Three from Odisha in Indian Junior Men’s Hockey team for Sultan of Johor Cup

New Delhi: Three players from Odisha found place in Indian Junior Men’s Hockey team for the upcoming 8th Sultan of Johor Cup scheduled from Oct 6-13 at Johor Bahru in Malaysia.

Shilanand Lakra, Suman Beck and Pankaj Kumar Rajak were named by the Hockey India here today in 18-member team led by Captain Mandeep Mor.

While Shilanand Lakra will shoulder the duties of Vice-Captain in forward line, Pankaj Kumar Rajak was added to the team as goalkeeper and Suman Beck will play as the defender.

“We have selected the team for the 8th Sultan of Johor Cup 2018 keeping in mind the exposure that these young players will be getting at the tournament. We will be up against some of the best teams in the youth category, and we believe that this set of players can challenge the other teams for the title in Johor Bahru,” said David John, Director, High Performance, Hockey India.

“Coach Jude Felix has tried different combinations during our tour of Belgium earlier this year and during the National Camp in Bengaluru, and these 18 players have shown great ability and desire to succeed. It will be a crucial tournament for some of the athletes as this will be their first major assignment with the Indian Junior team, but I am sure that it will be a learning curve to remember for all the players which shall help in their development,” he said.

The Indian team is scheduled to play a total of five round-robin matches against Malaysia, New Zealand, Japan, Australia and Great Britain. The top two teams at the end of the round-robin matches will face each other in the Final on October 13 whereas the remaining four teams will play classification matches.

The Indian team will play their opening match against Malaysia at 18.05 hrs (IST) on Oct 6.

Indian Team for 8th Sultan of Johor Cup 2018:

Goalkeepers

Kamalbir Singh
Pankaj Kumar Rajak

Defenders

Suman Beck
Mohd. Faraz
Somjeet
Mandeep Mor (Captain)
Prince
Varinder Singh

Midfielders

Yashdeep Siwach
Harmanjit Singh
Vishnu Kant Singh
Gopi Kumar Sonkar
Vishal Antil
Haspreet Singh

Forwards

Gursahabjit Singh
Abhishek
Prabhjot Singh
Shilanand Lakra (Vice-Captain)