Hockey World League Semi-finals: India's Rupinder Pal Singh, SK Uthappa ruled out of tournament

London: India’s ace drag-flicker and defender Rupinder Pal Singh, and midfielder SK Uthappa have been ruled out of the Hero Hockey World League Semi Final, commencing in London on Thursday. While Rupinder will be unavailable for the tournament due to a hamstring injury, Uthappa had to return home to attend to a family emergency. [caption id=“attachment_3428454” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Indian players congratulating Rupinder Pal Singh after he scored.  Twitter/ @HockeyIndia[/caption] India is scheduled to take on Scotland in their first match on Thursday. Rupinder will be replaced by defender Jasjit Singh Kular, who also doubles up as a drag-flicker for the team. Kular, who was a part of the 33-member core group that trained in SAI Bengaluru, has played 46 international matches for India with five goals against his name. In place of Uthappa, Sumit, who made his senior team debut at the 26th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup tournament, will come in. Sumit had a successful 2016 with the junior team, which won the Junior men’s World Cup. “With a strong core group who have been working together since February 2017, we have several options and I don’t see this as a setback for us at all,” said coach Roelant Oltmans ahead of India’s first encounter.