3 Odisha Players Find Place in Indian Junior Men’s Hockey Team for Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup

Bhubaneswar: Hockey India today named the 18-member Indian Junior Men’s Hockey Team who will defend the title at the much-awaited FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup Bhubaneswar 2021.

Three players from Odisha have found their place in the squad. The players are Abhishek Lakra, Sudeep Chirmako and Sunil Jojo.

The event slated to begin on 24 November will witness 16 top teams from across the globe vie for the honours which was previously won by India in 2016.

The Indian Junior Men’s Team will see Vivek Sagar Prasad, who was part of India’s historic Olympic Bronze Medal feat, Captain the squad while defender Sanjay who was part of the India U-18 team that won Silver at the Youth Olympic Games 2018 in Buenos Aires will shoulder the responsibility of Vice Captain.

The 18-member team includes 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.

Dinachandra Singh Moirangthem and Boby Singh Dhami have been chosen as alternate players who 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.

India begins their campaign on 24 November against France. They will take on Canada on 25th November in their second match in the round robin league, followed by their match against Poland on 27th November. The knockout matches will take place between 1 December and 5 December as the teams will look to become the Champions of the prestigious quadrennial event. The other teams in the fray include Belgium, The Netherlands, Argentina, Germany, Canada, South Africa, Egypt, Pakistan, Korea, Malaysia, Poland, France, Chile, Spain and USA.

List of India U-21 Team:

1. Shardanand Tiwari
2. Prashant Chauhan (GK)
3. Sanjay (VC)
4. Sudeep Chirmako
5. Rahul Kumar Rajbhar
6. Maninder Singh
7. Pawan (GK)
8. Vishnukant Singh
9. Ankit Pal
10. Uttam Singh
11. Sunil Jojo
12. Manjeet
13. Rabichandra Singh Moirangthem
14. Vivek Sagar Prasad (C)
15. Abhishek Lakra
16. Yashdeep Siwach
17. Gurmukh Singh
18. Araijeet Singh Hundal.