India name 18-men squad for Jr Asia Cup hockey

New Delhi: India named a 18-member squad for the eighth Junior Men's Asia Cup hockey tournament to be held in Kuantan, Malaysia from November 14 to 22.

The Junior Men's Asia Cup will feature top eight countries from Asia.

The Indian team will be led by talented Harjeet Singh, who was adjudged the Player of the Tournament in the recently-concluded fifth Sultan of Johor Cup in Malaysia.

The Indian colts had finished runners up in the Sultan of Johor Cup after losing to Great Britain on penalties in the summit clash.

"Malaysia is a known territory to us, and our performance in the 5th Sultan of Johor Cup are fresh in our performance," a confident Indian junior team coach Harendra Singh said.

"The team has been together for over two months now and that just adds to the comfort and performance standards. They operate as a team and will be collectively working towards glory. The energy in the camp is very positive and we are confident of putting up a great show in Malaysia," he added.

Hockey India President Narinder Batra added: "The junior men's team has performed impeccably well in the past and are hungry for wins. They are young and I am glad that we have Harendra Singh as the coach who has been successful in channelising their energy into the right place."

"It's because of this energy and commitment that the team has performed extremely well under any condition and circumstance. We hope for the best possible results at the 8th Junior Men's Asia Cup in Malaysia," he said.

India is placed in Pool A and will play their opening match against Japan on November 14.

Indian Squad for Junior Men's Asia Cup: 

Goalkeepers: Suraj Karkera, Vikas Dahiya

Defenders: Dipsan Tirkey (Vice-Captain), Varun Kumar, Anand Lakra, Vikramjit Singh, Harmanpreet Singh

Midfielders: Nilakanta Sharma, Harjeet Singh (Captain), Santa Singh, Manpreet Singh, Mangal Singh Chahal

Forwards: Mandeep Singh, Sumit Kumar, Arman Qureshi, Gurjant Singh, Mohd. Umar, Ajit Kumar Pandey.