Rio Olympics: Indian hockey teams announced; Ritu Rani dropped

New Delhi, July 12: The Indian men's and women's hockey teams for Rio Olympics 2016 were announced today (July 12). Captain Ritu Rani was dropped from the side.

Goalkeeper PR Sreejesh will lead the men's squad while Sushila Chanu has been given the captaincy duties for women's side. Sardar Singh, who has captained the men's team for a long time, finds a place for the Games but was not given captaincy.

Indian men, who have won 8 Olympic gold medals, have had poor performances at the Games since 1984. In the last edition in London 2012, they finished 12th.

In this year's Games, India are grouped (B) with Argentina, Canada, Germany, Ireland and Netherlands. The Indian women are also in Pool B along with Argentina, Australia, Great Britain, Japan and United States.

Ritu had left the national camp in Bengaluru after being told about her non-selection for Olympics in Brazil.

Led by @16Sreejesh and assisted by @SVSunil24, these #Hockey heroes will lead India's #MedalKaMission at #Rio2016! pic.twitter.com/QS3HDTWnNL

— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) July 12, 2016

"It's correct Ritu is not in the Olympic team. Her exclusion is solely on two counts - her (poor) performance and second is her attitude," a senior member of the team management had told "PTI" news agency on July 10.

"It has been explained to her time and again that she needs to lift her performance but she couldn't do so. The camp is still going on in Bangalore. It will disperse today and tomorrow we are reaching Delhi. Ritu left the camp day before yesterday," he had added.

Presenting the Captain & Vice Captain selected to lead the Indian Men's Team at #Rio2016! #MedalKaMission🏅 pic.twitter.com/GUQslrgEV8

— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) July 12, 2016

The women's team will be participating in the Olympics after 36 years. Last year, in August, they qualified for the Games.

The last time Indian women took part in Olympics was in 1980 in Moscow. They had finished 4th then.

Indian men's squad

Goalkeeper: PR Sreejesh (captain)

Forwards: Harmanpreet Singh, SV Suneel (vice-captain), Akashdeep Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Nikkin Thimmaiah

Midfielders: Sardar Singh, Manpreet Singh, SK Uthappa, Devindar Walmiki, Chinglensana Singh, Danish Mujtaba

Defenders: Rupinder Pal Singh, Kothajit Singh, Surendar Kumar, VR Raghunath

Stand-by: Pardeep Mor, Vikas Dahiya

Indian women's squad

Goalkeeper: Savita

Forwards: Anuradha Devi Thocham, Poonam Rani, Vandana Kataria, Preeti Dubey, Rani Rampal

Midfielders: Navjot Kaur, Monika, Renuka Yadav, Lilima Minz, Nikki Pradhan

Defenders: Sushila Chanu (captain), Deep Grace Ekka, Deepika (vice-captain), Namita Toppo, Sunita Lakra

Stand-by: Rajani Etimarpu, H Lalruat Feli

Presenting the Captain & Vice Captain selected to lead the Women's Team after 36 years at #Rio2016! #MedalKaMission🏅 pic.twitter.com/q33L4t6bXP

— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) July 12, 2016

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