Hockey India, on Saturday, announced their 18-member Men's Hockey squad under the captaincy of Manpreet Singh for the upcoming Asia Cup this year which will be held from October 11th to 22nd in Bangladesh's Dhaka.

Announcement! HI announces 18-member squad for the upcoming @HeroMotoCorp Asia Cup 2017, 11-22 Oct. Read: https://t.co/qR8tSu23DB pic.twitter.com/b5QluLxvp6

— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) September 16, 2017

After facing a defeat in the recent Europe tour, the selection team has decided to place S.V Sunil as the second in command or vice-captain, and use the experienced players in the upcoming Asia Cup.

The selection commission had earlier formed a young team to give international exposure to the junior players in the Europe Tour.

The chief coach Sjoerd Marijne said, “I am looking forward to working with the team which has been picked to have a good blend of experience and youth. The upcoming Asia Cup 2017 will be our first tournament together, and I am very excited to see how the team expresses their leadership qualities on the field. I have previously watched the team live in Netherlands, and I feel that the energy within the team and their play is very impressive. We will be focusing on performing well as a team and will be aiming to win the tournament.”

While the team keeps the goalkeepers Akash Chikte & Suraj Karkera in the team and defenders Harmanpreet Singh & Surender Kumar see a comeback in the team after being rested for the Europe Toru.

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The new squad also sees the experienced players such as Sardar Singh, SV Sunil, Akashdeep Singh and Satbir Singh back in the team.

Here's the final team for Asia Cup 2017:

Forwards

SV Sunil (Vice Captain)

Akashdeep Singh

Ramandeep Singh

Lalit Kumar Upadhyay

Gurjant Singh

Satbir Singh

Midfielders

SK Uthappa

Sardar Singh

Manpreet Singh (Captain)

Chinglensana Singh

Sumit

Defenders

Dipsan Tirkey

Kothajit Singh

Surender Kumar

Harmanpreet Singh

Varun Kumar

Goalkeepers

Akash Anil Chikte

Suraj Karkera

In the Asia Cup, India has been pitched in the Pool A along with Japan, Pakistan and host Bangladesh while Pool B consists of Malaysia, China, South Korea and Oman.