India men’s hockey team will head to Kakamighara, Japan, in two months time, confident of retaining its Asian Games gold. Unsurprisingly, there isn’t much change to its squad, which was announced on Wednesday, from the World Cup group, which will serve as a high-quality tune up before the Asiad.
India retains a strong, experienced core across positions with skipper Harmanpreet Singh turning out for his third successive Asian Games campaign. While head coach Craig Fulton experimented with young players in the FIH Pro League, he has opted for experience for the high-profile tournaments in the next two months. The squad has a combined 2,958 caps with an average age of 27 with midfielder Rajkumar Pal coming back to the fold for rookie forward Aditya Lalage.
On his squad selection for the World Cup, Fulton explained, “We have selected a well-balanced squad – the right mix of tournament experience and in-form youth who’ve earned their spot through performance, not reputation.”
After a torrid first half of the Pro League, where India was winless in eight matches, it recovered with improved results and performances in the European leg. India finished as the second-worst scorers with 31 goals, which was bolstered by the 11 strikes against a beleaguered Pakistan.
Among the positives will be the goal-scoring form of defender Jugraj Singh, who was the joint top-scorer for India with four goals. Jugraj’s promise from Penalty Corners will provide much-needed support for the first-choice Harmanpreet.
Just as it did in the victorious Asia Cup last year, India will be expected to dominate the ball in the Asian Games with midfielders Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Nilakanta Sharma and Vivek Prasad providing control and setting the tempo.
India has plenty of technical ability and flair in attack to translate its territorial dominance into goals. Abhishek Nain has emerged as a prolific attacker, scoring a goal in every 2.5 appearances. He will be backed up by the experienced Manpreet Singh, Sukhjeet Singh, Shilanand Lakra and Dilpreet Singh.
It’s no secret that India will use the World Cup as a platform to execute its ideas and hit the right notes before the Asian Games, which will serve as an Olympic qualifier. Apart from India, only Japan, Pakistan and Malaysia are the other Asiad-bound teams that will feature in the World Cup.
Although India hasn’t endured the best of form in the last seven months, with poor results and off-field issues maligning Fulton’s rebuild process, it will know it has enough skill and experience to reign as the continental kings once again.
Published on Jul 29, 2026
