Indian men's hockey team leave for Australia tour

The Indian Men's Hockey Team left for their first tour under newly-appointed Chief Coach Graham Reid on Sunday night from Bengaluru. The Indian team led by the charismatic midfielder Manpreet Singh will play two matches against Australia A, two matches against Australian National Team and one match against Western Australia Thundersticks club team starting 8 May 2019. The tour, Manpreet Singh believes will give the team a chance to further understand Reid's style and try different combinations ahead of the FIH Men's Series Finals Bhubaneswar Odisha 2019. "The new Chief Coach constantly reminds us why a team player holds more value to him than an individual player with excellent skill set. He also instills winning mentality in every player and confident body language has also been an area of focus apart from game-specific tactics over the past three weeks of training under Graham Reid," 

stated Manpreet Singh on the eve of the team's departure to Perth, Australia. The team with an interesting mix of experienced players and newcomers will be tested ahead of the important FIH Men's Series Finals Bhubaneswar Odisha 2019 where India needs to finish on top to ensure a place in the Olympic Qualifier in October.  "Playing a world-class team like Australia ahead of the important Series in June will only help build our confidence. We had a good tournament in Malaysia in March and some of the youngsters did well there. While Jaskaran Singh will make his International debut, it will be Gursahibjit's second tournament with the Indian team and Armaan Qureshi is also returning to the team after a long gap. I am confident these players will live up to the expectations. It will be good exposure for them against the World No.2 side. " he added.