Sardar to lead India in FIH World League Round 3

New Delhi, April 26 (IANS) Sardar Singh will be leading a 18-man India squad for the FIH Men's Hockey World League Round-3 (semi-finals) to be played at Rotterdam, Netherlands, June 13-23.

Hockey India (HI) selectors Balbir Singh, B.P. Govinda, chief coach Michael Nobbs, high performance director Roelant Oltmans along with government observer Harbinder Singh selected the team after trials at Sports Authority of India (SAI) Centre, Bangalore on April 16.

Dragflicker V.R. Raghunath has been appointed as Sardar's deputy.

The Indian team will be playing seven matches during its Netherlands tour Apri 27 - May 9, including two matches against the national Dutch team and five against Dutch club teams.

The Indian team has already qualified for the FIH World League Round-3 (Semi-finals) in February this year. FIH World League is also qualifier for the World Cup 2014 to be played in Hague, Netherlands.

The team:

Goalkeepers: P.T. Rao, Nanak Singh;

Defenders: V.R. Raghunath (vice-captain), Rupinder Pal Singh, Harbir Singh Sandhu, Kothajit Singh, Gurmail Singh, Sandeep Singh;

Midfielders: Sardar Singh (Captain), Manpreet Singh, Dharamvir Singh, Danish Mujtaba, S.K. Uthappa;

Forwards: S.V. Sunil, Chinglensana Singh, Nithin Thimmaiah, Akashdeep Singh, Yuvraj Walmiki.