medal.
What is the timing of 200 meters for Hima? good enough for Gold Medal ??
Munna,I agree that Salwa Eid Naser will be the favorite for 400m Gold in the Asian games followed by Hima Das and Nirmala of India.
However,i won"t say that Hima can"t beat her.The reason being,that if you look at the Personal Best of Eid Naser is almost a Second better than Hima.However,Salwa ran her Personal Best in the Finals of World Championships against the World"s Fastest Runners who pushed her to the core.
On the Other Hand,Hima is not being pushed to that extent in the National Circuit.Despite that,she has bettered her Personal Best by almost 1 second from around 52 sec to 51.13 seconds in the span of just 5 races,That too without being pushed.
What it implies is that her fastest limit/Time is yet to be determined.She is still improving timings and that too by a big margin with every race she is running.Her Best timings in my opinion are yet to come.So,Running against a World Class Athlete in Salwa Eid Naser will perhaps help her/us to ascertain as to what is her actual limit in terms of her Best Timings.
If She can Lower her Time and run Consistently in around 50.50(50 and half) sec mark then she will be reaching Finals(Top 8) at Olympics/World Championships which would be amazing and if She improves further and reaches around 50 sec mark,Then she will be a Medal Contender at Olympics/World Championships.
Currently,purely speaking based on the Timings,at 18 years of age with her Current Best Timing(51.13 seconds without being pushed to the Limit) she will be ranked in Top 15-20 Runners in the World,Which is Already Quite Breath Taking.Next 2 years will be very important for her Development.She Definitely needs to put on a Bit of Muscle in my opinion.She is too lean for 400m.Putting Muscle will automatically help her to improve her time.
Similarily,in 200m she is not pushed and she herself has started to run 200m very recently and in her very first race her time was good enough to make her Qualify for Olympics/World Championships,which proves that she is a natural Talent.So,in 200m also it is very hard to say that what her best would be.
So Speaking purely on Current Form/Timings(No context put it into it) in 400m at Asian Games:-
1)Salwa Eid 2)Hima Das(Can give a fight to Salwa,but will be tough to overcome.Hima could be the Dark horse) 3)Nirmala
Now,200m
Based on just the Timings and no context put into it(Hima will be a Medal Contender) can"t say Gold but Definitely a Medal Contender.
However,when you put context into it,Then she can Definitely Win Gold.
So,in Short we have found Ourselves a Special Talent and we need to take good care of her. These ASIAN GAMES WILL HELP US TO ASCERTAIN HER LEVEL MUCH BETTER SO WE SHOULD WAIT AND WATCH.
One Last Thing which i wanted to say is that i see both 200m and 400m long standing Indian National Records of 22.82 sec and 51.05 sec respectively being bettered by Hima at these Games.
IN Athletics,Key is to Better your Timings,Distances and be consistent with it.So,it will be intriguing to see it as to how she performs in the Upcoming Asian games.
@ bad. Lets be realistic... Hima needs more time and also she is not consistent.. whereas Salwa is already a champ.. not aware that she is participating in U 20 championship
Nagendra,I am quite realistic.In the first line itself I have said that Salwa Eid will be the favourite for Asian Games followed by Hima and Nirmala.
Also,I have said that can Hima can give her a fight but it will be tough for Hima to beat her at Asian Games.
However,one point that I have mentioned is that we don't know the best of Hima yet because she hasn't yet raced against many Top Class 400m Runners who will push her to the limit which will will ultimately lead to improvement in her timings.
Currently(In India),if she runs at around 90%of her capability she will win easily barring Nirmala who might give her a tough fight.
So,I am repeating myself again.Salwa will be the clear Favourite for 400m at Asian Games but if anybody can really challenge her and perhaps even Beat her(2-5% chance) then it will be Hima and nobody else is what I am saying.
Comments
Rupinder Pal Singh, Akashdeep Singh make comebacks; Sardar Singh retains place in Asian Games squad
Rupinder Pal Singh and Akashdeep Singh on Monday returned to India's men's hockey squad for next month's Asian Games in Indonesia, where the country would be defending its gold medal.
