Hockey India announces PR Sreejesh, Rani Rampal as captains of respective Indian hockey teams for 2018

New Delhi: Hockey India on Friday announced PR Sreejesh and Rani Rampal as captains of the senior men’s and women’s team respectively until end of the year. [caption id=“attachment_4448363” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of PR Sreejesh. Reuters[/caption] Sreejesh returns to the leadership role after coming back from an injury break while Rampal continues in her position for all the tournaments this year including the Women’s World Cup in London slated to take place in July and the 18th Asian Games starting in August in Jakarta. Sreejesh was given the captaincy in 2016 for the FIH Champions Trophy where India, under his leadership, won a historic silver medal. He was entrusted with the leadership mantle for the Rio Olympics as well. He also shouldered the responsibility of mentoring the junior men’s team as goalkeepers Vikas Dahiya and Krishan Pathak put up excellent performances at the Junior World Cup in 2016 when hosts India won the title. During the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup last year, the experienced goalkeeper tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. Sreejesh returned to action at the four-nation invitational hockey tournament in New Zealand in January this year putting up a strong performance, with India finishing second. Rampal, meanwhile, stepped into the role of captain, guiding India to an Asia Cup win. Under her leadership, the team climbed from the 12th to 10th position. Always leading from the front, Rampal also led the team to a semi-final appearance, first in 12 years, at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. “Besides being exceptional players, both Sreejesh and Rani command great respect. The two have led the country with great enthusiasm and we believe using their experience, they will continue to do that in this all-important calendar year where both the teams have important tournaments like World Cup and Asian Games to play in,” said Mohammed Mushtaque Ahmed, Hockey India’s secretary-general. “The idea behind announcing one captain for all events until the end of the year was to bring stability to the core of both the teams,” he said.