Delhi: Hockey India on Monday announced the U-18 men’s squad for the Boys U18 Asia Cup to be held at Dhaka from September 24-30.
Defender Nilam Sanjeep Xess will be the Captain and Hardik Singh will be the Vice-Captain for the Indian Team at the tournament. Both players have also been part of the junior team that won the EurAsia Cup earlier this year and will form the backbone of the defence for the team.
Pankaj Kumar Rajak and Tanuj Gulia, will be the custodians in goal for the squad. Manipur boys, Rabichandra Singh Moirangthem and Ibungo Singh Konjengbam will lead the line for the team in the midfield and attack respectively. The duo were prolific in the Hockey India Sub-Junior National Championship held at Imphal in May 2016.
Speaking on the announcement, Md. Mushtaque Ahmad, Secretary General, Hockey India said, “Our aim to reach new heights of hockey rankings internationally has to start from the junior level. We are hosts of the Junior World Cup in December 2016 and keeping that in mind we are constantly ensuring our junior teams across different levels get good exposure to international hockey. I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of Hockey India to thank Sports Authority of India for their initiative in the launch of the National Hockey Academy in Delhi. Many of these young athletes will get their first exposure to international hockey and through this experience it will help them prepare for their future career in the sport. That aside, the Boys U-18 Asia Cup is a good determinant for the Coaches to find the potential future stars and to see how we are doing in terms of development in our players at the junior level.”
Team:
Goalkeepers: Pankaj Kumar Rajak, Tanuj Gulia
Defenders: Nilam Sanjeep Xess (Captain), Hardik Singh (Vice Captain), Vidhan Patel, Harshdeep Kapoor, Shivam Anand
Midfielders: Dharminder Singh, Kunwardilraj Singh, Rabichandra Singh Moirangthem, Kishore Arya, Harish Mutagar
Forwards: Dilpreet Singh, Mohammad Umar, Ibungo Singh Konjengbam, Sunny Malik, Shivam Anand, Abhisek
