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In a big blow, India’s attacking midfielder Hardik Singh has been ruled out of the remainder of FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023. The 24-year-old suffered an injury during India’s second Pool D match against England and was ruled out of the third and final Pool match against Wales.
The young midfielder suffered a hamstring injury earlier in the tournament and has failed to recover in time to play a further part in the ongoing Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023. Hockey India later confirmed that Rajkumar Pal will replace the midfielder in the squad for the rest of the tournament.
Team India coach Graham Reid said, “Overnight we had to make the difficult decision of replacing Hardik Singh in the Indian Team for Sunday’s match vs New Zealand and the subsequent World Cup matches.” “While the injury was not as severe as the initial incident suggested, time was not on our side and after our ongoing thorough rehabilitation process and functional and on-field assessment today, it has been decided that we will replace Hardik with Rajkumar Pal,” Reid added.
T alking about Team India’s campaign in the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023, the Harmanpreet Singh-led side cruised past Spain 2-0 in the opening game followed by a goalless draw against England. The second-placed team then went on to beat Wales 4-2 in the third and final Pool D match to set up a cross-over match against New Zealand to qualify for the Playoffs.