Ace dragflicker Rupinder Pal Singh and striker Akashdeep Singh today returned to India’s 18-member men’s hockey squad for next month’s Asian Games in Indonesia, where the country would be defending its gold medal.
The team for the 18th Asian Games, to be held in Jakarta and Palembang from August 18 to September 2, was announced by Hockey India today and featured just two changes from the Champions Trophy squad that won a second consecutive silver medal in Breda, Netherlands recently.
While Rupinder, who was rested from the Champions Trophy squad, returned to the side in place of Jarmanpreet Singh, Akashdeep replaced an injured Ramandeep Singh.
The rest of the squad, to be led by veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, is the same that took part in the final edition of the Champions Trophy.
Chinglensana Singh has been retained as the vice captain and he will be joined by the experienced Sardar Singh, Manpreet Singh, Simranjeet Singh and Vivek Sagar Prasad in the mid-field.
India’s forward-line has just one change in Akashdeep replacing Ramandeep, who suffered a right knee injury in the Champions Trophy. Besides Akashdeep, SV Sunil, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay and Dilpreet Singh are the other strikers in the Asian Games-bound squad.
The team’s defence will be strengthened by the return of experienced dragflicker Rupinder along side Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Surender Kumar and Birendra Lakra.
India defeated Pakistan in the final at the 2014 edition in Incheon, Korea to win the gold and will be eager to repeat the feat to book an automatic berth in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
India’s chief coach Harendra Singh is happy with the composition of the team.
“We have a great mix of players who have shown their abilities in recent tournaments. But it is unfortunate we will be missing Ramandeep Singh’s experience as he is ruled out of the Asian Games due to a recent knee surgery,” Harendra said.
“It is good to have Akashdeep Singh back in the mix. Both Rupinder and Akashdeep have remained in camp when the team was away in Breda and have had good match practice against Bangladesh over the past week and are raring to go,” he added.
The players, who returned from Breda, have joined the rest of the core group at the ongoing national camp at the Sports Authority of India center in Bengaluru after a short five-day break.
The next three weeks will see them take on the Korean national team in five practice matches and New Zealand in three matches ahead of the all-important Games.
“While the practice matches against Korea will have a mix of players from the core group, the matches against New Zealand will be played by the 18 members who are selected for the Asian Games,” the coach said.
“I believe this will be good for the team in their preparation for the Asian Games where we will certainly go for the gold to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,” added Harendra.
Team:
Goalkeepers: PR Sreejesh (Captain), Krishan B Pathak
Defenders: Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar, Birendra Lakra, Surender Kumar, Rupinder Pal Singh, Amit Rohidas
Midfielders: Manpreet Singh, Chinglensana Singh Kangujam (Vice-Captain), Simranjeet Singh, Sardar Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad
Forwards: SV Sunil, Mandeep Singh, Akashdeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Dilpreet Singh.
1)In my Opinion Gopichand is in a spot of bother.He has not Picked Jakka Reddy as the Third Women"s Singles player even though she is ranked at 53 in The World(and is actually 3rd ranked Indian on the list behind Sindhu and Saina).On the other hand he has picked his daughter who is not even in the Top 300.
2)Now to the Hockey Team Selection: Munna has correctly covered most of the Areas.I just share few Add ons:-
Jarmanpreet should have been selected in Defence in place of Amit Rohitdas.He could have been selected for Birendra Lakra as well(Jarmanpreet is that good) but in an ideal scenario,he should have replaced Amit Rohitdas.Rest Defence is Good.
Vivek Sagar is favourite i think.I don"t see anything special in him but selectors definitely think differently.In Ideal Scenario,Uthappa would have been the best choice but i think since Uthappa is injured so Vivek Sagar was selected.
Sumit would have been ideal in Attack but since he is injured so this is basically the same Attack which did well for us in the Champions Trophy.Akashdeep in place of Ramandeep(Injury) being the only change.
