Hockey India on Friday announced PR Sreejesh as captain of the men’s team replacing Manpreet Singh, who led the team at the Commonwealth Games. Sreejesh, who will begin his second stint as captain, will lead the team till end of the year World Cup taking place in Bhubaneshwar. Rani Rampal will continue to lead the women’s team for all the tournaments in 2018 including Hockey Women’s World Cup London starting in July and the Asian Games in Jakarta.

Sreejesh was captain in 2016 for the FIH Champions Trophy where India, under his leadership, won silver. During the 2017 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, he 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 2018.

“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 team’s have important tournaments like World Cup and Asian Games to play in. 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,” said Mohd Mushtaque Ahmed, Secretary General, Hockey India.