Birendra Lakra back from injury, Sardar Singh to lead

Defender Birendra Lakra, who had undergone knee surgery three months ago for a ruptured ligament, on Monday returned to the national squad for the six-nation men’s hockey tournament in Valencia, Spain, beginning June 27.

The event is India’s final assignment before the Rio Olympics, and will act as a testing ground for coach Roelant Oltmans and the selectors to finalise the 16 for the Games.

India put up a courageous show at the recent Champions Trophy in London, but there are several grey areas that the team have to fine-tune — the defence being one of them — and Lakra’s return is expected to bring some stability in that department.

Midfielder Sardar Singh joins the team after being rested for the Champions Trophy, and will resume captaincy duties. P.R. Sreejesh, who led the team in London, was named his deputy.

Besides, defender Rupinderpal Singh and striker Ramandeep Singh — both of whom were given a break for London — were named in the 20-strong squad, who will face New Zealand, Argentina, Germany, Spain and Ireland.

Young striker Mandeep Singh and defender Pradeep Mor will miss out.

Said Oltmans, “The key to the tournament will be to use it as friendlies before the Games. We will try to maximise on our squad rotations, tactical experiments and analyse our opponents there.

“Most teams will come with what resembles their full strength squad and it will give us a good indication of our strengths and weaknesses, prior to Rio.”

Added Sardar, “Three of the teams we face in Valencia are in our pool at the Olympics, so that will help us assess and analyse tactics better.”

India face Germany in the opener on June 27.