RP Singh appointed Hockey India selection committee chairman

Ram Prakash Singh has been appointed chairman of Hockey India’s (HI) selection committee, having served the National Sports Federation (NSF) in multiple roles in the past.

The appointment was confirmed on April 11. The committee will come into effect on April 15. The other members of the body are Balwinder Singh, Mohd Riaz, MM Somaya, Subhadra Pradhan, Sardar Singh, BP Govinda, Chinglensana Singh Kanjugam, Rajnish Mishra, VR Raghunath, Sameer Dad, Yuvraj Walmiki, Joydeep Kaur and Asunta Lakra. The committee will also have the chief coaches, scientific advisors and high-performance director of the national men’s and women’s teams.

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RP Singh replaced Harbinder Singh as chairman.

“It’s a big honour and responsibility too and I wish to do justice to it. We have a solid pool of experienced and young players. My first mission is to pick the right squad for the Asian Games as winning gold will fetch India a direct ticket to Paris Olympics,” said Singh, who hails from Deoria in Uttar Pradesh.

RP Singh used to play football for Uttar Pradesh and won a silver in sub-junior national football in 1980 in Kolkata. After switching to hockey in 1981, Singh won gold at sub-junior hockey nationals in 1982, also in Kolkata. With India, Singh won a silver at the 1990 Asian Games in Beijing.

Earlier a member of the junior selection committee in 1998, Singh also served HI as the chairman of its high performance and development committee in 2021 before becoming a member of the senior selection panel that same year.

Singh will begin his stint with a two-day selection trial for the India team in Bengaluru on Saturday. “India is among the top five hockey playing countries in the world. It shows how fast we are progressing. Our boys are playing in patches and that’s the only problem with our team, but I am sure soon they will overcome this problem too,” said Singh, who is also secretary of Uttar Pradesh Hockey.

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