Bhubaneswar: Two of Odisha’s top hockey stars – defenders Deep Grace Ekka and Amit Rohidas — will spearhead India’s challenge at the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games in China.
Deep Grace, with over 200 international appearances, has been named vice-captain of the women’s team, which will be led by Savita Punia.
The 29-year-old Deep Grace was also vice-captain of the Tokyo Olympics team which finished fourth.
Rohidas, 30, is one of the rocks of Indian defence. He was part of the Indian team which won bronze in the Tokyo Olympics.
The Harmanpreet Singh-led Indian men’s team will open its Asian Games campaign against Uzbekistan on September 24, while the women will begin with a match against Singapore on September 27.
INDIAN MEN’S HOCKEY SQUAD
PR Sreejesh, Krishan Pathak, Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas, Jarmanpreet Singh, Harmanpreet Singh (captain), Sanjay, Sumit, Nilakanta Sharma, Hardik Singh (vice-captain), Manpreet Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Shamsher Singh, Abhishek, Gurjant Singh, Mandeep Singh, Sukhjeet Singh and Lalit Kumar Upadhyay
INDIAN WOMEN’S HOCKEY SQUAD
Savita Punia (captain), Bichu Devi Kharibam, Deepika, Lalremsiami, Monika, Navneet Kaur, Neha, Nisha, Sonika, Udita, Ishika Chaudhary, Deep Grace Ekka (vice-captain), Vandana Katariya, Sangita Kumari, Vaishnavi Vittal Phalke, Nikki Pradhan, Sushila Chanu, Salima Tete.
