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Hardik Singh has been ruled out of the 2023 FIH Hockey World Cup on account of a hamstring injury that he sustained during India's group encounter against England.
The midfielder, who had to be helped off the pitch during the final stages of the Pool D game, was rested for the match against Wales but encouraging MRI results prompted speculation that he would be available for the rest of the competition.
The Indian team management have, however, taken the decision to replace the injured player ahead of their knockout game against New Zealand.
Raj Kumar Pal will take the place of Hardik Singh as per coach Graham Reid, who was quoted as saying that an on-field assessment had led the think-tank to take the difficult call.
Reid went on to state that he was excited at the prospect of Raj Kumar Pal joining the squad. Raj Kumar made his debut under the Australian's tutelage during the Hockey Pro League season in early 2020.
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."
He added:
"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 Raj Kumar Pal."
"While it is extremely disappointing for Hardik personally of course, given how well he played in our first two matches, we are excited at the prospect of Raj Kumar joining the group for the remaining Hockey World Cup matches," Reid stated.
Task cut out for India as Belgium await hosts ahead of Hockey World Cup crossover game against New Zealand
The Indian men will take on New Zealand in the first of their knockout games at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
The Men in Blue, who failed to top Pool D, have been forced to traverse the crossover route to the quarterfinals with defending champions Belgium lying in wait to face the winner of Sunday's match.
Star drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh has managed to score just one goal in the Hockey World Cup competition thus far. The PC specialist managed to find the back of the net after Wales had taken off their goalkeeper in the dying stages of the contest.
As such, Hardik Singh's injury comes as a blow to the team since the 24-year-old played a key role for the Indians in both their opening matches against Spain and England.
The player from Jalandhar got his name onto the scoring sheet following a brilliant solo run in the group encounter against Spain.
Meanwhile, Belgium's lethal drag-flicker Alexander Hendrickx also picked up a knee injury ahead of the Red Lion's Hockey World Cup group game against Germany and hopes to be fit ahead of the all-important quarterfinals to be played on January 24.
