Hockey: India name squad for Junior World Cup

Hockey India on Friday announced an 18-member Indian junior men’s team for the FIH Junior World Cup to be held in Lucknow from December 8 to 18.

The team includes dragflicker and defender Harmanpreet Singh, who has been nominated for the international hockey federation’s (FIH) 2016 Rising Star of the Year award. The youngster was also part of the Indian senior team in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Forward Mandeep Singh is also another big name in the squad. The Jalandhar lad was part of India’s attacking unit in the FIH Champions Trophy in London earlier this year. Vikas Dahiya, who was part of the senior team at the Games as a stand-by for PR Sreejesh, was named as the goalkeeper, with Krishan B Pathak the second custodian.

SQUAD: GOALKEEPERS: Vikas Dahiya, Krishan B Pathak; DEFENDERS: Dipsan Tirkey, Harmanpreet Singh, Varun Kumar, Vikramjit Singh, Gurinder Singh; MIDFIELDERS: Harjeet Singh, Santa Singh, Nilakanta Sharma Manpreet, Sumit; FORWARDS: Parvinder Singh, Gurjant Singh, Armaan Qureshi, Mandeep Singh, Ajit Kumar Pandey, Simranjeet Singh