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Mid-fielder Hardik Singh was on Tuesday named captain of the embattled Indian men's hockey team for its FIH Pro League matches in Hobart from February 20 to 25 after regular skipper Harmanpreet Singh was left out "due to personal reasons." The upcoming leg of the tournament will feature India alongside Spain and hosts Australia at the Tasmania Hockey Centre in Hobart. The side lost all its four matches in the just-concluded Rourkela leg, which included a shocking 0-8 drubbing at the hands of Argentina. "After a disappointing four matches in Rourkela, where the results didn't go our way, we've learned some good lessons and made some notable improvements," India coach Craig Fulton said. New captain Hardik is a two-time Olympic bronze-medallist. The team will also feature youngsters including Amandeep Lakra and Manmeet Singh, who made their debut appearances for the senior team during the Rourkela leg. "Harmanpreet Singh will not be part of the squad due to personal reasons," Hockey
Inconsistencies continued to plague India as they slumped to a 0-8 defeat against Argentina, with Tomas Domene netting four goals in the Rourkela leg of the FIH Men's Pro League here on Thursday. Domene (15', 20', 26', 60') led the charge with his multiple strikes, while Tomas Ruiz (14'), Lucio Mendez (22'), Ignacio Ibarra (25') and Nicolas Della Torre (30') also found the net as the visitors completely overpowered a lacklustre Indian side at the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium. India started on the front foot, attempting to make early inroads, but after a brief spell of dominance, they squandered a golden opportunity to take the lead towards the closing stages of the first quarter when they were awarded a penalty stroke. Harmanpreet Singh was denied from the spot by the Argentine goalkeeper. Argentina scored almost instantly with Ruiz (14') powering his tomahawk into the back of the net to give his side the lead. The visitors quickly doubled their advantage as Domene (15') managed to .
India let in two goals in the final quarter to suffer a 1-3 defeat to Belgium in their Rourkela leg of the FIH Men's Pro League 202526 match here on Wednesday. Nelson Onana (23rd minute), Thomas Crols (53rd) and Arno Van Dessel (57th) scored for Belgium while Shilanand Lakra (29th) was the goal-scorer for India. The two sides were locked 1-1 at the half time as well as at the end of the third quarter, before Belgium pumped in two goals in the final 15 minutes. It was an extremely competitive first quarter with both sides hardly making any mistakes at the back. Belgium earned an early penalty corner in the 4th minute. However, Alexander Hendrickx's drag-flick was stopped heroically by India's first rusher Vivek Sagar Prasad. Four minutes later, India too got their first penalty corner but the home side couldn't capitalise on the occasion. While Belgium were having more possession, India did well to hold their ground and launch quick counter-attacks in search of goal-scoring ...