After months of waiting on the fringes, Sandeep Singh's time has finally come. The star dragflicker has made a comeback to the Indian squad for the tour of the Netherlands from April 27 to May 9.
Sandeep, who will be seen in Indian colours for the first time since the london Olympics, will be joined by fellow dragflickers V R Ragunath and Rupinder Pal Singh in the defence.
"Sandeep has won a lot of matches for us. We now have three dragflickers and have variations in penalty corners. It used to be our weakness, but now it has turned into one of our strengths," captain Sardar Singh, who will lead the 18-member squad, told The Pioneer.
"Sandeep has been going through a bad patch. But he has done well in the Hockey India league and he is now making a comeback," he added.
Apart from Sandeep, young striker Yuvraj Walmiki has made the squad in place of injured Gurwinder Singh Chandi.
Notable absentees from the squad are midfielder Birendra lakra, who has opted out of the tour because of his college examination and India's first choice goalkeeper P R Sreejesh, who is getting married during that time.
The tour is seen as a preparation for the FIH men's Hockey World league (HWl) Round- 3(Semi-finals) to be played at Rotterdam, Netherlands from 13-23 in June this year. "The HWl will be played in Holland and this tour will help us to get acclimatized to the weather and playing conditions over there," Sardar said.
According to a statement from Hockey India, the squad was selected by HI selectors Balbir Singh, BP Govinda, chief coach Michael Nobbs, Roelant Oltmans (Director-High Performance) alongwith government observer Harbinder Singh after a selection trials conducted at SAI Centre, Bangalore on April 16.
During the tour, India will play seven games — two against the Netherlands national team and five versus Dutch club sides.
India have already qualified for the FIH World league Round-3(Semi-finals) in February this year. The FIH World league is also qualifier for the World Cup 2014 to be played in Hague, the Netherlands.