Dipsan Tirkey named as captain for the tour |
With one eye on the upcoming Junior Hockey World Cup, Hockey India has announced the tour to Russia and England where the India’s young guns will test their preparation for the World Cup.
Junior Indian hockey team will be led by Kalinga Lancers defender Dipsan Tirkey while penalty corner expert Varun Kumar has been named as the vice-captain of the side.
India will take part in EurAsia Cup in Russia where Indian team will play against two Russian clubs. The EurAsia Cup beings on July 9 and from there team will leave for England where they will lay 6 matches against hosts England and Scotland from July 22.
India will be hosting the Junior World Cup in Lucknow later this year and Hockey India wants Indian hockey team to be in best shape and well prepared for the tournament as Indian team disappointed with their performance in the last edition of the tournament.
India also hosted the last edition of the tournament and despite having one of the best sides among all teams Indian team finished as dismal 10th place where the team’s lack of preparation was given the cause of team’s poor performance.
The squad of Indian team for EurAsia Cup and England tour is as follows:
Goalkeeper: Suraj Karkera, Kishan B Pathak
Defenders: Dipsan Tirkey (C), Varun Kumar (V-C), Hardik Singh, Vikramjit Singh, Gurinder Singh, Nila, Sanjeep Xess
Midfielders: Nilktanta Sharma, Sumit, Santa Singh, Manpreet, Samsher Singh
Forwards: Gurjant Singh, Ajay Yadav, Parvinder Singh, Simranjeet Singh and Ajit Kumar Pandey