Three players from Odisha- Abhishek Lakra, Sunil Jojo, Sudeep Chirmako- have been included in the 18-member Indian U-21 hockey squad announced for the upcoming FIH Men's Junior Hockey World Cup, 2021.
The mega tournament will be held sans the spectators at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar from November 24.
Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Vivek Sagar Prasad on Thursday was named as captain of the 18-member strong Indian team which will defend the title at the FIH Hockey Men's Junior World Cup 2021. The squad was picked following completion of the selection trials yesterday.
The 18-member team include- Shardanand Tiwari, Prashant Chauhan, Sudeep Chirmako, Rahul Kumar Rajbhar, Maninder Singh, Pawan, Vishnukant Singh, Ankit Pal, Uttam Singh, Sunil Jojo, Manjeet, Rabichandra Singh Moirangthem, Abhishek Lakra, Yashdeep Siwach, Gurmukh Singh, and Araijeet Singh Hundal.
As per a release, two players- Dinachandra Singh Moirangthem and Boby Singh Dhami have also been picked as alternate players. These players will be allowed to play only if there is an injury or someone in the 18-member squad is ruled out of the tournament due to Covid-19.
Schedule:
India to start campaign on November 24 against France.
The team to take on Canada the next day in the round-robin league. India’s last league match in the four-team pool will be against Poland on November 27.
The top two teams from the preliminary round groups will qualify for the knockout quarterfinals, which will be played on December 1.
Teams: Belgium, The Netherlands, Argentina, Germany, Canada, South Africa, Egypt, Pakistan, Korea, Malaysia, Poland, France, Chile, Spain and USA.
(With Agency Inputs)