Jalandhar, Oct 26: Indian men's hockey team has suffered an injury blow ahead of the Asian Champions Trophy, with veteran midfielder Manpreet Singh ruled out after sustaining a calf injury in training.
The experienced midfielder has been replaced by Vivek Sagar Prasad in the squad as India prepare to defend their title at home when the tournament begins on Tuesday.
"A calf injury sustained during a training session has ruled out Manpreet Singh from Hero Asian Champions Trophy Punjab 2026. He has been replaced by fellow playmaker Vivek Sagar Prasad in India squad," skipper Harmanpreet Singh shared the update during the press conference of captains of all six participating teams.
The injury came at a time when Manpreet was waiting to step onto the same pitch where he spent his teen years learning the sport. Between his senior India debut in 2011 and coming October 27, star playmaker Manpreet played 430 matches, won two Olympic medals and became a three-time Asian Games gold medallist, but never got a chance to play in front of fans in his home state – Punjab.
Coming back to the tournament, the five other teams competing for the top prize will be Malaysia, Japan, China, South Korea and Bangladesh.
India will play their opening league match on October 27 against Bangladesh, followed by games against China (October 29), Japan (October 30), Malaysia (November 1) and South Korea (November 2).
After the league stage from October 27 to November 2 in Jalandhar, the tournament will move to the Olympian Balbir Singh Senior International Hockey Stadium in Mohali, which will host the semi-finals and the medal matches on November 4 and 5.
Besides India, who have won the ACT title for a record five times, only South Korea have previously lifted the trophy among the participating teams in this ninth edition of the tournament.
--IANS