Press Trust of India
New Delhi, Nov 3: Dipsan Tirkey of Orissa was named vice-captain Tuesday of the 18-member Indian squad for the VIIIth Junior Men’s Asia Cup hockey tournament to be played November 14 to 22 in Kuantan, Malaysia. The team will be captained by midfielder Harjeet Singh. The tournament will feature top eight countries from Asia. The other Orissa player to have found a place in the squad is Anand Lakra
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 performances in the Vth Sultan of Johor Cup are fresh in our minds,” a confident Indian junior team coach Harendra Singh said here Tuesday. “The players have has been together for over two months now and that just adds to the comfort and performance standards. The energy in the camp is very positive and we are confident of putting up a great show in Malaysia,” he added.
India are placed in Pool A and will play their opening match against Japan, November 14.
The squad: (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 and Ajit Kumar Pandey.