The composition of the Team is Defence Heavy for me.We should have added one more Forward in place of a Defender for me.The team is better than Champions Trophy Team and the competition level is lower than that of Champions Trophy,So nothing less than a Gold will Suffice.EVEN THOUGH THIS IS NOT THE BEST TEAM WHICH WE COULD"VE SELECTED BUT THIS TEAM SHOULD BE GOOD ENOUGH TO WIN THIS TOURNAMENT EASILY.THEY SHOULD WIN EVERY MATCH BY A MARGIN OF ATLEAST 3 GOALS.
Munna,I agree that Salwa Eid Naser will be the favorite for 400m Gold in the Asian games followed by Hima Das and Nirmala of India.
However,i won"t say that Hima can"t beat her.The reason being,that if you look at the Personal Best of Eid Naser is almost a Second better than Hima.However,Salwa ran her Personal Best in the Finals of World Championships against the World"s Fastest Runners who pushed her to the core.
On the Other Hand,Hima is not being pushed to that extent in the National Circuit.Despite that,she has bettered her Personal Best by almost 1 second from around 52 sec to 51.13 seconds in the span of just 5 races,That too without being pushed.
What it implies is that her fastest limit/Time is yet to be determined.She is still improving timings and that too by a big margin with every race she is running.Her Best timings in my opinion are yet to come.So,Running against a World Class Athlete in Salwa Eid Naser will perhaps help her/us to ascertain as to what is her actual limit in terms of her Best Timings.
If She can Lower her Time and run Consistently in around 50.50(50 and half) sec mark then she will be reaching Finals(Top 8) at Olympics/World Championships which would be amazing and if She improves further and reaches around 50 sec mark,Then she will be a Medal Contender at Olympics/World Championships.
Currently,purely speaking based on the Timings,at 18 years of age with her Current Best Timing(51.13 seconds without being pushed to the Limit) she will be ranked in Top 15-20 Runners in the World,Which is Already Quite Breath Taking.Next 2 years will be very important for her Development.She Definitely needs to put on a Bit of Muscle in my opinion.She is too lean for 400m.Putting Muscle will automatically help her to improve her time.
Similarily,in 200m she is not pushed and she herself has started to run 200m very recently and in her very first race her time was good enough to make her Qualify for Olympics/World Championships,which proves that she is a natural Talent.So,in 200m also it is very hard to say that what her best would be.
So Speaking purely on Current Form/Timings(No context put it into it) in 400m at Asian Games:-
1)Salwa Eid
2)Hima Das(Can give a fight to Salwa,but will be tough to overcome.Hima could be the Dark horse)
3)Nirmala
Now,200m
Based on just the Timings and no context put into it(Hima will be a Medal Contender) can"t say Gold but Definitely a Medal Contender.
However,when you put context into it,Then she can Definitely Win Gold.
So,in Short we have found Ourselves a Special Talent and we need to take good care of her.
These ASIAN GAMES WILL HELP US TO ASCERTAIN HER LEVEL MUCH BETTER SO WE SHOULD WAIT AND WATCH.
One Last Thing which i wanted to say is that i see both 200m and 400m long standing Indian National Records of 22.82 sec and 51.05 sec respectively being bettered by Hima at these Games.
IN Athletics,Key is to Better your Timings,Distances and be consistent with it.So,it will be intriguing to see it as to how she performs in the Upcoming Asian games.
Also,I have said that can Hima can give her a fight but it will be tough for Hima to beat her at Asian Games.
However,one point that I have mentioned is that we don't know the best of Hima yet because she hasn't yet raced against many Top Class 400m Runners who will push her to the limit which will will ultimately lead to improvement in her timings.
Currently(In India),if she runs at around 90%of her capability she will win easily barring Nirmala who might give her a tough fight.
So,I am repeating myself again.Salwa will be the clear Favourite for 400m at Asian Games but if anybody can really challenge her and perhaps even Beat her(2-5% chance) then it will be Hima and nobody else is what I am saying.