Indian men's hockey team leaves for Argentina to play FIH Pro League matches

The Indian men's hockey team on Wednesday departed for Buenos Aires to take on Olympic champions Argentina in the upcoming FIH Pro League matches on April 11 and 12.

Taking to Twitter, Hockey India posted pictures of the players and support staff with a caption: "Next stop, Argentina! Send in all your wishes for, #TeamIndia in the comments section!"

The Indian team will also play two warm-up matches against the home team on April 6 and 7 ahead of their Pro League clash followed by two more practice matches on April 13 and 14 as part of their preparations for the Tokyo Olympics.

Manpreet Singh -- who had opted out of the recent Europe tour due to personal reasons while his compatriot and experienced drag-flick specialist Rupinder Pal Singh as well as Varun Kumar, who had missed the previous tour owing to rehab -- will also be back in the mix for India.The 22-member squad led by Manpreet and vice-captain Harmanpreet Singh includes goalkeepers PR Sreejesh and Krishan Bahadur Pathak. Amit Rohidas, Gurinder Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Surender Kumar, Birendra Lakra, Hardik Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Raj Kumar Pal, Nilakanta Sharma, Shamsher Singh, Gurjant Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Mandeep Singh and Lalit Kumar Upadhyay remain unchanged from the previous tour.

The team also includes Jaskaran Singh, Sumit and Shilanand Lakra who will be playing their first international match in over a year.

( With inputs from ANI )